Men, Money and Marihuana*

In speaking of men, money and marihuana as components of the drug abuse control problem, the entire subject could be summarized in one sentence. We have too few men, too little money, and too much marihuana. From the medical point of view, however, there is much more to be said. The drug problem is not about to disappear and any progress in controlling it will require the professional and personal involvement, of all physicians of all specialties.

Some of the statements made in the great drug debate which has continued for years have been noteworthy more for their emotional content than for their objectivity. In April of 1970 for example, the mayor of a town in New York State sought to allay the fears of local residents about the drug problem by saying, “The mountain will keep it out.” Obviously, the people who were producing LSD in a clandestine mountain hideaway four miles from this town had not gotten the word.

The mere mention of some components of the drug problem leads to so many differences of opinion that one thinks of the late Bertrand Russell's suggestion that there is need to develop a new declension. He suggested several models for this: “I am firm; you are insistent; he is practically pigheaded.” Or — “I think; you cerebrate; he theorizes.” Or, one which should interest psychiatrists — “I am open-minded; you are uncertain; he is positively schizophrenic.”

There is no doubt that concern over the abuse of dangerous drugs has become one of the games people play. But as drug abuse spreads throughout the country and into younger and younger age groups, it is evident that this game is for keeps. It seem apparent that if the trend is to be reversed, the medical profession must contribute its best efforts and accept a large share of responsibility for drug abuse control and prevention.

Our difficulties stem from the fact that, from earliest recorded times, opium and other narcotic drugs have been used by man. Then, as now, opium was used in medicine, but it has als