Wikler reports on the present status in the diagnosis and treatment of addicts at the U. S. Public Health Service Hospital at Lexington, Kentucky. A new development in the field is the use of a single subcutaneous injection of N-allylnomorphine which unmasks the abstinence syndrome in a matter of minutes. At present methadone is used as a substitute for morphine in the withdrawal of the drug because it seems to make possible a more rapid withdrawal. Wikler stresses that for the rehabilitation stage of the treatment psychotherapy is the most important therapeutic factor. He then discusses barbiturate addiction which is more difficult to diagnose and to treat. Thus far the slow withdrawal of the drug plus psychotherapy is the only established treatment. At present there is some experimental investigation of cortisone in treating the abstinence syndrome.