PATHOLOGY OF DRUG ADDICTION.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 December 1923, Page 1

PATHOLOGY OF DRUG ADDICTION.

LONDON, (let. 10. The tenth Norman Kerr M-monal lecture in connexion with the . o ‘- A iVr Urn Study of Inebrity "as delivered by Sir William Wilcox (e. twuiung unheal adviser to the Home Olllcc). New

cimsliinlly discovered for tvri. !i as claimed Uii.t they did not P‘''-rc.-s l1 "' properties causing addict! m, hill > a fill trial was required before Mich :> claim cutihl ho snbstanlialod. It. "'as impos-il.lo io answer with accuracy the jin-lion whether addiction was tone moil ill Uiis countr.v, as no statistic were availaldo. 110 was of opinion that it was varar in this country among the working and prufes'-ioiial classes. . i erMius in those sections hccanio victims in sonic eases, through taking the drug in medical trcatmciU. They were the victims of a terrible habit. The habit was common among those alio devoted then lives t„ what they called pleasure-seek-ing. That canker had to be stamped out. There was also, in London and oilr great cities, the vicious group where cocaine., morphine, and heroin were the drugs. Fortunately, it was small, and its influence was not extensive. Addiction seemed to he more extensive in America than in other connivies. The causation of it in the citizen class was, it was urged, in some cases, the result of proscription of drugs for ■medical purposes. The Ministry of Health had recently appointed a committee to enquire into substitutes for cocaine and the possibility of drug addiction arising therefrom, and it "as hoped valuable information might he forthcoming from the enquiry, which would throw some light on the pathology of drug addiction. More research was needed. Tie thought legal power should he given whereby addiction could lie compulsorily fronted, as the evil w< a menace to the public health of the State. It was necessary to have confidence in our experienced administrators v ho had charge of the question, and to he temperate in demand for new legislation. for what was liasty might do more harm than good.