A review of our experience with drug addicts at the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta has revealed some interesting observations. Before recounting these it may be helpful to summarize briefly the present accepted methods of treatment of drug addiction.
Like alcohol, morphine seems most abused when most prohibited. It is said that in the East, where it is used commonly in opium smoking, it is relatively much less harmful than here where the ill effects of habitual administration, particularly by hypodermic, are well known. Because of these ill effects and the sufferings of those from whom the drug was withdrawn by the Harrison Narcotic Law, several methods of treating the addiction have been evolved.
In addition to the withdrawal of the drug, all of these methods aim to prevent pain and cause sleep, to promote elimination, to support the circulation, and to improve the self-control as well as the general