Mr. KUZNESOF. The figures are actually 50 postal-law violators and 35 Harrison Act violators. Senator DANIEL. I know last June you told us about that situation, and we asked you for those figures, and I am glad to get that. From what you told us last June you thought that theft from the mails was one of the main reasons why these addicts got money for the drugs, did you not? Mr. KUZNESOF. Yes, sir. Mr. GASQUE. Mr. Chairman, Mr. H. B. Montague of the Post Office Department is here with a covering letter and some figures which he is going to insert in the record, giving us those. Senator DANIEL. Fine. I am informed that Mr. Barbati will testify for the Post Office Department. Mr. KUZNESOF. The prognoses of these individuals, as stated by the psychiatrist when these individuals left the hospital, were generally very poor. In fact, Dr. Pescor, one of the statisticians at the hospital back in, I think, 1943, said that when a person is discharged from the hospital with an average prognosis it means he is going to return to drugs within 2 years, and that was his statement, and I have the quote in the report. But most of the prognosis classifications were hopeless, minimal, slight, poor, very poor, not promising, guarded, fair, average, guarded; 18 were fair, 2 were average; then the more favorable, good, favorable, above average, fair to good, and the main group fell in 42 poor, 18 fair. As to their intelligence and education, we found that their intelligence quotients or their capacity ranged from borderline, feebleminded, to almost genius, so that cannot be considered as a factor. We have had two of the men who were college graduates; one was an electrical engineer. He was the man who is now in a State institution. There was a severe psychiatric problem there. The other man was a journalist who went through three wives, and he couldn't keep the job, and he just couldn't make a go of it. Senator DANIEL. Any lawyers? Mr. KUZNESOF. No lawyers. As to their education, we found that most of them left between the 9th grade and the 12 grade-in fact, 51. Now, this is similar to what you would find in a juvenile delinquent. Also the study reveals that the ages as to the onset of the addiction is going down, and that most of the addicts became addicted or started their use of narcotics when they were around 16. Regarding employment we found that the addicts claimed better employment than what we found them to have when they were under supervision. When they make their statement to the doctor or to psychiatrists or to social workers at Lexington, they say, "I worked here and worked here and worked here," and there is no verification. When he is under supervision, of course, there is verification and followup. We found that 29 or 34 percent had no regular employment during their supervision period, and 34 or 41 percent had very little employ ment. Now, Mr. Sayler has remarked about the New York State Employment Service and also about social agencies not cooperating. But we do have an organization known as the Osborne Association, and that is at 114 East 30th Street, that has been trying to help these individuals, and in many cases Mr. Hannan of that association, will send an addict, send a probationer, to a job, and he will never get there, and that has happened on many occasions. We found we have a double problem, lockup facilities, and sometimes a lack of desire to help themselves, a lack of desire to be rehabilitated. The home environment, well, the findings concur completely with the statements made heretofore; they are mostly broken homes sometimes poverty stricken, but not necessarily so. We have some what we might consider as coming from good families, and in that case it is not rejection or poverty, but sometimes it is just spoiling, overprotection. We found that most of the men coming to us and women coming to us were either single, separated, or living in a paramour relation; quite a few have illegitimate children; they cannot keep a lasting relationship. Senator DANIEL. They what? Mr. KuZNESOF. They cannot keep a family relationship, a lasting family relationship, because of their personality makeup; they somehow are unable to do so. In fact Senator DANIEL. Some doctor told us yesterday that the narcotic drugs makes them impotent. Mr. KUZNESOF. Yes, sir. Not only that, but many people do not realize that if a woman gives birth while she is an addict, that the child will be born an addict. Senator DANIEL. What is that? Mr. KUZNESOF. If a woman gives birth while she is addicted, at the time of addiction, her child will likewise be addicted. Senator DANIEL. Do doctors say that? Mr. KUZNESOF. No, but Miss PANELLA. Yes, that is so. Senator DANIEL. What is that? Miss PANELLA. That is so, Senator. A child is born with a drug addiction, a narcosis, not actually a habit. I mean, the child has to be treated to be removed from the drugs. Senator DANIEL. The child does? You mean this baby we had up here in the courtroom today that was born, the mother saidMr. SPEER. She was born before. Miss PANELLA. She said she went on drugs 2 months after the baby was born. Senator DANIEL. But had it been before, the baby would have had to have been treated? Miss PANELLA. Yes, sir. Senator DANIEL. You would have to give the baby withdrawal treatment? Miss PANELLA. I don't know just what treatment they would give or they do give, but they do have to treat the child for that. Mr. KUZNESOF. I was about to say, "No," Senator, because I didn't hear any of hte doctors testify or make that statement, but I have heard of it, and I have read about it. Senator DANIEL. Well, from doctors? Mr. KUZNESOF. I have read it in some literature; I cannot recall exactly where. Senator DANIEL. I am afraid we are going to have to hurry along here and read the rest of your conclusions, unless you have something else you want to emphasize particularly. Mr. KUZNESOF. I thought you might be interested in the clinic plan. I have quite a few quotes from authorities in the field, including-well, quite a few, and very strong quotes, if I may say, against the clinic plan. Senator DANIEL. Well, we are glad to have those in the record. I am mainly interested in your own opinion, which you have already given. Based on what you have studied and your own practical experience, you think that the clinic plan of legalized drugs would be a mistake? Mr. KUZNESOF. I also, Senator, would like to suggest what, I think, Dr. Lowry suggested. Senator DANIEL. Dr. Lowry? Mr. KUZNESOF. Dr. Lowry. There was no collusion, I assure you, but I do recommend-in fact, I met him for the first time yesterdayI do recommend sincerely an indefinite sentence similar to what we already have in the Federal system, known as the Youth Corrections Act for those addicts who are considered to be or who are considered to be able to be rehabilitated. Senator DANIEL. Yes; and then you can have your parole- Senator DANIEL (continuing). Your parole system that you think works much better, would work better into that indefinite sentence. Mr. KUZNESOF. And repeated returns and things like that. Right now, if we bring back a violator on probation he goes back once, and that is it; we do not see him again, and there is no more control after he comes out. Senator DANIEL. I want to thank you for this splendid study you have made and for your cooperation with this committee. Do either of the others from your office wish to emphasize any particular point in the few minutes you have left? Miss PANELLA. I would like to say that I am very much against this clinic plan. I think most of the doctors, in speaking about it, have not brought out the personality of the addicts sufficiently, and any addict or anyone who knows addicts knows that they are pathological liars, to begin with, and they would use any method or means to sustain their habit and, I believe, if we had clinics throughout the city, if you had five, for example, every addict would have a card for each clinic under a different name, and it would become a terrific problem. I cannot see any benefit to it whatsoever. Senator DANIEL. How many years' experience have you had? Senator DANIEL. Dealing with these people? Miss PANELLA. Yes. Mr. DE KALB. I think another thing, the clinics would increase the evil for this reason: Most people, youngsters, who become addicted find themselves having to use increasing or larger amounts of drugs, and with the clinic providing them with free drugs, it would only tend to increase the amount that they would have to use to satisfy their habit. Senator DANIEL. Then, do you think they will be satisfied with just the minimum dosage that a doctor would set? Mr. DE KALB. I don't think so. Senator DANIEL. Or would they then go out to the black market or another clinic to get the increased dose that they really want? Mr. DE KALB. I think that is what they would do. Senator DANIEL. Well, thank you so much. Be sure to send us anything else that you might think of before we quit our deliberations about the 1st of January. Mr. SAYLER. We will be happy to. Senator DANIEL. Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give before this subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Mr. BARBATI. I do. TESTIMONY OF JOHN J. BARBATI, POSTAL INSPECTOR, NEW YORK DIVISION Senator DANIEL. Will you give us your name and title? Mr. BARBATI. John J. Barbati, postal inspector, New York division. Senator, I have here a list of statistics that we took from our own files, and I believe Mr. Gasque has a copy of them. I do not have any prepared statement. I just wanted to say that in the past 6 years I have talked to several hundred narcotic addicts immediately after they were arrested for mail theft, which, as was brought out before, seems to be one of their favorite crimes. In my experience I found them not to be vicious. In fact, I think they would shy away from a violent crime. They were, for the most part, cooperative, elaborated on their activities, criminal activities; sometimes had difficulty remembering them all. But what they could remember they did not hesitate to bring forth. I feel, for the most part, these people were-well, and a weak moral fiber; in other words, they were easily led; they were that type of person that you have probably met, and I also feel that anything of an adverse nature would cause them to become addicts, and if they were addicts at one time and had been cured, would probably cause them to go right back to it. In other words, they probably could not stand reality. They would go to-they would resort to drugs to escape reality. Now, that is my impression from talking to these people. Of course, if you wanted to go into why they stole mail, of course, that is mainly to obtain money; the type of mail they stole were mainly checks. These people come from the poorer sections of the city, and in those poorer sections the type of letters containing checks that are delivered there are the types containing unemployment insurance checks, relief checks, veterans' allowances, social security payments, and income tax, a few income tax refunds, and checks of that type. In other words, they are the type of checks that the people, the payees of the checks, are waiting for. They are going to depend on those funds for subsistence. When they don't receive the checks, of course, they are in a bad fix. They won't receive a replacement for some time. In the meantime, they probably will have to borrow money, and then we have the other side of the picture. These checks are cashed in small stores, as a rule, and when the addicts pass around among themselves the information that some small store is a soft spot, as a place where you can cash a check without too much difficulty, they all go to that store with stolen checks, buy some merchandise, and receive the balance in cash. Before the proprietor of that store realizes what has happened, he has received a large number of checks, all of which will eventually be returned to him and charged against his bank account; and frequently that has caused his bankruptcy. Senator DANIEL. Do you know of actual instances where it has caused bankruptcy? Mr. BARBATI. Definitely. Senator DANIEL. These stolen checks by addicts? Mr. BARBATI. Yes, sir. As pointed out in these statistics-well, this past year 38 percent of the people we arrested were addicts. Senator DANIEL. Arrested for having rifled and stolen from the mails? Mr. BARBATI. That is right. Senator DANIEL. And over the period of 1951 to-through fiscal year 1954-55 you had a total of 1,953 arrests? Mr. BARBATI. That is right. Senator DANIEL. For crimes against mail receptacles in this district? Mr. BARBATI. That is correct. Senator DANIEL. And the total for those years, the percentage total, is 35 percent by addicts? Mr. BARBATI. That is correct; the number is 689 addicts. Senator DANIEL. This letter, signed by Mr. Montague, and the statistics will be made a part of the record at this time. (The document referred to follows :) POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, INSPECTION SERVICE, POST OFFICE INSPECTOR IN CHARGE, New York 1, N. Y., September 19, 1955. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NARCOTIC ADDICTION AND ARRESTS FOR THEFT AND RIFLING OF MAIL FROM MAIL RECEPTACLES IN THE NEW YORK, N. Y., POSTAL DISTRICT FOR THE PERIOD JULY 1, 1950 TO JUNE 30, 1955 The New York, N. Y., postal district is composed of the New York City Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. The population of this district is estimated to be 3,500,000 or approximately 40 percent of the city's total population. The attached statistics refer to persons who admitted drug addition at the time of their arrest in this postal district, charged with the theft of mail from mail receptacles or the unlawful possession of mail so stolen. Undoubtedly, some addicts successfully concealed their addiction. In the New York, N. Y., postal district arrests for crimes involving thefts from mail receptacles increased 22.8 percent or from 320 in fiscal 1954 to 393 in fiscal 1955. The latter figure includes 149 addicts. Of this number, 50, or 34 percent had been arrested on at least one previous occasion in this postal district for similar crimes. Mail matter stolen from mail receptacles is confined almost exclusively to letters containing checks. A large percentage of the checks represent unemploy |