Spread of Cocain Traffic
About a year ago, Dr. Courtois-Suffit, a medicolegal expert, presented, in collaboration with Dr. René Giroux, a communication to the Academy of Medicine on the inadequacy of the law of July 12, 1916, in connection with the campaign against cocainomania (The Journal, Aug. 20, 1921, p. 633). In the meantime, Suffit and Giroux have pursued still further interesting investigations on the traffic in cocain. The number of arrests on the charge of trafficking in cocain has increased four-fold, from fifty-three in 1916 to 212 in 1921.In order to escape the vigilance of the police, traffickers in cocain have, of late, invented a number of schemes, some of them quite ingenious. They sell the drug in counterfeit wristwatches, medallions, or powder boxes with a double bottom. Some go about as truckers, selling tangerines containing a supply of cocain; others offer for sale artificial flowers which have