Drug Addiction Allegations

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31211, 8 November 1966, Page 1

Drug Addiction Allegations

(from Out Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, November 7. .Allegations that some cases of drug addiction are being increased rather than cured in New Zealand mental hospitals have been made by a committee of the New Zealand Medical Association, operating from Oakley and Kingseat hospitals.

“At the mental hospitals the new cases mingle with the ‘old lags,' ” says the secretary of the group. Dr T. Malcolm-Smith. “From these they acquire bad habits and a bad outlook. “They learn the underworld jargon, and who to go to for a fix. Sometimes, after years of struggling against developing habits of addiction, they acquire an encyclopaedic

schooling into the whole ritual in a few days. “They might be offered illegal supplies at grossly inflated prices. We heard of one new entrant being offered a dozen pethedine tablets for £lO. “We conclude that if anyone has a friend or relative in early trouble, it would be unwise to have them sent to the mental hospitals in their present grossly understaffed condition. It is better for general practitioners to look after such cases themselves. “We heard of one addict

who, while allegedly undergoing treatment for alcoholism, went to a nearby store and bought methylated spirits which he consumed himself and induced another alcoholic and a narcotics addict to join him. “At least patients under their own general practitioner are not exposed to such undesirable influences. “Once their supplies sud-

denly fail addicts are likely to gravitate to institutions where somebody will acquaint them with underground channels. For this reason no general practitioner should arbitrarily and suddenly cut off supplies to a patient he finds developing an addiction.

“Faced with this situation it is his duty to warn the patient and advise him to discontinue, but he should not use his position to obstruct supplies. “The decision should be the patient’s. Likewise, we might advise a patient to stop smoking, but who would recommend interfering to the extent of trying to cut off his supply of cigarettes? “Long hospital waiting lists, especiallly for painful conditions attended with the additional worry, may be an important initial pressure towards addiction. Compulsory confinement is liable to aggravate matters. Old timers are visited by their friends, who

have probably been previous patients, and bring supplies for their “friends in need.’ “A doctor who thinks he is helping a patient with an early addiction problem by sending him to a mental hospital is only likely to get him into deeper trouble. “If general practitioners undertake such care, how can they be sure the patient will not play several doctors simultaneously? This could be overcome by efficient sorting of narcotic scripts centrally in the Health Department offices, surely not too difficult a task in these days. “Even visitors to patients are not immune to being invited to try a fix or attend a ‘high’ party. Patients are likely to go for weeks without seeing a doctor, and in two cases we heard of patients signing themselves out because nothing had been started after a reasonable interval—two weeks in one case, four weeks in another.”