NARCOTICS Since the true narcotics are used primarily by doctors in seriously ill, usually hospitalized patients, these patients are not likely to be driving at all. In the unusual situation where narcotic medication is indicated and the doctor permits driving, he will undoubtedly advise necessary precautions. However, a narcotic addict—or a person "experimenting" with the wares of the dope peddler-is a real threat to highway safety. These drugs affect judgment, produce drowsiness, interfere with concentration, impair vision, and release inhibitions against reckless driving and other improper behavior. DRUGS PLUS ALCOHOL ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS Everyone knows the dangers of driving while under the influence of alcohol. Not so many know how the drugs discussed above threaten driving safety. But still fewer know that the combined effects of these drugs and alcohol may be exceedingly dangerous. The combined results may be much more dangerous to health and to highway safety than the effects of either the alcohol or the drugs alone. The scientific term for the reaction effect is "synergism." The old adage, "If you drink, don't drive," is still good. But here are some additional rules that may save your life—or the other fellow's: 1. If you are ill, see your doctor. 2. If your doctor prescribes drugs, ask him about driving while on the medication. 3. If you drink, don't drive; but ask your doctor about the combined effects of alcohol and any medicine he prescribes. 4. Don't ask your druggist to violate the law by selling dangerous drugs without a prescription, and don't buy from one who will. 5. Don't allow filling station or truck stop operators to sell you any drugs. These operators may be good mechanics for your automobile or truck, but your body is a much more valuable and delicate-machine. The organizations of professional drivers and of persons serving the driving public endorse this policy as being in the best interest of the driver. If you are offered any of these drugs under circumstances which arouse your suspicions, get in touch with the Food and Drug Administration office serving your area or the headquarters office at Washington, D.C. The Food and Drug Administration gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the National Association of Truck Stop Operators, the American Trucking Associations, and the National Safety Council in the preparation and distribution of these leaflets. Mr. LARRICK. However, educational efforts have not eliminated serious abuses resulting from nonmedical uses of dangerous drugs. The House Subcommittee on Narcotics, already referred to, recommended to the Ways and Means Committee in 1956 that the manufacture and distribution of both amphetamines and barbiturates should be subject to more stringent Federal controls, including penalties for their unauthorized possession. The committee concluded that these drugs should be regulated under the commerce clause of the Constitution rather than the taxing power. The subcommittee found among other things that illicit traffic in these drugs, unlike the traffic in narcotics, attacked small as well as large communities. It found that a problem of growing proportions had been created by chronic users of barbiturates and amphetamines who were a menace to the public when driving on our streets and highways. In our experience these findings are more significant today than they were in 1956. Since that time, the problem has greatly increased. The illegal traffic in amphetamines spawned in the truck stops, service stations, and roadside taverns has spread throughout the Nation. Organized criminal rings bootleg these and other psycho 1 Report to the House Committee on Ways and Means from the Subcommittee on Narcotics, p. 24, May 10, 1956. toxic drugs. Some rings cover many States, and deal in millions of tablets and capsules. Amphetamines, for example, can be purchased at wholesale and at less than $1 per thousand and sold at wholesale in the illegal traffic at $30 to $40 per thousand and at retail at 5 to 10 cents each. The very substantial profits involved have contributed to the magnitude of this job. The FDA program against illegal distribution of these drugs is conducted primarily by inspectional staffs located in 18 district offices. However, investigation of illegal sales of prescription drugs represents only a small part of our inspection activities and responsibilities. We must also inspect over 100,000 food, drug, and cosmetic establishments and collect samples of their products. In fiscal year 1964, we used only 56 inspector man-years out of a total force of 687 man-years to investigate illegal drug sales, primarily sales of amphetamines and barbiturates. Our undercover investigations start when we receive information from a variety of sources indicating serious violations. State and local officials participate extensively in this work. Our district offices receive many times more leads to illegal drug sales than we can pursue. The illegal sale of prescription drugs constitutes the largest block of serious and deliberate criminal violations we uncover each year. In the 12-year period ending June 30, 1964, over 2,100 firms and individuals were convicted of illegal sales of amphetamines or barbiturates. This is an average of over three convictions per week since 1952, and the rate is increasing. In recent years our investigations have become increasingly hazardous. Inspectors who engage in undercover work often put their lives in jeopardy because hardened criminals are taking over these rackets. Our agents, undercover agents, have been informed repeatedly by drug bootleggers that the latter would kill them if they turned out to be Government men. On July 4, 1963, one of our inspectors posing as a drug peddler from the Midwest was held at gunpoint in Los Angeles for over 5 hours by an amphetamine distributor who repeatedly threatened to kill him. The distributor, himself, was a heavy user of amphetamines, and has a criminal record five pages long. We have been very concerned about the hazards risked by our employees while making such undercover investigations. For several years we have had a small program to train the agents in self-protection and proper methods of conducting the investigations, and have participated in excellent training schools conducted by the Bureau of Narcotics, certain Defense Department units, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Academy. An expanded, though still modest program is presently underway to train a small group of selected inspectors to make use of special law enforcement techniques. Over one-half million amphetamines and barbiturates were seized in 1961 when an undercover buy was made from the supplier of a syndicate making wholesale distribution of millions of tablets throughout the Southeastern United States. Nearly 1 million amphetamine tablets were seized in November 1962 from a man who offered to sell FDA and the Tennessee investigators, working together, one-half million tablets at a time. Cases in which peddlers offer to sell tens of thousands of tablets per transaction have become fairly commonplace. Here is a photograph of the drugs which one of our undercover agents purchased in a single buy from a North Carolina bootlegger in November of last year. You see in this photograph over 100,000 tablets and capsules which were involved in this transaction. Senator YARBOROUGH. Is this the photograph in which over 100,000 amphetamine tablets were being sold by a North Carolina bootlegger? Mr. LARRICK. That is exactly right, Senator Yarborough. Senator YARBOROUGH. I notice you have different colors, red, white, orange, green, and black. Mr. LARRICK. The drugs are the same, but they just are different colors, just different colors. Senator YARBOROUGH. Are not the properties relatively the same or are they vastly different in those different colors? Mr. LARRICK. No; the different color does not make any difference in their characteristics. They are capable of overstimulation and causing various types of harm which I have described. (The photograph referred to above follows:) This represents the drugs in a single buy made by an undercover agent in North Carolina during November of 1963. Over 100,000 tablets and capsules of amphetamine and barbiturates were involved in this transaction. chase was made from a bootlegger who sold in wholesale-size lots. The pur FDA Photo Senator YARBOROUGH. At what price did the bootlegger sell at wholesale? Do you have the figures? Mr. LARRICK. It was running at about $30 a thousand. Mr. LARRICK. That is right. He could buy them at a dollar a thousand. Senator YARBOROUGH. And those 100,000 will sell to the retail trade at what price? Mr. LARRICK. 5 to 10 cents per tablet. Senator YARBOROUGH. All right. Go ahead. Mr. LARRICK. In order to make these seizures under existing law we have had to improvise and take chances on our ability to establish the prior interstate shipment of the drugs. In an effort to assess the use and potential misuse of these drugs, we conducted a survey of all known manufacturers, brokers, and distributors of basic amphetamine and similar stimulant chemicals and of barbiturates. We wanted to obtain accurate and current information about the amounts produced, the amounts exported and imported, and the identity of all firms engaged in such enterprise. Unfortunately, our survey of production figures was incomplete because records kept by several basic manufacturers were inadequate and also because two of the Nation's largest pharmaceutical firms declined, as was their right, to provide the information requested. Nevertheless, we did learn that at least enough basic material was produced in 1962 to make over 9 billion doses of barbiturates and amphetamines. Probably half of these end up on the bootleg market. While we have been discussing barbiturates and amphetamines almost exclusively, it is important to point out that this bill is aimed at other types of drugs capable of causing similar or related ill effects and there are a number of such drugs already known to be misused to some extent. For example, you undoubtedly recall rather extensive publicity some months ago about serious abuses that have developed around some of our larger educational and research institutions from experimentation with drugs which produce hallucinations and other mental aberrations when administered in very minute doses. One of these is a chemical commonly referred to as LSD25 (its chemical name is d-lysergic acid diethylamide tartrate). In addition to producing the immediate hallucinations and aberrations which the experimenters sought, this drug has been found capable of inducing lasting changes in the mental and emotional stability of some users and there are instances in which college students who took doses of the drug for thrills or for nonscientific experimentation became disturbed to the point that they had to leave college or even enter mental institutions. The drug also produces strong suicidal tendencies in some victims. We have just terminated an action, Mr. Chairman, in the Federal court, against two men who were arrested on April 3, 1963, when they attempted to sell an FDA inspector $15,000 worth of LSD 25 at his home. On other occasions they had offered over $165,000 worth of the drug to FDA undercover inspectors. Statements made to our investigators before the trial and testimony given during the trial indicated that this drug was manufactured in Israel, shipped to Mexico, smuggled into California, transported to Canada, and returned to California where we were able to apprehend it. Senator YARBOROUGH. Mr. Commissioner, will you pause for a moment. I see Senator Dodd, the author of this bill, has come into the room, though he modestly remains in the back. Senator Dodd, would you come around and join us on the bench? You are to be the next witness. Mr. LARRICK. If he wishes, I would be glad to step aside. Senator YARBOROUGH. Come around, Senator Dodd, and join us. I know your plane was delayed. We are glad to have you here. We know you have pushed this legislation so diligently over the years. Senator DODD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am sorry I was late. Senator YARBOROUGH. Proceed, sir. Mr. LARRICK. The evidence indicated that while the drug was in Canada, the two defendants had a party attended by several other people at which LSD 25 was consumed. One of the persons present was a newspaperman who wished to leave early. The defendants beat him up very severely, carried him back to the house where the party was being given, held him prisoner for approximately 24 hours, and then realizing that he was seriously in need of medical attention, arranged for him to be attended by a physician and transferred to a hospital where he underwent treatment for several days. The defendants, Bernard Roseman and Bernard Copely, were charged with nine counts of smuggling, misbranding the drug, dispensing a prescription drug without a prescription, and conspiracy. The Honorable George B. Harris, Federal court judge, sentenced Copely and Roseman to 5 years each on two smuggling charges, and 1 year each on seven charges of violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. In sentencing the defendants, Judge Harris, a distinguished and eminent jurist, said: I think there is a very grave responsibility upon the part of the Food and Drug authorities to make appropriate recommendations to such congressional committees as may be involved with respect to appropriate legislation in connection with this type of drug as in connection with kindred types of drugs.1 We are pleased to bring his views as well as ours to your attention today. President Kennedy, in his consumers' protective message of March 15, 1962, recommended legislation which would establish an enforcible system of preventing the illicit distribution of habit-forming barbiturates and amphetamines. In September 1962, the President called the White House Conference on Narcotic and Drug Abuse. In discussing the problems associated with narcotics and other drugs, the President said: One problem meriting special attention deals with the growing abuse of nonnarcotic drugs, including barbiturates and amphetamines. Society's gains will be illusory if we reduce the incidence of one kind of drug dependence, only to have new kinds of drugs substituted. The use of these drugs is increasing problems of abnormal and social behavior, highway accidents, juvenile delinquency, and broken homes. The abuses associated with the nonmedical use of barbiturates and habit-forming stimulant drugs were also considered in some detail in the final report of November 1963, of the President's Advisory Commission on Narcotic and Drug Abuse. Mr. Chairman, your subcommittee now has before it S. 2628, a bill designed to deal with the problem of the illegal traffic in psychotoxic drugs such as barbiturates and amphetamines by regulating 1 United States v. Roseman, D.N.D. Calif. (Crim. No. 39,333) June 3, 1964. |