The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-11-14
In Jail Than a HabituaI Nor
phine Eater.
THEY ARE SUFFERERS
From a Diseased State of the
Nervous System
Which Needs Treatment and
Restraint in a Hospital.
Physicians and Others Express
Their Views on the Subject.

The universal opinion seems to be,
among those who have studied the
question, that arresting and placing
man in Jail for being drunk is not the
proper way to treat such cases.
The police often find persons on the
street in a drunken condition who have
homes and instead of taking them to
Jail they are taken home and cared for
there. This, of course, does not stop
drunkenness, but it is more humane
than the other way.
The policeman, as a rule, has little
faith in the idea that arresting will pre-
vent a recurrence of a drunk and if the
inebriated person has a place to go
where he will be cared for he is much
better off and so is the city than to
have him in jail.
From a phiIanthropic standpoint, as
we'll practical one, a hospital seems
the proper place in which to care for
such cases. When a man is taken to
Jail for drunkenness his mind is clOuded.
but he is awake to all the degradation
he sees around him. He is herded in
with prisoners of all kinds and deScr1p-
lions and receive no attention whatever
as no one is employed to look after
such cases. He lies in jail over night
and the next day either pays his fine
or goes to work on the rock pile. If
taken to a clean, comfortable hospital
instead where medicines and proper
treatment could be administered more
preciate what was before him and 9TH
ers would receive medical treatment
that would act as a cure for the crav-
ing for drink. Medical treatment does
not always cure, but it does in many
cases and that is more than arresting
and placing in jail ever does.
When asked about the treatment of
1nebriates in hospitals, DR. B. d East
man said: In New York and Massa-
chusetts such hospitals are conducted
and supported by the state. Special
laws are necessary to allow of the de-
tention of a person there. AT these hos
pitfalls dipsOmaniacs are treated and
some are cured and some are not as in
the treatment of other diseases The
laws would have to be made that would
allow of a patients being kept in the
hospital long enough for some good to
be derived from his confinement there.
A snort time will do no good whatever
as 1t will require from six months to
year for proper treatment to be given.
In some places laws We're passed that
when person was found drunk so
many times they had to take the Kelley
stitutionaE"
City Attorney w. A. s. Bird said. ssTn
my opinion the proper place to treat
DRINKS is in a hospital. 1t is more hu-
name and for many reasons is better
both for the person and for the CITY
i think those who sell the liouOr should
be made to pay for the treat of
the patients. In a great many cases
when a man is arrested for drunkenness
tAS CITY anu county nave TO support the
family While he is in Jail If a man is
sentenced to the rock pile it is my belief
that the work he does will not pay for
the he, expense of keeping him"
city Physician Mitchell said: ''In
some parts of the country asylums for
inebriates- are maintained. think such
q place the proper one in which to care
for drunkards 1t is certainly a more
humane way of treating them and the
Jail IS certainly not the place to keen a
drunk Drunkenness is a disease and
should be treated as SUCH
Attorney F. P. Lindsey said: '"The
asylum hospital is the proper place to
care Tor inebriates. A Jail is not a fit
place TO handle such cases. They are
certainly diseased and should be treated
IN the manner that other diseased per-
sons are and not thrown in Jail
Dr. ". B. Swan said: The iail is n
good place for some cases but a hospital
or asylum is better DRINKS should be
treated as persons addicted to
morphine and other habits are. They
should be treated for the habit and
placed where they can not obtain any
thing to drink