Gniversity of Michigan
MEDICAL SCHOOL
ANN ARBOR

DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACOLOGY

October 4, 1956

Dr. Laurence Kolb
6645-32nd Street, N.W.
Washington 15, D.C.

Dear Dr. Kolb:

I hope you will pardon the delay on responding to your letter of August 29
which enclosed the reprint of your article in the Saturday Evening Post. I am just
trying to catch up on my correspondence after returning from four months in Japan and
other parts of Asia.

I am delighted with the fact that you have taken the initiative in trying to
arouse the medical profession from their lethargy in this problem of addiction to the
opium derivatives. I am well aware of the fact that this is a long term position of
yours. I have attempted to put across the concept that the addict is a sick person to
our medical students as a buffer against the stupidity of emotional laymen and have
expressed such a position in a recent text book for medical students which you may or
may not have seen entitled "Pharmacology in Medicine”, by Drill. I am now in the process
of revising this chapter for the second edition and hope to bring this more forcibly
to the attention of the medical students.

The medical profession got off to a bad start on this problem in the ‘20's
when they in @ffect relinquished their interest in addiction as a medical problem and
turned it over to a group of social agencies. The end result is as you know better than
I, that the basic patterns of handling this problem are established by policemen rather
than physicians.

As a member on the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical
Association we recently have had the opportunity to discuss the proposals which were
presented to the House of Delegates to establish clinics for addicts, Whereas I am not
certain that this is the correct approach I was hopeful that the interest of the profession
could be aroused to do something of a constructive nature in this area. I find however
that most physicians do not want to have any part of the addiction problem and are
content to leave it alone. This statement applies not only to physicians as individuals
but collectively in the officialdom of the American Medical Association. I am certain
a large amount of re-education will be necessary.

You may be assured that I have a keen interest in this problem and will
continue to support the position which you have outlined, If I can be of aid please
do not hesitate to call on me.” ~ a

   

MHS /mak