This report describes one of the first federal government attempts to determine the extent of narcotic addiction in the U.S. It shows how difficult it was to collect data and to extrapolate addiction rates from incomplete information. The high estimates of addict numbers stated in the report were wildly inaccurate, but had a great impact on policy, even after better studies (such as Kolb's) generated more accurate figures. Anti-narcotic crusaders such as Richmond Hobson frequently referenced this report to claim that there were millions of addicts in America.
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