Sign the Resolution for a Federal
Commission on Drug Policy Sign the Resolution for a Federal
Commission on Drug Policy
Contents | Feedback | Search | DRCNet Home Page | Join DRCNet
DRCNet Library | Schaffer Library | Historical Research
The New York Times January 28, 1917
__________________
DRUG ADDICTS CURED BY NEW TREATMENT
__________________
Dr. Stokes, at City Farm, Gets Satisfactory Results in Only a Few Days
__________________
WANTS MORE PATIENTS
__________________
No preliminary Confinement in Hospital Necessary-- Victims Take on Weight Rapidly
__________________
Dr. Charles F. Stokes, former Surgeon General of the United States and a
specialist in the treatment of drug victims, who is now Director of the New York City
Inebriate Farm, has been testing a new cure for drug addiction with excellent results,
according to letters received by Chief Magistrate McAdoo and Justice Frederic Kernochan of
the Court of Special Sessions.
The letters request that as many drug addicts as possible, the worst cases preferred, be
sent to the City Inebriate Farm at Warwick Farms , Orange County, where Dr. Stokes is
carrying on the work. Members of the Board of Inebriety have received word that the
treatment, which Dr. Stokes has been working on a long time, has been used now on
twentyfive patients and has been in every case successful. The cure is said to cause no
suffering and to remove the acute effects of long use of drugs within two or three days.
One of the reported cures is that of a man addicted for seven years to morphine, who was
brought to Warwick Farms in a state of collapse. About fortyeight hours later, it is
said, he was able to walk. Within a few days, it was said, the treatment was broken off
without inconvenience to the patient and even without his knowledge. Other methods take
from ten to twentyone days to destroy the craving for drugs.
While it was formerly necessary to give a preliminary treatment to sufferers from drugs at
a hospital in this city before they were sent to Warwick Farms to have the treatment
continued and to be rebuilt physically. It is now asked that they be sent to that
institution without delay. In some cases men have gained ten pounds in a week immediately
after being received at the farm. To restore their general health and rebuild their
physical efficiency, they are kept at the farm for sixty days, however.
Because of the simplicity and short duration of the new treatment it has been found
possible, without additions to the nursing staff, to handle an increased number of drug
addicts there. There is now on the farm one nurse, and a housekeeper who acts as nurse.
One of the main features of the new treatment, if its success is established, will be the
saving of money in treating drug victims. This is now a costly process because of the long
period of nursing required. Large nursing staffs are kept at the three city institutions
for drug addicts. A request will be made for the establishment of a receiving station for
the victims, so they can be sent to Warwick Farms with as little delay as possible.
Dr. Stokes said over the telephone from Warwick Farms last night that he would have
nothing to say on the subject until a great many cases had been observed and that he would
then report to the medical profession.
Contents | Feedback | Search | DRCNet Home Page | Join DRCNet