DANGER OF DRUGS; TOO EASY TO GET
AUCKLAND, Thu. (Sp.).—“Drugs are too easily obtainable —the normal prescription is for a quantity which, if taken contrary to instructions, would constitute a fatal overdose,” said the coroner, Mr A. Addison, at an inquest yesterday. He said the increasing number of deaths from overdoses of drugs, besides the more numerous cases where fatal results had not eventuated, must give wide concern.
“There are two well-recognised dangers arising from the use of these drugs; the automatic repetition of dosage by the patient because of confusion of the mind from the initial does, and, secondly, the cunning and sly methods adopted by the patient to accumulate a supply,” Mr Addison went on
ly informed as to the dangers and warned to guard against them."
The coroner returned a verdict in the case of a widow who died on September 22 at her home that death was due to barbiturate poisoning resulting from a self-administered overdose of sleeping tablets.
"I suggest these dangers would be reduced if practitioners exercised extraordinary caution in prescribing; limited any prescription given to a few days’'supply, and ensued as far as possible that the administering of the drug was not left to patients, but entrusted to persons who were previous-
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Northern Advocate, 3 November 1949, Page 8
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209DANGER OF DRUGS; TOO EASY TO GET Northern Advocate, 3 November 1949, Page 8
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