d-
tr ed ids,
Th ° ingle bureaucratic
tep un uthorized by Con­
gress d troyed all ho t at­
temp other than bospitaliza­
tion to tre t ddiction a
medical prob m
instead of a
crhne. y
observer ha
re ked
of addiction as a "needless
burden imposed upon the
peop , no by the conditions
inherent in the prob em of
drug addiction and not in the
operation of the la but by the
mistaken interpretation of the
law made by the Federal ar­
cotics Bureau."
Continuing he pointed out
that in examining the Harrison
Tax Act . are confronted
ith the anomaly a law
designed (as its name implies)
to p ce a tax on certain drugs,
nd raise revenue thereby,
resulted in ... developing a
smuggling industry never
before in existence. Through
oper tion of the la (as inter­
preted) there has developed
the racket of dope peddling, in
word, the whol gigantic
tructure of the illicit drug
rae et, with direct annual
nunoverofu�dofabillion
dollars."
r. Coffee ent on to sum­
marize th fmdings of the U.S.
Suprem Court in the Linnder
Case of 1925 and the igro
Case of 928 both of ich
clearly established that the
Harrison Act as. pure
revenue c� and the �
case in 1936 which established
that the federal law has no
control over th practice of a
p ofession. Said Coffee: 'Tbe
arcotics Bureau ignores
these decisions assumes
authority to prevent
physicians from e n the at­
tempt to cure n cotics ad­
dicts unless the tients are
under forced confmement."
Coffee as ed y the Har­
rison Act should not function
originally intended and as
the Supreme Court aid it
should"
Actually Congress ould
ve to no la to re-open
these clinics, other than an ap­
propri tion m ure. All that
ould be necessary ould be
a rever al in policy by the
Federal Bureau of arcotics.
Unfortuna ely, it' 00 late to
return to th simple clinic sys­
tem. It i too late to legalize
prescriptions by doctors
. I . or in
Europe, ne er fwictioned well
h reo (In 1919 the Treasury
Department estimated th t
thirty d ctors in e York
City. rote 1,500,000 legal
prescriptio for drugs each
ar. Their patient were d­
di and no control was exer­
ci ed over the drug they
bough freely 0 p- aiptio