Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-06-23
District Drug Sales
Investigated by Police


'Iasthmatic patient he does no
;lsee. He said her maid comes Il
ibis office twice Q week to picl
,lup the prescription. He told po'
,Ilice he did not believe she wal
Ian addict before she came :,
him but that undoubtedly sh,
Ills now. He said there was moth,
ling he could do about It, tina
.|she would call him saying sh,
,Ihad broken her bottle or tel
some other story and he woult
Igive her another prescription.
High Daily Intake
In another case, q check O
prescriptions showed q doctor
'Ihad given his patient 727 pre-
Iscriptions for dolophine hydro,
Chloride In less than two years
His average daily intake wa.
'lmore than twice the maximum
'Iprescribed dosage for this syn,
lthetic narcotic. When polio,
found what had happened, q de.
Elective recommended that he &
to q specialist Of his own choos.
ing for treatment Of his ailment
The specialist hospitalized thu
90-pound man, he was with.
drawn from his addiction and
gained 20 pounds. He told police
Irecently that he had not gone
back to dolophine. that he hac
pain occasionally from his all.
ment, but preferred to take i
rather than become addicted
again.
Capt. Mccormick cited othei
practices which police believe
contribute to the addict prob.
Hem. One Of them was doctor.
leaving signed prescription pad:
with pharmacists -an illegal anc
potentially dangerous practice.
He also warned against doc
tors submitting prescriptions fol
narcotics to pharmacists in per.
son and receiving the narcotics
themselves. Police recognize that
emergencies arise where this has
to be done. but 1t also has beer
done where the doctors them.
selves were addicted.
In the past nine months, 20.
lice reported. three doctors whose
addiction was discovered through
drug store checks have beer
committed for treatment. They
maintained their addiction b.
writing the names Of patients
on prescriptions but keeping the
drugs for themselves.
Druggists Help
To check this danger, police
have asked pharmacists to note
the doctors. name, the time and
the date when a doctor picks
UP q prescription himself.
The drug store checks often
lead detectives to query patients
to determine whether they are
actually getting the narcotics
It was these checks that proceed
ed contamination Of the doctor
addicts. Also through these
checks, police have run into doc
tors who said they didn't realize
they had written that many
prescriptions for one patient
over q period Of q few months.
And through these checks, DO.
lice have come upon some addlcts
desperately in need Of hospital.
ization for their addiction. Sew.
eral Of the addicts were discover.
ed in checking the records Of 9
general practicianer who appar-
emily dispensed In q year as much
narcotics as d. c. Hospital uses
in the same period.
One patient whose preScrip-
tons were checked had accum-
lated such q supply that police
learned he was selling q powerful
narcotic at fancy prices.
Questioned about the police
findings. John E. Donaldson.
president Of the Board Of Phar-
macy. said he had heard that
some doctors were prescribing
large quantities on single pre-
scriptions.
ITS really not the place Of
pharmacists to question a doc
tors prescription" he added,
but where prescriptions start
showing up quite often for mar
cotics for the same patient, the
pharmacist has q moral RESPONSE
bility to call the case to the at
tention Of the narcotics squad
to let police make an investiga-
ton Of whether there is O real
medical need"
Majority Conform
He said he believed the vast
majority Of pharmacists con.
form to the spirit and the letter
Of the law. He added. however
that he believed more police