FROM 1923: THE DRUG HABIT

Nerve specialists believe that those most subject to become drug
addicts are of the unstable and neurotic type. In this connection it
is maintained that some neurotics, if not actually insane, are on the
border line of insanity.

Dr. H. Campbell, of London, a noted nerve specialist, says that the
tendency to take drugs and become addicts depends upon the
peculiarity of the blood composition. He does not believe there is
much use in attempting to treat those belong to the strictly
degenerate or weak-willed class, and there is nothing to be done in
their case save to put them in custody.

In other cases where there is a chance of breaking the habit of drug
using there is necessity for infinite tact on the part of the
physician. He must have both firmness and kindness. The most that can
be hoped for from institutional treatment is to attend to the
patients' general health and reduce the daily dose to tolerable proportions.

In the campaign everywhere against the drug-taking habit there is not
sufficient attention paid to the relation between the habit and a
form of insanity, with the result that the punishment meted out is
too often of the crude variety.

Daily Colonist

Feb. 4, 1923