A vicious circle

uring the 1850s, opium addiction was a major social concern in the United States and was handled by providing opium addicts with a less potent and supposedly “non-addictive” substitute – morphine. Morphine addiction soon became a bigger problem than opium addiction.⁽¹¹⁾

As with opium, the “solution” to the morphine problem was another “non-addictive” substitute — heroin, which proved to be even more addictive than morphine. With the heroin problem came yet another “non-addictive” substitute. The new drug was developed in Germany during the 1940s and named “Adolphine,” after Adolf Hitler.^{(12, 13)}

Adolphine was later renamed methadone and was soon being widely used as a treatment for heroin addiction. Unfortunately, it proved to be even more addictive than heroin.⁽¹⁴⁾

No, drug addiction is not resolved by substituting one addictive drug for another; it is solved by freeing the individual from the harmful effects of drugs and enabling him to handle life without drugs. The simplest solution, of course, is to never get started on drugs in the first place.