Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1921-01-04
MADISON MAN IS
AFTER dope FIENDS"
Will S. Fish Tells of Efforts To
Enforce, Narcotic Law and
Draws Reply

W. S. Fish, formerly of Madison
county, and son of w. C. Fish, of
Richmond, now Federal Narcotic In
spector for the Eastern kentucky
district, has stirred up the heads of
the State Board of Heath by state.
meme he gave out in Lexington in re-
gard to enforcement of the Federal
narcotic law. .--.-.....
The Associated Press today car
ries a statement from DR.. Mccormack
stating the attitude of the Board of
Health on the question. With the
exception of short periods spent as
Inspector in New York and West Vir-
ginia, Mr.. Fish has been narcotic in
spector in kentucky for the past five
years. He attributes the. great de-
crease in the number of addicts in
this state to voluntary cures and to
enforced cures or removal from the
state due to the rigid enforcement
of the narcotic laws.
1t is the duty of Inspector Fish t.
discover and prosecute persons OBJ
tain, using, selling or prescribing the
use of narcotics unlawfuIly. In the
past there has been a great deal O.
Illicit traffic in drugs in Lexington
Mr.. Fish said, but the conditions ar
gradually becoming better. Approx
imatcly 200 violations have been re
ported in the state this year, it was
said, and large number of case;
are scheduled for trial at the January
term of federal court at Lexington.
Physicians, who themselves are adj
diets, are the most persistent anC
menacing violators of the narcotic
laws, according to Mr.. Fish, who said
that Approximately Is per cent Of tf'
physicians of the state are addict
and that fully 100 doctors in the state
are personally using narcotics obtain
ed to use in their practice.
Inspector Fish complimented drug
gists of the state on their efforts t,
cooperate with federal authorities
in the suppression of the drug traffic.
saying that fully 95 per cent of the
druggists are living up to the letter
of the law and doing everything in
their power to keep down violation ot
the law.
The greatest source Of the traffic
among those not classed as incurable
is the drug bootlegger, Mr.. Fish said
Cases pending in court show that
morphine that cost $12 an ounce a.;
high as 1925 an ounce, he said.
! The method following ir effecting a
cure is to start the patient on his
normal dose of drug and gradual?
, reducing the quantity until the pa
tent is normal and able to live with
out narcotics. If patients are given
an opportun 80 per cent Of them
will return to the use of the drug be
| fore a cure is completed, Inspector
Fish stated From three to six
months are required "to take a per-
son off the DOPE" according to Mr.
| Fish, and the patient should be kept
! under observation until he is suffici-
! emily sure of himself to be trusted
| not TO return to the use Of the drug.
Under provisions of the Harrison
Narcotic Act, drug addicts are clas-
silied under three heads. -Incurable
! atldictS are known as class No. i; the
| aged and infir1n, addicts for whom the
! drug is necessary to sustain life, are
| known as cless No. 2, and ordinary
addicts not suffering from an incur
| able disease or have not long been
an addict SO long that a cure is con-
sidered impossible, are known as class
| No. 3.
| For the first two classes provision
| is made under the law for regularly
licensed physicians to furnish narcot-
! les in the required quantities to sus-
tain life and prevent suffering. No
| provision is made for supplying the
| third class with narcotics and such
persons must show that they are in
durable OF obtain supplies of the drug
by unlawful means if they continue
! its use, Mr.. Fish said.