Narcotics Farm documentary:
New documentary on the Narcotics Farm (see URL below -- don't miss slideshow on that site).
also attached is a history of NIMH's role in addiction research at the end -- fascinating stuff!
October 24, 2008
Scientific American
Reaping a Sad Harvest: A "Narcotic Farm" That Tried to Grow Recovery
A federal prison in Kentucky was a temporary home for thousands, including Sonny Rollins, Peter Lorre and William S. Burroughs as well as a lab for addiction treatments such as LSD
By Charles Q. Choi
From 1935 to 1975, just about everyone busted for drugs in the U.S. was sent to the United States Narcotic Farm outside Lexington, Ky. Equal parts federal prison, treatment center, research laboratory and farm, this controversial institution was designed not only to rehabilitate addicts, but to discover a cure for drug addiction.
Now a new documentary, The Narcotic Farm, reveals the lost world of this institution, based on rare film footage, numerous documents, dozens of interviews of former staff, inmates and volunteer patients, and more than 2,000 photographs unearthed from archives across the country. Premiering October 26 on public television in Philadelphia and Salisbury, Md., the film will appear on public television stations across the country throughout November. A book accompanying the documentary includes rare and previously unpublished pictures of "Narco," as the institution was called locally, a selection of which can be seen in this slide show.
According to the book, the institution became a premier center for research into drug addiction and treatment, advancing everything from the use of methadone to treat heroin withdrawal to drugs that blocked the action of opiates. Along the way, Narco was frequented by legendary jazz musicians such as Chet Baker and Sonny Rollins, as well as actor Peter Lorre and beat generation writer William S. Burroughs, who recounted his experience in his first novel, Junkie.
The documentary also chronicles how the Farm was shut down when Congress discovered that researchers there were using patients as human guinea pigs in CIA-funded experiments into LSD. Drug research on federal prisoners is now illegal.
Still, the filmmakers note accomplishments at the institution remain milestones in addiction science and treatment. Its most important contribution might be how it transformed the way society views addicts-"as people suffering from a chronic, relapsing disorder that affects public health," says book co-author Nancy Campbell, an associate professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., who studies the history of drug addiction research.
-----------
Little background on NIMH's role in addiction research:
Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA)
ADAMHA was founded in 1973, as part of Public Health Service (PHS)/HEW by the Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Act Amendments. Various drug abuse- and mental health-related functions were handled by 3 PHS agencies: NIMH, NIDA and the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
NIMH has long been involved in drug abuse issues. This lineage began with the Narcotics Division of PHS following passage of the Narcotics Farm Act of 1929. At that time, PHS was part of the Treasury Department (although it became part of HEW in 1953). In 1930, the Narcotics Division was renamed the Division of Mental Hygiene under a law that gave the head of PHS, the Surgeon General, the authority to investigate the causes, treatment, and prevention of mental and nervous diseases.
In 1949, the Division of Mental Hygiene was abolished with the establishment of NIMH as an institute of NIH. In 1967, NIMH separated from NIH to function under a new agency of PHS/HEW called the Health Services and Mental Health Administration.
Subsequently, in 1967, the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice (aka, the Katzenbach Commission) issued a report on the nation's crime problem that included a chapter on drug abuse. In addition to recommendations for law enforcement, the report recommended that NIMH develop a core of educational and informational materials relating to drugs.
From 1967 until the early 1970's, NIMH had authority over PHS-run "narcotics farms". (Note that it was NIMH and not NIDA that ran these centers because NIDA wasn't officially created (as a part of NIMH) until 1973 and didn't become a separate institute until 1974 -- see below).
These Farms were actually hospitals that treated drug-addicted federal prisoners in Lexington, KY (hospital founded in 1935, renamed the Addiction Research Center (ARC) in 1948) and Fort Worth, TX (hospital founded in 1938). Prisoners were transferred to the Farms by court order or by volunteering for drug treatment. Volunteers were allowed to leave on 24 hr notice (or for misbehavior), although there was often a revolving door of re-entry into the treatment programs.
These facilities conducted clinical research with the prisoners on the behavioral effects of abusable drugs and potential drug abuse treatments. A proto-Narcotics Anonymous was founded at the Lexington site, following the successful AA model. The scientists at the Farms also attempted (without avail) to find a pain reliever that would not have addictive properties.
In 1970, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act (which established the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), placing abusable drugs into one of five "schedules"), identified NIMH as the agency primarily responsible for drug education and prevention activities in the federal government.
Following this law, the Federal Drug Abuse Prevention Coordinating Committee (FDAPCC) was established within NIMH in 1970 to serve as a multi-agency coordinating committee on drug abuse health education, fulfilling the recommendation of the Katzenbach Commission.
Also in 1970, NIAAA was established as a component of NIMH.
In mid-1973, NIMH (with NIAAA as a subpart) briefly rejoined NIH, then was transferred to ADAMHA when it was founded in late 1973.
As noted above, NIDA was also established in 1973, as a component of NIMH (similar to the origins of NIAAA). Thus, NIMH was the lead agency of ADAMHA, with two subpart agencies -- NIAAA and NIDA.
With the founding of NIDA, the ARC was transferred from NIMH and became the intramural research program of NIDA. The ARC and its clinical research on drug abuse was moved to new federal facilities in Baltimore on a campus of Johns Hopkins University in 1979. Basic research laboratories followed in 1985.
In 1974, both NIAAA and NIDA became separate agencies from NIMH, but all 3 remained within ADAMHA.
In 1992, ADAMHA was abolished by the ADAMHA Reorganization Act. The research branches of NIMH, NIAAA and NIDA rejoined NIH as separate institutes. Notably, the Act provided for the establishment of the Medications Development Program within NIDA to scientifically investigate potential pharmacological treatments for drug abuse.
At the same time, the treatment/service branches of NIMH, NIAAA and NIDA were placed into a new agency, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
SAMHSA consists of 3 centers: the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) and the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS). SAMHSA now manages both the DAWN survey and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH; the new name of the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse).
Everything clear, now?
: )
New documentary on the Narcotics Farm (see URL below -- don't miss slideshow on that site).
also attached is a history of NIMH's role in addiction research at the end -- fascinating stuff!
October 24, 2008
Scientific American
Reaping a Sad Harvest: A "Narcotic Farm" That Tried to Grow Recovery
A federal prison in Kentucky was a temporary home for thousands, including Sonny Rollins, Peter Lorre and William S. Burroughs as well as a lab for addiction treatments such as LSD
By Charles Q. Choi
From 1935 to 1975, just about everyone busted for drugs in the U.S. was sent to the United States Narcotic Farm outside Lexington, Ky. Equal parts federal prison, treatment center, research laboratory and farm, this controversial institution was designed not only to rehabilitate addicts, but to discover a cure for drug addiction.
Now a new documentary, The Narcotic Farm, reveals the lost world of this institution, based on rare film footage, numerous documents, dozens of interviews of former staff, inmates and volunteer patients, and more than 2,000 photographs unearthed from archives across the country. Premiering October 26 on public television in Philadelphia and Salisbury, Md., the film will appear on public television stations across the country throughout November. A book accompanying the documentary includes rare and previously unpublished pictures of "Narco," as the institution was called locally, a selection of which can be seen in this slide show.
According to the book, the institution became a premier center for research into drug addiction and treatment, advancing everything from the use of methadone to treat heroin withdrawal to drugs that blocked the action of opiates. Along the way, Narco was frequented by legendary jazz musicians such as Chet Baker and Sonny Rollins, as well as actor Peter Lorre and beat generation writer William S. Burroughs, who recounted his experience in his first novel, Junkie.
The documentary also chronicles how the Farm was shut down when Congress discovered that researchers there were using patients as human guinea pigs in CIA-funded experiments into LSD. Drug research on federal prisoners is now illegal.
Still, the filmmakers note accomplishments at the institution remain milestones in addiction science and treatment. Its most important contribution might be how it transformed the way society views addicts-"as people suffering from a chronic, relapsing disorder that affects public health," says book co-author Nancy Campbell, an associate professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., who studies the history of drug addiction research.
-----------
Little background on NIMH's role in addiction research:
Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA)
ADAMHA was founded in 1973, as part of Public Health Service (PHS)/HEW by the Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Act Amendments. Various drug abuse- and mental health-related functions were handled by 3 PHS agencies: NIMH, NIDA and the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
NIMH has long been involved in drug abuse issues. This lineage began with the Narcotics Division of PHS following passage of the Narcotics Farm Act of 1929. At that time, PHS was part of the Treasury Department (although it became part of HEW in 1953). In 1930, the Narcotics Division was renamed the Division of Mental Hygiene under a law that gave the head of PHS, the Surgeon General, the authority to investigate the causes, treatment, and prevention of mental and nervous diseases.
In 1949, the Division of Mental Hygiene was abolished with the establishment of NIMH as an institute of NIH. In 1967, NIMH separated from NIH to function under a new agency of PHS/HEW called the Health Services and Mental Health Administration.
Subsequently, in 1967, the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice (aka, the Katzenbach Commission) issued a report on the nation's crime problem that included a chapter on drug abuse. In addition to recommendations for law enforcement, the report recommended that NIMH develop a core of educational and informational materials relating to drugs.
From 1967 until the early 1970's, NIMH had authority over PHS-run "narcotics farms". (Note that it was NIMH and not NIDA that ran these centers because NIDA wasn't officially created (as a part of NIMH) until 1973 and didn't become a separate institute until 1974 -- see below).
These Farms were actually hospitals that treated drug-addicted federal prisoners in Lexington, KY (hospital founded in 1935, renamed the Addiction Research Center (ARC) in 1948) and Fort Worth, TX (hospital founded in 1938). Prisoners were transferred to the Farms by court order or by volunteering for drug treatment. Volunteers were allowed to leave on 24 hr notice (or for misbehavior), although there was often a revolving door of re-entry into the treatment programs.
These facilities conducted clinical research with the prisoners on the behavioral effects of abusable drugs and potential drug abuse treatments. A proto-Narcotics Anonymous was founded at the Lexington site, following the successful AA model. The scientists at the Farms also attempted (without avail) to find a pain reliever that would not have addictive properties.
In 1970, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act (which established the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), placing abusable drugs into one of five "schedules"), identified NIMH as the agency primarily responsible for drug education and prevention activities in the federal government.
Following this law, the Federal Drug Abuse Prevention Coordinating Committee (FDAPCC) was established within NIMH in 1970 to serve as a multi-agency coordinating committee on drug abuse health education, fulfilling the recommendation of the Katzenbach Commission.
Also in 1970, NIAAA was established as a component of NIMH.
In mid-1973, NIMH (with NIAAA as a subpart) briefly rejoined NIH, then was transferred to ADAMHA when it was founded in late 1973.
As noted above, NIDA was also established in 1973, as a component of NIMH (similar to the origins of NIAAA). Thus, NIMH was the lead agency of ADAMHA, with two subpart agencies -- NIAAA and NIDA.
With the founding of NIDA, the ARC was transferred from NIMH and became the intramural research program of NIDA. The ARC and its clinical research on drug abuse was moved to new federal facilities in Baltimore on a campus of Johns Hopkins University in 1979. Basic research laboratories followed in 1985.
In 1974, both NIAAA and NIDA became separate agencies from NIMH, but all 3 remained within ADAMHA.
In 1992, ADAMHA was abolished by the ADAMHA Reorganization Act. The research branches of NIMH, NIAAA and NIDA rejoined NIH as separate institutes. Notably, the Act provided for the establishment of the Medications Development Program within NIDA to scientifically investigate potential pharmacological treatments for drug abuse.
At the same time, the treatment/service branches of NIMH, NIAAA and NIDA were placed into a new agency, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
SAMHSA consists of 3 centers: the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) and the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS). SAMHSA now manages both the DAWN survey and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH; the new name of the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse).
Everything clear, now?
: )
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