Evening star., 1954-12-30
Addicfs Law :
Now Working,
Rover Says
GroupsCo operating;
Plan Going Smoothly
After o Rocky Start
By Miriam Gutenberg

After q Rocky Stort
By Miriam Gutenberg
United States Attorney Leo A.
Rover today reported that the
Districts dope addict law is now
working smoothly with several
addicts coming in each week.
The law, In operation since
last May, had been used sue
cessfully in only two cases by
October IA when The Star dis
closed how sparingly it was be-
ing invoked.
Agencies Get Together.
Thereafter. all the affected
agencies got together, and public
cooperation was sought. These
are the results reported by Mr..
Rover:
/. Thirty-two petitions have
been fled for the commitment of
dope addicts for compulsory
treatment until they are rehabil-
itated.
2. OF these 80 cases. 16 addicts
are now in the Public Health
Service Hospital at Lexington,
KY, or on their way there. Four
others are in District General
Hospital for a months physical
examination to determine If they
should be committed to Lexing-
ton.
3. Mr.. Rover thinks the law is
now working well enough that
no additional legislation to tight
en- 1t is needed at this time.
4. One of the first addicts COM
nitted. under the law is now
ready for release from Lexing-
ton. Mr.. Rover has proposed and
Commissioner Renah Camalier
has agreed to submit to the Com
missioners for action a plan to
have returning addicts report to
the new court clinic-the Health
Departments Division of Legal
Psychiatric Services - for their
two-year probationary period.
Officials Dissatisfied.
At the time The Star looked
into the operation of the law
or lack Of operation-in October,
the officials who were supposed |
to be making the law work COM |
planned that addicts went under
ground and couldn't be located,
that families refused to CO.
operate and that the law needed |
to be frightened.
Police Chief Robert v. Murray
and Mr.. Rover agreed, however,
that few efforts had been made
to see If the law would work.
Mr.. Rover invited all the officials
involved in operating the law to
q conference to smooth out the
difficulties. Chief Murray had
Detective E. E. Ernst of the
Narcotics Squad assigned ex-
clusively to working under the
new law.
At the same time, Mr.. Rover
personally went into action to
reach the public-on the theory
that If parents realized their
loved ones could get free treat
ment without notoriety or a
criminal record, more young
addicts would come in for hos
pitalization. He wrote to United
Community Services for trans
mission to family agencies, to
the medical and psychiatric
societies. the Welfare Depart
ment and the bar associations.
Receives Good Response.
"We have had good response
to those letters" he said. IT
can't say how many addicts
have come in because of them
but we have had very CO.
operative responses from the
agencies and societies and am
sure Of their help"
He said he believed publicity
assuring addicts that this was
q non-criminal procedure had
been helpful and he commended
both Detective Ernst and As
sistant United States Attorney
Kitty Frank for their work.
Mr.. Rover said he had pro-
posed to Mr.. Camalier that the
Health Departments clinic serv-
ing the courts should be used for
the probation period after hos
pitalization for several reasons.
He pointed out that the law pro-
vides that the addict should re-
port to the Commissioners or
their authorized agent rather
than to the court probation Of
flce to preserve the non-criminal
nature of the proceedings.
The clinic, headed by DR.. /
Thomas e. Griffin, is centrally
located, has social workers on
its staff, has the authoritarian
atmosphere of being in the court
building and is under the Com
missioners. Mr.. Rover pointed
out.
No Formal Test Of Law.
No formal test of the laws
constitutionality has yet been
made. The closest to such an
attempt came when three addictS
who had volunteered for treat
ment under the law got to Lex
ington and apparently decided
they wanted to get out. Before
the law was passed they could
have left. Now they can't until
they are rel1abilitated. So the
three including q husband and
wife filed petitions for writs of
habeas corpus. The judge dis
missed the writs without ruling
on the constitutional question,
Mr.. Rover reported.
A few of the addicts against
whom proceedings had begun
got into criminal trouble before
they could be located. They win |
probably go to Lexington-but
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