^P,eSrPmT'}    Number  and  Kind  of  Drug  Addicts.  419 
Through  chronic  and  incurable  disease,  2.4  per  cent. 
The  conclusions  reached  by  Terry  agree  very  well  with  those 
enunciated  by  Brown,  that  from  ninety  to  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  the 
persons  habitually  using  narcotics  do  so  entirely  unnecessarily. 
It  should  be  remembered  that  the  figures  quoted  above  refer 
solely  to  the  number  and  kind  of  addicts,  generally  recognized  as 
such,  who  use  narcotic  drugs  in  comparatively  large  amounts.  There 
is  still  another,  and  a  very  pathetic,  side  to  the  drug  addict  problem 
that  has  as  yet  received  altogether  too  little  attention.  This  problem 
involves  the  ways  and  means  of  generating  the  habit  and  also  in- 
cludes a  consideration  of  the  unfortunates  who  for  one  reason  or 
another  feel  compelled  to  continue  the  use  of  comparatively  small 
amounts  of  a  narcotic  drug. 
Practically  all  authorities  are  agreed  that  the  continued  use  of 
cocaine  is  a  vice  rather  than  a  disease,  and  the  Federal,  as  well  as 
State,  anti-narcotic  laws  appear  to  recognize  this  fact  and  provide 
special  safeguards  to  prevent  the  indiscriminate  sale  or  distribution  of 
even  small  amounts  of  cocaine  or  of  preparations  containing  it. 
With  opium,  morphine,  and  related  products,  on  the  other  hand, 
no  such  precautions  have  been  taken,  despite  the  fact  that  addiction 
to  the  use  of  these  things  is  generally  recognized  as  a  condition  over 
which  the  individual  patient  has  little  or  no  control. 
Up  to  the  present  time  altogether  too  little  authoritative  informa- 
tion is  available  regarding  the  origin  and  subsequent  progress  of  the 
condition  commonly  described  as  morphinism,  because  physicians 
usually  see  only  the  fully-developed  cases  or  the,  at  times,  spectacular 
end  results. 
The  morphine  or  opium  addict,  as  a  rule,  is  secretive  and  gen- 
erally seeks  relief  in  ways  that  are  destined  to  make  him  an  easy  prey 
for  the  charlatan  or  advertising  quack  who  promises  a  positive  cure 
with  secrecy. 
Lambert,  Towne,  and  others  who  have  made  a  study  of  drug 
addiction  agree  with  the  conclusions  of  Terry,  quoted  above,  that  a 
very  large  proportion  of  the  persons  addicted  to  the  use  of  opium 
and  its  alkaloids  have  acquired  their  habit  from  the  thoughtless 
renewal  of  prescriptions  containing  narcotics  or  by  self -medication 
with  preparations  containing  comparatively  small  quantities  of  an 
opiate. 
In  this  connection  it  may  be  said  that  it  is  not  generally  realized 
