Since that time I have tried repeatedly to stop and reduce the quantity of the drug, but have found it impossible because of the physical pain and exhaustion due to the lack of the drug. This is unbearable. I have since then kept my daily amount of morphine medication at a minimum which permitted me to work and to maintain good health and bodily function. The idea which I have heard so often expressed, that addicts tend to increase their daily intake of narcotic, is certainly untrue in my case, and there seems to me no reason nor temptation to do so. I have simply found the smallest amount which would keep me from physical suffering, and have experienced no difficulty in maintaining that dosage, except in occasional emergencies of gall-bladder attacks or other crises, after which I found it a simple matter to discontinue the excess dosage. As I have never experienced the slightest pleasurable or sensually enjoyable sensations from the administration of morphine, there seems to me no foundation for this prevalent idea of tendency to increase. It may be true of the degenerate who has become addicted, but it certainly is untrue in my case, and must be untrue of the thousands like me whose misfortune it has been to become afflicted with this condition. Recently I have again consulted specialists, and it seems that with my condition I must continue the administration of morphine for the present, and perhaps for the rest of my life. Physical conditions render present attempts to discontinue its use impractical, undesirable and dangerous. Now what am I to do under the present “Drug Habit” laws of this State? I am a lawyer long past middle age--have held important state and judicial positions, and many positions of responsibility and trust. It would be ruinous to me if my addiction condition became public. This law was enacted to control the drug traffic and to stop the evils which are connected with it. In many respects it is an excellent law, but the provisions which require the record of the name, age and residence of the addict to be filed in the Board of Health Office is outrageous. It does not affect the underworld, for they don’t care and avoid registration by not going to those who have to register them. But see the position of a man who has a good reputation and standing in the community--forever recorded in the records of the State Board of Health as a “dope fiend,” even though his condition is not the result of his own acts or desires and absolutely beyond his control.