DRUG ADDICTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19136, 2 April 1924, Page 10

DRUG ADDICTS.

TO TUK LIMIT IB has been borne in upon mo that the laws in respect to the treatment <>t Chinamen convicted of having opium in the form of smoking in tlmr i)tn-fic»“ion, at'' wrong. I am vety ditiiuciit in apptmulling this matter, hut I feel that a grave injustice is being, preiHUitated in this matter. I am not making an excuse for a person wuo allows himself In become an addict, but I am venturing a plea tor the pet son who has become an addict. 'Jo line a person T’O or iT)O, more nr less, for stunning opium in a useless expedient, M’o ilepitve absolutely a person, Chinaman or otherwise, of the means to appease the craving is pract catty to sentence bun to dentil. Tims Mr C. C. Eddy, an eminent American pharmacist: "To deprive the opium addu i suddenly and comp.c.toy of his drug is quite likely to lead through exquis.te agony to a merciful death. After some pie.iminan signs of nervous disorder, following his complete denial of the drug, the victim of the misuse ot opium coughs and chokin. and setters excruciating pains in h.s feet and logs and becomes an weak lhat he cannot stand. Then he tails to the floor, writhes in convulsions, vomits, avid doubles up with abdominal pain. Perspiration poms from bis tortured body, and lie may hnally collapse and die suddenly. These are the symptoms of naicntic poisoning, and addiction is merely the systematic use of the drug which alone can pieveut their manifestation. In those circumstances no rapid cure is possible, and mod cal treatment must take the form of the administration of tlie drug of addiction in gradually diminishing doses. In the agony of •withdrawal signs’ the relief afforded hy the use of opiates is so prompt, certain, and complete, that the victim will go to almost any lengths to obtain the drug. This is so natural that it is a mistake to suppose, that an addict, who lies and steals to obtain that without which his life is unendurable, is inherently depraved or vicious." To send an addict, shall I say to Rotorua for medical treatment, is much more sensible, to my idea, than to impose a fine. The addict must go on, unless lie is put under restraint and medically treated; his will power hrus sapped. 1 have never heard of a single case of a person mastering the craving without being under restraint and medically treated.—l am, etc., Phajim.vci.st.