Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ...

484Dr. ViLLARREAL. I would prefer to speak for about 5 minutes andthen show some of the sUdes.Mr. Perito. Mr. Chairman, may Dr. ViUarreal's statement beincorporated in the record?Chairman Pepper. Without objection, so ordered.Mr. Perito. Please ])rocee(l, Doctor.Dr. ViLLARREAL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is an honor to behere today speakino; before your committee. The main purpose ofmy presentation today is to describe to you the current status of theresearch in the field of drug dependence and to give you an idea ofthe possibilities for its future contributions to the solution of the probblemof human drug dependence.I am convinced, and many others that work in the field are alsoconvinced, that we have a very strong giij) on the nature of theproblem of drug dependence and that if the efforts are spent and thenecessary funds and thinking are invested in the problem, we couldwithin a short period of time come up ^vith very effective agents forthe management, or jjerhaps cure, of human opiate de])endence.I would like to start by saying that for the last 10 years, I haveworked with monkeys, doing objective investigations on narcoticdependence in tliis species. This experience with monkeys creates avery i^eculiar perspective on the nature of the problem of drug dependence.Many people like to think that drug dependence is a peculiarlyhuman jiroblem, that it is related to existential problems of man andto issues that are peculiar to the psychology of man.We see drug dependence created every day on a routine basis inmonkeys that do not have Oedipus complexes, do not have existentialproblems and do not have despairs about the evils of the society. We,therefore, believe that the nature, the main core, of the problem ofl)sychological as well as physical dependence to the major drugs ofdependence in the human involves phj^siological processes that areprimarily behavioral in nature; automatic, rather than existential orsocial.Psychological or social issues come into the picture in inducingpeople to begin experimenting with drugs and in maintaining conditionsin which drugs are widelv available and conditions in which thereare little alternative channels of behavior for the human addict thatwants to rehabilitate himself.To review the field briefly, I want to note that laboratory work hasfirst of all produced already several thousand com])ounds, morphineanalgesics and morphine antagonists. You have had testifying beforeyou, Dr. Nathan B. Eddy, who has been a tremendous force in thisfield. The tlevelopment of many of these compounds is due to hisencouragement and to his direction and his leadership.The S3"nthesis of all these compounds has produced an enormousbody of knowledge. We have several thousand m(»r[)hineliko drugs. Wealso have several hundred narcotic antagonists. We know how to makelong-acting drugs, short-acting drugs, jjotent antagonists, weakantagonists, antagonists with a little bit of morphinelike activity,antagonists with morphinelike properties. But all of these drugs have])een develojiod primarily for the i)ossibility of using them in thetreatment of pain.