• U.S.

Medicine: O.K. for Barbiturates?

1 minute read
TIME

Do U.S. physicians hand out too many barbiturates? Doctors prescribe from 3 Dillon to 4 billion doses each year and there are estimated to be at least 50,000 confirmed addicts besides a host of habitual users. Two Washington, B.C. researchers polled colleagues, reported in Postgraduate Medicine: 1) most uses of barbiturates are necessary or at least legitimate; 2) unjustified prescriptions (tor routine sedation or mild insomnia) do not occur often enough to justify new control legislation; 3) most doctors are eager to get rid of barbiturates, “are waiting only for the advancement of medical knowledge and the growth of psychiatric facilities” to cut down.

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