"I have heard what you say, but I shall not believe it until it has been demonstrated to me," he declared.
I demonstrated it, and convinced him. A similar skepticism remains general throughout the medical profession.
The experience that the medical profession has already had in New York State as the result of prohibitive legislation indicates the many problems that arise immediately after the drug is put beyond the reach of those who have acquired the habit. It is only natural that the unscrupulous should seek to take advantage of the opportunities created by this situation. Without proper treatment, an habitual drug-user cannot endure the agony of deprivation until a definite physiological change has occurred; so that unless the medical profession is informed of this fact, and the community at large is provided with facilities for the administration of the required treatment, it is almost inevitable that restrictive measures will be followed immediately by the victimization of the unfortunate by the unscrupulous. One detail of the peril to society which may accrue from a general cessation of the drug traffic without the provision of proper facilities for the care of those who have been its victims is that those who are accustomed to drugs, on being suddenly deprived of them, almost invariably turn to alcohol for stimulation and, without being the least relieved of the drug habit, with abnormal speed become alcoholics. Modern society presents few spectacles of suffering more acute than that endured by the drunken drug-fiend. Few persons, moreover, are so dangerous to its welfare.
Constantly I must lay emphasis upon the responsibility of the physician in regard to drug habits. This phase of the subject must be an ever-recurring one, because the whole unpleasant situation has grown out of medical ignorance. While treatment for drug-users is at last making headway, for a long time experimentation had no chance save with a small number of broad-minded and bright-minded doctors who were able to shake off the shackles that held the less intelligent members of their profession.
When I made public the formulas of my treatment, I did not understand this phase of medical ethics. I assumed that certain dangers might arise from the probable activities of the omnipresent medical faker, who without any genuine effort to administer my treatment properly would advertise it widely, and thus victimize the innocent. I also assumed that the medical profession would eagerly grasp the idea, put the treatment into operation, to their own benefit and that of the world at large, and by the very beneficence of their work far more than offset the harm the charlatans would do.