The article summarized in this paper entitled, "Drug Addictions, A Public Health Problem," was originally published in 1914, and it was chosen because it provides an interesting contrast to our modern perception of drug addiction. The article first discusses a bill passed to control the distribution of drugs in the author's city and later mentions some of the underlying causes of drug addiction as believed at the time. At the time of the article, drug addiction was increasingly becoming a problem in the United States. As such, the author petitioned for a law in 1912 that would regulate the sale and distribution of illegal substances, in an attempt to wipe the drugs off the street. The crucial part of the bill was that it allowed for certain substances to be prescribed to those with a medical necessity, so as to prevent the excuse that the medically dependent were purchasing the drugs illegally only because there was no legal channel by which to purchase them. An additional purpose of the bill was for the health official to be able to get into contact with the addict himself. Under this provision, any possession of illegal drugs was deemed a misdemeanor unless the person was able to prove that he came into possession of the drug by legal ways (Terry, 1914).
             Before the bill came to be passed, there was a general meeting with pharmacists and other local officials, in order for them to criticize the bill and make changes that were appropriate. Those pharmacists who refused to comply with the law were prosecuted, as the only legal way of supplying the drugs was to follow the standards of this law. In order to make sure that the law was being followed, the author wrote down the names of all of those people who needed the drugs for medicinal purposes. In total, there were 646 such individuals. Anyone who was found with drugs who was not one of those 646 people would be breaking the law. Those 646 drug users represented about 1% of ...