The New York Times December 25, 1923
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ASKS LAW TO FORBID MAKING OF HEROIN
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Health Department Says 95 Per Cent. of Addicts Here Use That Drug.
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NOT NEEDED IN MEDICINE
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Only by Prohibition of Manufacture and Import, Says Bulletin, Can Evil Be Checked.
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Only by legislation forbidding the manufacture of heroin and by an international agreement preventing both importation and exportation can addiction to that drug be checked, says the weekly bulletin of the Health Department issued yesterday. The bulletin says:

"Should the manufacture of heroin be interdicted? The recent Narcotic Clinic in New York City treated 7,464 drug addicts. Over 90 per cent. of these were addicted to the use of heroin. In 69 per cent. the habit had been acquired through evil associates. The vast proportion were under 30 years of age.

"The American Medical Association expressed the opinion of physicians throughout the United States as follows:

"That heroin be eliminated from all medical preparations.

"That the importation, manufacturing and sale of heroin should be prohibited in the United States.

"That the importation and sale of heroin be prohibited in the United States

"This resolution is now three years old and there has not been a single protesting resolution from any associated doctor or medical organization. It, therefore, must be the conclusion of the profession.

"In the United States Army, the use of heroin has been interdicted by order of the Surgeon General. In the United States Public Health Service, the use of heroin has been interdicted by order of the Surgeon General. In a large number of public hospitals the use of heroin has been interdicted by order of medical boards and superintendents.

"The Health commissioners of Chicago and New York City, simultaneously , expressed themselves. 'Stop the use of heroin in all hospitals. It serves no purpose that other agents cannot accomplish as effectively, and without the attendant possibility of disaster.'

"Professor E. G. Janeway, Bellevue Hospital, 1892, advised his house staff against the use of heroin, particularly stating that heroin used in pneumonia was invariably followed by a fatal result. Professor Alexander Lambert, a wide authority on drug and alcohol habits, is opposed to the use of heroin.

"The appalling feature of drug addiction is that heroin makes addicts quickly, that its victims are mere children, that through insufflation, ingestion or injection subcutaneously, its effect is well night [sic] instantaneous.

"There can be, or should be, but one answer to the heroin question--- its total and absolute abolition.

"It will always be necessary to fight the use of opium and its derivatives in drug addiction, but this war will be made much easier by the annihilation of this useless drug.

"Heroin is the drug used by addicts of over 95 per cent. of New York's underworld, this information being furnished by police and prison statistics. And less than 1 per cent. of these unfortunates acquired the habit through sickness. Heroin is not a necessity in either medicine or art. All of its useful qualities can be safely replaced by other alkaloids of opium. It is earnestly hoped that every effort will be exerted to awaken the public to the necessity of preventing the making of heroin.

"The only way to fight successfully this peril is through legislation--- forbidding its manufacture and by international agreement, with all nations participating, not only to forbid manufacture, but to prevent importation from of exportation to any land.

"The heroin question is not a medical one, as heroin addicts spring from vice, evil associates and bad environment. It is a social problem. Society in general must protect itself from the influences of evil."