Addiction and Opiates

CHAPTER 11 THE EFFECTS OF WORLD WAR II
The difficulty of obtaining morphine and heroin probably reduced the rate of appearance of new addicts in the
American underworld, since available supplies were inadequate even for the old users. It is therefore probable that
there was an overall decrease in the number of addicts in this country, although no good statistical evidence is available
to prove that this was true. In prewar days, the large quantities of drugs continuously flowing through underworld
channels of distribution accounted for a large proportion of the new cases that were constantly appearing. Persons who
came in contact with these drugs, or with the peddlers and addicts who handle them, were exposed to addiction. It was
relatively simple for the neophyte to obtain heroin or morphine for experimental purposes. The drug was relatively
abundant and relatively cheap. The main necessity was to have the proper connection with the underworld. On the
other hand, during the war the potential addict or the dabbler found himself crowded out by the fierce competition of
old users for an inadequate supply. Some new addicts unquestionably appeared, but their numbers were considerably
reduced.
The decline of addiction in the civilian population has, however, no doubt been cancelled, at least in part, by an
increase among the members of the armed forces. Opiates were extensively used for the relief of pain and, of
necessity, were often in the hands of persons with little or no medical training and with little conception of the danger
they represent. Under combat conditions in particular it is impossible to administer morphine with the care that is
normally exercised in peacetime medical practice. It is reasonable to suppose that some of the wounded and ill of the
armed forces became addicts; (5) and that others were exposed to addiction by experiencing the effects of the drug and
might be classed as potential addicts. As demobilization proceeds, ex servicemen of the types described are beginning
to be noticed among those who are arrested for violation of the narcotic laws. It is to be hoped that public sympathy
for wounded veterans who acquired their addiction in Army and Navy experience will lead to an examination and
overhauling of the assumptions that underlie present enforcement practices. It should be noted that after World War I
nothing of this sort occurred. The veteran who became addicted by having been gassed, for example, was treated just
like an addicted pimp or shoplifter.
There is, of course, no way of knowing in advance the precise nature of our eventual postwar narcotics problem. It is
certain however, that the problem will become more acute and that addicts will appear to be more numerous than was
the case during the war. It is possible that the postwar problem will be even more severe than the prewar problem.
Unfortunately, available statistics in the United States are not sufficiently reliable, because of the sub rosa character of
addiction, to give a dependable index of the number of addicts or of trends.
Some persons will no doubt reason that since war is a time of worry and anxiety, it is to be expected that individuals
seeking escape or relief from their worries and fears will resort to drugs more frequently than in time of peace. Though
this argument is superficially plausible, it does not take into account the fact that opiates are simply Dot accessible to
most people. Liquor is, and the argument is perhaps applicable to alcoholism. In the case of drugs, however, the
dominant statistical determinant of the incidence of addiction is not personal inclination but availability of
Addiction is common in the medical profession for that reason. Addiction declined among civilians in the United States
because drugs were exceedingly scarce and difficult to obtain; it probably increased in the armed forces because drugs
there were abundant, free, and easy of access. Addiction spreads rapidly in China because the extensive cultivation of
the poppy and the large numbers of addicts there make the drug easily obtainable.
1. Statement by Elmer Irey reported in the New York Times, July 31, 1941, P. 3, col. 2. See also The Chicago Tribune, Sept. 13, 1941, on the
increased demand for paregoric.
2. See Gerald Pie], "Narcotics; War Has Brought Illicit Traffic to All-Time Low but U.S. Treasury Fears Rising Postwar Addiction," Life (July, 1943),
15: 83-94.
3. Indianapolis Star, May 6, 1946, P. 4, MI. 7.
4. See Frederick T. Merrill, Japan and the Opium Menace, joint publication of the International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific Relations, and the
Foreign Policy Association (New York, 1942), for an excellent discussion of the opium problem in China under Japanese occupation.
5. One of the first of these cases to come to public attention was that of the late Barney Ross, who volunteered to federal authorities for the cure of
a drug habit allegedly contracted at Guadalcanal (Associated Press dispatch, September 12, 1946). See also New York Times, Jan. 11, 1947, P. 15, cOl.
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