The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-10

and good air erect an additional barrier
against the threads of. the enemy of his
body and soul. The whole problem, as DR..
Stokes sums it up, consists of, first the
withdrawal of the drug; second educational
methods, and, third the care of the patient
after he has been discharged
TOO much emphasis said he the other
day, cannot be put upon the importance Of
having control of the patients while they
are under treatment. and this be done
only through suitably equipped institutions.
These patients almost invariably overesu-
mate their mental and physical resources,
and they are apt to chafe under restric-
tons of any sort. Their care calls for nicely
of judgment, great tact and abiding pa
tience"
1t is in this situation that the city of
New York is without the facilities to ade-
quately care for the drug stricken. of whom
there are so many thousands in the streets
who touch elbows with us. The principal
hospitals. have been closed against them and
only very few, and those under exceptional
conditions. can be admitted to Riverside.
Practically the only way in which these
unfortunates can obtain the hospital treat
ment and restraint which is necessary toy
brace up their resolution is at the work
house Persons who have not the means
to go to private sanitariums to make the
HBnl their Ifldl liberty are therefore
forced either to go to the workhouse or to
struggle along in the so-called walking cure.
which at any time will prove to be in
a path beset with "pitfall and with gin"
Such are the conditions under which Miss
Graham Mulhall, First Deputy Commissioner
of Narcotic Control, is working. woman
of wealth, she has been spending much of
her own means in the aid of the addicts.
Although she has an office in East Twenty
third street, which after many months de-
lay has finally been provided by the State.
she cannot receive the drug victims there
and must use 1t only for records and for
consultation with physicians and with off,
Gals. The actual registration of the addcts
must therefore continue at the Bowery Mis-
sion. Her intimate acquaintanceship with
hundreds of addicts of drugs in this city has
given her an unusual insight into their
problems and difficulties and has inspired
her to do all in her power to assist the help
less narcotic, whom she regards both as a
public menace and a public responsibility.
why" she asks, us the narcotic addict
helpless? The overwhelming reason is that
he cannot help himself. Narcotic addiction
is not like the habit of drinking alcoholic
beverages. An habitual drunkard can. IL he
will. make a sudden determination and quit
the habit forever; misfortune or an acct
dent may stun him into a sense of resolution.
There are many instances of complete con-
version followed by immediate and lasting
abstinence have seen drunkard sobered
in twenty minutes by the shock Of receiving
a telegram announcing the death of his
mother and the change which he made In
his method of life as result Of that news
was a permanent one. The drug addict on
the other hand. cannot rid himself of his
habit alone, by the sheer force of determine
ton or a supreme act of will. No misfortune
or hope of reward is sufficient to turn him
from the course.