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59
There is no doubt but that the misuse of drugs is a sickness and
should be treated as such. It is important, therefore, that the underlying
causes, medical, social or environmental should be discovered
and remedied or rectified.
A drug addict may be defined as a person regularly using
centrally-acting drugs to which he has become tolerant and of which
he requires increasing amounts and without which he exhibits an
uncontrollable desire.
In most cases there seems to be a progression from cannabis
through the "soft" drugs such as amphetamines to the "hard" drugs
like heroin and cocaine. Socially, this progression is paralleled
by a corresponding movement away from regular employment
through casual jobs on to unemployment, from a peaceful home
life to increasing family friction and a move into "peer" group
living eventually descending to a state of vagrancy.
It is conceded that the aetiology of drug addiction is based on
either individual or social pathology and these can be divided
roughly into two groups. Those with middle-class backgrounds
who have intellectual and artistic ambitions but who are essentially
"drop-outs" and those from "twilight" areas where social amenities
are poor or non-existent and where the inhabitants have suffered
deprivation in the past. To these, one can add those whose parents
have been re-housed en bloc to new towns or sites on the outskirts
of London.
Following recommendations made by the Brain Committee and
in an effort to contain the spread of addiction, in London, facilities
have been made available at 11 hospitals eventually for about 1,000
addicts to receive either "in-patient" or "out-patient" treatment.
This scheme is in its early infancy but it would seem that the
majority of those seeking treatment have been convicted or expect
to be charged with a minor offence and their attendance at clinics
is usually a defensive effort designed to mitigate police action.
Management of the addicts aims at (a) emergency treatment—
which tends to be mainly medical rather than social and arises
from complications such as serum hepatitis or septic conditions
resulting from the use of dirty syringes and needles, (b) regular
normal treatment, (c) maintenance treatment and finally, (d)
rehabilitation. With regard to rehabilitation and after-care of
addicts the Minister has been advised by the Committee on Drug
Dependence that, so far as London is concerned, there is a need
for 4 hostels (3 male and 1 female) for patients who have completed
"in-patient" treatment and 2 further hostels (one for each
sex) for homeless addicts attending "out-patient" clinics. It is
suggested that each hostel should accommodate up to 12 persons.