I money in treatment. Our California committees could not accept this view. Our reasons were not alone humane consideration for the individual. One out of four California crimes may be traced directly or indirectly to narcotics. would estimate that crimes of the addicts in support of their drug habit cost the people of California at least $100 million a year. I am counting the cost of the crime to the vicitms and the cost of law enforcement, apprehension, trial, and incarceration. The cost to the Nation of heroin-inspired crime must be staggering, many times the cost of treatment facilities. Another reason we cannot afford as a Nation to leave the untreated heroin addict loose in our society is that these people form the principal source of revenue of organized crime. The average heroin addict pays $50 a day for the drug. Multiply this by 150,000 addicts in the United States-certainly not a high estimate and you have $7,500,000 a day or $2,737,500,000 a year being paid to support the world crime syndicate. It is interesting that evidence of the Mafia, with its general headquarters either in Sicily or in the United States, appears frequently in investigations of the drug traffic. There is other evidence, which I shall discuss later, that narcotic export is part of the Kremlin pattern of aggression. Organized crime in America was supported during the 1920's by bootlegging. With the end of prohibition, the underworld turned to other sources, including various rackets and especially gambling. Today its chief revenue appears to come from narcotics. Our California study led to the introduction of bills before the last session of the California Legislature which would have dealt with the treatment problem along these lines: 1. Instead of being confined in jails, untreated, to face the prolonged torture of withdrawal, the addict would be confined to a special narcotic ward in a hospital. There both the physical and mental addiction would be treated. When there was sufficient evidence that he might return to society free of addiction, he would be released, but only on the condition that he regularly visit an outpatient clinic. 2. The outpatient clinic would provide no drugs, but would give psychiatric, social work, and employment aid where needed. Any evidence of new addiction, or failure to report, would bring about a return to the narcotic ward. These outpatient clinics would be staffed with doctors of medicine, psychotherapists, social workers, and employment counselors. Testimony before our committees indicated that an addict may not be considered cured until he has gone without the drug for 4 years. Pharmacology has supplied a new drug called nalline which apparently can detect an addict within minutes. I would recommend that in all cases involving an addict probation should be for a period of not less than 5 years after release from the narcotic ward. During this period regular visits would be required to the outpatient clinic. Both the California Assembly and Senate agreed to this legislation, which was introduced by Assemblyman H. Allen Smith, recently elected to the United States House of Representatives. But the program was vetoed by the Governor on the ground insufficient funds had been appropriated to implement the program adequately. We expect the same legislation to be introduced at the 1957 session of the California Legislature, and fervently hope that this time it will be accompanied by adequate financial support and will be adopted by the legislature and approved by the Governor. The savings to California taxpayers will be many times its cost, and law enforcement will gain great strength in its war against crime. Again let me stress that it is not sympathy with the addict that provides the strongest argument for this proposal. We know from our studies that the addict will go to any length to avoid the torture of sudden withdrawal in jail. He will not willingly commit himself to this truly terrible ordeal. He has no other way, no matter how strong his desire, to break his heinous, consuming bond with the drug. So he perpetuates his own slavery by committing any crime necessary to buy the narcotic. And thus he continues to rob, steal, and otherwise plunder society to support his masters, the Fagans who control the drug trade. He hates them, but he will do anything for his daily "fix." Those already "hooked" by heroin become a great recruiting army for new addicts. They are willing peddlers, since in this manner they can support their own addiction. So, in a measure, the confinement and treatment of addicts would serve to slow new addictions. This California approach to the drug problem appears to be unique. We believe that it could best be done on a national scale, with all States and the Federal Government participating. As I suggested earlier, any effective attack on the drug evil must include both. treatment and hard blows at the drug traffic itself. Our California studies led us to this conclusion. The Mexican border and our west coast ports and airfields are highways for the narcotic traffic into this country. Most of our marihuana, and a good deal of our heroin, is smuggled into California from Mexico. As it was pointed out to our committees, our sister republic to the south has not taken effective action to stop the raising of poppies far in excess of the need for legitimate medicinal export. Nor has the Mexican Government effectively acted to help stop the flood of marihuana into California. It is sold to American visitors in Mexican border cities. If the flood of marihuana and other illegal drugs over the 1,800 miles of the Mexican border continues, I would suggest we consider closing the border entirely to free access, and permit exchange of visitors with Mexico only on the basis of passports and visas, as we do with other foreign nations. Large supplies of illicit narcotics also find their way to the United States from Yugoslavia, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and India. Some of it is processed in final form in France and Italy. I suggest we consider stopping all aid to nations which will not enter into effective agreements with us to reduce the manufacture and illegal export of narcotics. It is to be noted that cocaine has been stamped out as a major problem because the Central and South American countries where it was manufactured destroyed the factories. The most deadly of all narcotics, almost pure heroin, enters the west coast from Red China via ship and plane. This leads to another observation. While every American is affected directly by the narcotics evil, it has more than a casual bearing on the future of the free world. As you no doubt know, narcotics addiction had fallen to such a low ebb in 1948 that the Government was considering the closing of the two Federal hospitals for narcotic addicts. With the end of World War II and the full control of China by the Communists, the United States and other nations suddenly found an alarming rise of heroin addiction. It is well known that heroin of almost pure strength became a principal export of the Communists from Red China; that the manufacture and export of enslaving drugs has been vigorously encouraged by the Communists where they gained control of satellites. Drug addiction in the free nations is a subtle and diabolical form of conquest in which the victims pay for their own enslavement. This is even more cruel and mind destroying that the techniques devised by the masters of the Kremlin to force the innocent to confess crimes punishable by death. The export of narcotics brings about mass self-destruction among peoples marked for slavery by the Red imperialists. We have seen this pattern in Thailand and we are seeing it in Japan, where addiction is higher than in this country, and never was known before. That this conspiracy also has had its effect upon America cannot be doubted, and the growth of narcotics addiction has alarmed all of us. Coupled with this evident pattern of Communist narcotic aggression is the fact that the narcotics trade offers huge rewards, and comparatively small risks, to the world criminal element. A pound of heroin purchased in Red China for $1,000 is easily worth $200,000 here. Many law-enforcement agencies believe that the drug traffic is the principal revenue of the underworld. Cut it off and the criminal army would be isolated from its main source of supply and could be decimated by our law-enforcement officers, now fighting what seems a losing battle at times against the rising tide of crime. Most of the Chinese heroin undoubtedly arrives at west coast ports and airfields. There are, it appears, other foreign sources of this diabolical drug, but that from China is of such strength that it obviously could be exported only with government approval. We were told that addicts accustomed to weaker heroin from Mexico and other countries have died under the shock of a shot of the Chinese variety. No contract seems possible with Red China to stop its export of heroin. Even had we trade and diplomatic relations with Red China, we have learned from sad experience that the Communists honor obligations only when this is expedient to them. Since we have no way to stop the flow of heroin at its source in Red China, we must look to the ports of entry. Once it leaves the harbor or airfield in the United States it is very difficult to trace the drug. It has been cut and dispersed into a thousand channels. Yet we deny our Federal and State narcotics agents the power to search vessels and planes and incoming baggage and cargo for drugs in their uncut form. This power is reserved to an undermanned customs staff. No wonder the odds are almost 99 to 1 against detection for the heroin smuggler. It is my belief that the Congress should give Federal and State narcotics agents concurrent jurisdiction with the Customs Service over incoming ships, aircraft, and other means of transportation which can be used to bring narcotics into our country. Another problem is that we have too few narcotics officers, they are paid too little, and they lack the weapons to fight the drug traffic effectively. This war demands men of high courage and intelligence and such a dangerous and difficult career should offer commensurate pay. Only rarely is a higher up in the narcotics racket arrested. Why? Partly because we are too niggardly in our appropriations for the work of the agents. Until recently, the State of California allowed its narcotics officers only $7,500 a year to spend in making purchases of narcotics. This now has been doubled to the unrealistic sum of $15,000. No wonder they cannot get far beyond the little peddler. It is like trying to land a big fish on a spool of string. It is evident that some of the rulers of the racket are outside the jurisdiction of the United States. Most of the overlords, foreign and domestic, never come close to the actual drugs. They are not users. They do not handle the narcotics directly. They bankroll the purchases. Some of the peddling is done in the following manner, in California: The addict runs low in supply, he obtains financing and goes to Mexico for a couple of days; there he buys the narcotics— more than he needs for a period; he returns and peddles to his fellow addicts until he runs low again; and then repeats the process. A high proportion of the sales do not occur in bars or back alleys but in apartments rented for a brief period by the addicts. It is very difficult for agents to detect this type of operation. One further point deserves mention, and this involves the greatest tragedy and crime of all. Most, if not all, heroin addicts in California start in their teens through marihuana parties. They are told marihuana is harmless and not habit'forming; that the feeling is wonderful. This is the bait. Once they become accustomed to marihuana and its spurious thrills, the teenagers are introduced to "hard" narcotics. The hook is set. At first, they do not feel it, fool themselves that they can quit. Suddenly they realize they are "hooked," helplessly enslaved to a drug they will come to hate but cannot live without. They are on their way to physical and moral dissolution, a living death. A gay adventure has turned into tragedy for the victim and his family, a new menace to society. We rarely find a heroin addict without a history of narcotics in his teens, beginning with marihuana. Many begin at 14 and 15 years of age. In California, unlike other areas, addiction is not limited to racial groups and certain neighborhoods. It cuts across racial, neighborhood, and economic lines. It invades the wealthy district as well as the poor neighborhood. Many addicts are of average or superior intelligence. Some made excellent witnesses before our committees. No matter what cultural or economic status they may hold, no family is safe from this contagion. Their beloved teen-age child may easily be lured into an experiment with marihuana, then into heroin addiction. I recall one case of a 13-year-old girl, arrested for forgery to support her heroin habit. Society must stamp out this evil, make it such a serious crime to provide juveniles with narcotics in any form that the traffic will be discouraged, the price of drugs beyond reach of the thrill seeker. California has increased its penalties for the sale of narcotics to juveniles. The Federal Government has imposed drastic penalties, even to capital punishment. This is one field in which severe punishment does act as a deterrent. 1. Create hospital narcotic wards for confinement and treatment of addicts. Supplement this treatment by drugless outpatient clinics providing psychiatric, social work, and employment aid. Require those discharged from the hospitals to report regularly to these clinics-or, in a small city, to an authorized local physician. Upon evidence of renewed addiction, return the individual to custody. This is the California plan. 2. Provide Federal and State narcotic agencies authority for search of incoming ships, aircraft, and other conveyances, concurrent with that now granted the Customs Service. 3. Arm our agencies fighting the war on narcotics with adequate, properly paid personnel and the appropriations and other weapons necessary to win this war. Mr. MITLER. As the result of a study made by your committee, would you tell us the scope and extent of juvenile drug addiction in California? Mr. NEEB. Well, as to the numbers who are addicts, that is a pretty difficult question to answer. But I can tell you this: That the commitments of juveniles and in California that means any age down to 9, 10, 11, or 12 years of age up to the youth authority, which takes them to 23, but there are very few over 21-has been steadily increasing on the narcotics side. The increase, or the last figures, which would be 1955 and 1956, show about 6 percent of the total commitments are known addicts, even though they are still in their teens. Last year the increase in boys was 1 percent over the previous term and 2 percent for girls. We don't have any idea why there are more girls getting into trouble than boys. Mr. MITLER. What has been the overall trend since 1950? Mr. NEEB. Well, it is a general trend; yes. I don't have each year, but there is one interesting figure, and that is, we have over 5,000 young people on parole in California, that is the parole load of our parole officers, and they have a very heavy load; and, of those, somewhere between 450 and 500 of them are known narcotics cases. And we know a lot of them are narcotics cases we don't know but because, very strangely, those that are listed as narcotic problems, 25 percent of them became narcotic problems either after they got out on parole or were never arrested for it and were discovered later to be users. Mr. MITLER. Mr. Neeb, what are the overall figures with respect to juvenile delinquency; is there an upward or downward trend? Mr. NEEB. The general trend is up. Mr. MITLER. In the State of California? Mr. NEEB. Yes. Mr. MITLER. Have you got some general figures on that? Mr. NEEB. No; only on the narcotic figures. I limit it to that. Mr. MITLER. By the way, the figure you gave us you received through the courtesy of the California Youth Authority, Mr. Heman Stark? Mr. NEEB. Yes. Those were released as of December of this year, so they are pretty accurate and pretty recent. Mr. MITLER. To fill in the picture, do you have any figures with respect to the overall narcotics picture in California? Mr. NEEB. Yes, I do have. We expect 1956 will show about 9,000 felony arrests for narcotics in California, and we figure that if you arrest 1 out of 5 users in a year, you are doing pretty good; and if those figures hold, you would have about 45,000 narcotic addicts in the State of California, juvenile and adult. Mr. MITLER. As a result of your examination of these people and the institutions in your overall study, could you tell us about what age do most of these people have their first contact with narcotics in California? Mr. NEER. Well, I personally have never interviewed addicts-and I have interviewed a lot of them-who didn't say they started in their early teens, and every one of them says the start was with marihuana. Mr. MITLER. Can you tell us something about the population makeup of those people who are addicts, and especially those under 21? Mr. NEEB. Yes. Nationally, you have a trend in every State, it is racial, and depends on locality or neighborhood problems. California has no connection whatever with race or locality. The narcotic problem there cut across all phases of society, and we cannot find out why we are different than the national trend, but we are. Mr. MITLER. Tell me Chairman KEFAUVER. By "all phases," you mean well-to-do children Mr. NEEB. Yes. Chairman KEFAUVER (continuing). Poor, regardless of their ethnic background? Mr. NEEB. Yes. It doesn't seem to run like it does in other cities. For instance, I haven't been there, but the investigation indicates that in New York you can draw a line around the area where you have narcotic addiction; but in California, you can't draw a line around anything, and you can't limit it to just the big cities. Chairman KEFAUVER. Well, you undoubtedly have more in slum areas than you do in nonslum areas. Mr. NEEB. Yes, you do. I think if you interviewed a hundred addicts, you would find the two reasons they give for addiction is availability and environment. Mr. MITLER. Mr. Neeb, did you discover what the source of the drugs was that were used by these young people in California, where did they mostly come from? Mr. NEEB. Well, we made an extensive study of sources of supply. There are three sources of drugs in California, and by that I mean the heroin drug. One is the Mediterranean heroin that comes out of Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Yugoslavia, and India. It is manufactured in France and in Italy, and some of the other countries, and exported through the Mediterranean. We have positive indication that it is run by the Mafia, because if you wanted to check the arrests for smuggling on the eastern seaboard for 10 years back, I think you would find you would be surprised how many Sicilians are involved, and there those same names turn up again in Central and South America, still in the smuggling business, after they are released from some incarceration in this country. The second source is Mexico. Mexico supplies us with what is known in the trade in California as brown heroin. It is called brown heroin because it is not refined very well, and it is not as strong. And Mexico is almost the exclusive source of marihuana. Stopping there a moment, I want to say this to you gentlemen : The marihuana problem in California is far more serious than anyone in this country realizes, because it is the cause of addiction. The young people can get it for a dollar, and it is child's play to obtain it. The third source is becoming perhaps an international incident, almost, and that is the tremendous quality of the heroin that comes from China. It is getting Chairman KEFAUVER. You mean "quantity"? |