Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-04-25
Urge
Quarantine Of
Drug Addicts
Permanent Farm
Is Suggested for
Chronic Offenders
BY MIRIAM GUTENBERG

The Senate Judiciary Commit
tee today called for quarantine OF
chronic drug addicts.
The unprecedented proposal,
stemming from year-long in
vestigation by its narcotics SUBJ
committee, would bar addicts
from treatment at a Federal mar
cotics hospital more than three
times.
Four time losers would be sub
ject to proceedings labelling them
"habitual narcotics addicLs" and
committing them To 'indetermi-
nate quarantine-type of confine-
ment" on a narcotics farm set up
under Federal-State planning
and financing.
In Senate File
The quarantine proposal was
one of the highlightS of a report
on treatment and rehabilitation
of narcotics addicts to be filed
in the Senate today by the SUBJ
committee chairman. Senator
Daniel. Democrat of Texas, is tC
be followed by legislative pro-
.posals to carry out the recon-
ImendationS.
The Daniel report devoted
more than half its attention to
knocking out proposals for
clinics where addicts would
legally get narcotics free OF
charge in the course of rehabili-
.tation. The clinic plan was pro-
posed by the New York Academy
|of Medicine and subsequently ap-
proved by the New York Medical
Society.
The plan for legal distribution
Iof narcotics was described in
the report as totally unWork-
able, completely contrary tc
accepted medical practice ano
theory and would aggravate
rather than solve the problem
of drug addiction"
After rejecting the clinic plan
the report advanced the Daniel
committees own program for
coping with the contagious
disease" of drug addition.
Provisions of Plan
Here are some of the high
lights:
l. All voluntary commitments
to Federal narcotics hospitals
would be banned. The committee
found that two-thirds of those
now being admitted to these
hospitals are voluntary patients;
rs per cent of the voluntary cases
leave before the end of the min
imum recommended period of
treatment, and some of them
have been in and out of the
hospital as much as 80 times
without once staying long enough
to be cured"
2. All admissions to the two
Federal narcotics hospitals would
be processed through Federal or
State courts with mandatory
period of treatment. The States
would pay for their residents.
3. Each State would be as
signed quota of addict-patients
who could be admitted to the
Federal hospitals at any one
time. In the few States where
addicts exceed quotas. the States
themselves would be responsible
for establishing special hospital
facilities.
4. In order to obtain a quota,
each State would have to satisfy
the Surgeon General that it had
established suitable follow-up
facilities to help addicts after
their hospital discharge and to
check on any relapse into addic-
ton. The committee found the
failure of local communities to
provide Observation-Disclosures IA
cilities for addicts was mainly
responsible" for the fact that
less than IS per cent Of those
treated at the Federal narcotics
hospitals stay off drugs after
their release.
5. Addicts committed to the
Federal hospitals under the pro-
posed program would have to re-
main on probation at least three
-