If Addiction Is Incurable, Why Do We Try to Cure It?

Abstract

The method of controlling opiate addiction in the United States is compared with the method being used in Great Britain. Al though both start with the concept that the addict is ill and needs treatment, the methods used by the two nations are different. In the United States it is illegal for a physician to prescribe any form of opium to addicts; in Britain, registered addicts are maintained on heroin legally by authorized medical personnel. There is a small amount of illicit traffic in heroin in Britain; in the United States, the bureaucratized federal and state criminalization of addicts has created the most widespread black market in heroin in the Western world, and intensifying the criminal law penalties —which have been among the most severe in the world—has suc ceeded only in further inflating the price charged for inferior and adulterated substances. The condition of the addict in the United States continues to deteriorate. The high profits to be made by the sale of this small bulk commodity have made drugs a large con tributor to organized crime. Addiction may be an incurable dis ease. Treatment efforts have been surpassed in their lack of success only by the efforts of law enforcement to conquer addiction by making it illegal. Perhaps we should accept the addict as a person who has an incurable disease, treat him medically as required, and stop supporting unenforceable legislation.