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Narcotics Part II!
WEDNESDAY. MAY I. 1963
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, OREGON
Odds Heavily Against Drug Addict Being Cured at Treatment Center
: Ey HARRY FERGUSON
Waahington-flJPD - Curing a
person of the drug habit U
one of the supreme challenges
to medical science. A study
of 1,900 persons released
after treatment at the Public
Health Service Hospital at
Lexington, Ky., showed that
90 per cent of them went
back on drugs again and us
ually within six months.
There are two ways In
which an addict can get the
treatment at Lexington and
the other federal hospital at
Fort Worth, Tex. If he has
been convicted of a federal
offense, the Judge can order
him to take the cure. Or he
can enter the hospitals volun
tarily, ' provided beds are
available, and If he is able
pay he is charged $9.50 a day
Fans Heavy Odds
Righ from the start the
odds are heavily against him
being cured. More than one
third of the voluntary patient
can't take it, and leave with'
in two weeks. The prisoners,
of course, are forced to re
main. By the end of the first
month one-half of the volun
tary patients have given up
and departed. Fewer than
one third of them stay
long as the doctors consider
necessary. Then one out
ten succeeds in freeing him
self of drugs.
Treatment consists of
LIFE GOES ON-A woman hides her face from the camera
as she rides to market on a burro In Port au Prince, Haiti.
Haitian President Francois Duvalier, facing internal oppo
sition and a threatened invasion from the. neighboring Do
minican Republic, has vowed to resist all attempts to force
him out of office.- (UP1)
gradual withdrawal of drugs
by giving the patient decreas
ing doses. Up until 1945 the
patients were given injections
of morphine. They called this
"going to the shooting gal
lery." Sometime during World
War II a synthetic drug called
methodone was developed in
Germany. -It bears only a
slight chemical relations to
morphine or heroin and is
now used in the publl:; health
hospitals. Now the patients
say they are going lo me
cocktail lounge," meaning
they are going to drink
small glass of reddish-colored
methadone.
For a person lightly addict
ed the withdrawal period can
be over In four days, but the
heavy addict needs between
10 and 12 days. Either way,
the patient is deathly 111 be
cause all metnaaone aocs is
flatten out the peaks of pain
In an attempt to make life
endurable.
After complete withdrawal
of drugs there is a convales
cence period of two weeks.
The patient begins to nave
an appetite and gains strength,
but he will be resuess ana
irritable for several months.
Then the treatment shifts
from the body to the mind. A
narcotics addict usually Is
listless and indifferent to
everything except where he is
going to get his next shot.
At the Lexington hospital
an attempt is made to get
him interested in something-
soft bail, boxing, watching
television, bowling, going to
the movies, playing in an or
chestra, theatricals, or writing
for the hospital newspaper
called "The Blue Grass
Times." . The doctor would
like the oatient to remain in
this drug-free environment
for at least five months. Then
he is on his own.
Against all the odds, some
persons , are cured. One of
them founded Narcotics Anon
ymous after he had been to
Lexington eight times. Anoth
er one is now a public of
ficial in his home town. And
there is one man who owns
small business on the West
Coast and telephones Lexing
ton every Christmas Eve to
express his thanks.
Bad as the narcotics prob
lem is in the United States
today, there was a time when
threatened to engulf the
nation. Around 1913-14 one
American out of every 400
was an addict of some kind.
Chinese imported Into the
West Coast as laborers
brought their opium pipes
along, and the habit spread
eastward across the nation.
Opium was given to Civil
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War wounded to case their
pain, and hundreds of thou
sands of addicts were created
on the battle fields.
There was no law against
any opiate drug in the United
States, and thousands of per
sons became addicts by taking
patent medicines heavily load
ed with opium, The invention
of the hypodermic needle in
1853 made it easy to shoot
narcotics straight into the
blood stream.
Then occurred a tragic med
ical mistake. In 1898 the Ger
mans began the commercial
production of heroin, which is
an opium derivative, and it
was nailed as a miracle drug
and recommended as a cure
for persons addicted to opium
and morphine. Actually hero
in i three times as powerful
as morphine. For five years
heroin was pumped into per
sons seeking a cure for drug
addiction before an article ap
pearing in the Alabama Med
ical Journal in 1903 chal
lenged the theory that heroin
was a cure.
By 1914 the devil was loose
all across the United States
and the underworld had dis
covered there was a big bus
iness in selling adulterated
heroin. The result was the
first action on the part of the
federal government-the pas
sage of the Harrison Narcotics
Act in 1914. It allows the fed
eral government to license
drugs for medical purposes
and to war against the illegal
transportation and sale of nar
cotics. Under a Supreme Court de
cision of last year addiction
itself is not a crime. Posses
sion of narcotics Is punishable
by imprisonment for from two
to 10 years for a first offend
er. Five years is the manda
tory minimum sentence for
selling drugs. For subsequent
offenses prison sentences
range up to 40 years and a
person who sells to anybody
under 18 years of age can get
the death penalty at the dis
cretion of the Jury.
The result is that addiction
is on the decline In the United
States, but a new peril has
risen and the Federal Narcot
ics Bureau is helpless to do
anything about it. ..
(Nexti Goof balls, bennies and
the doctors' dilemma.)
Brookings Rainfall
Tapers To Trickle ';
Brookings, Ore.-(UPD-Brook-ings,
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inches of rain in the 48 hours
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