Of all the millions of words that have been written and spoken in the past five years on the subject of drug abuse, only four have undisputed validity. The words are: we do not know.

We can recognize trends; we can make estimates that appear to be developing some sophistication. But, on the basis of current information and methods by which the information is secured, we can only conclude that we are trying to deal with a condition, the limits of which we do not know.

Aux termes de l'article VI-3 b du règlement intérieur « la commission scientifique adressera un rapport annuel au conseil sur son activité ».

Tel est, en conséquence, l'objet du présent document, dans lequel seront examinés l'organisation et le fonctionnement de la commission scientifique, les problèmes relatifs aux congrès, au Centre international de criminologie comparée, aux conférences et cours internationaux, aux annales et publications et au prix Denis Carroll, ainsi que les perspectives d'avenir.

L'usage de drogues à des fins non médicales présente au moins deux caractéristiques justifiant les recherches dont cette communication rend compte:

• — II se situe d'abord dons la zone frontière entre déviance criminelle et déviance relevant de formes de controle social autres que celle mise en œuvre par le système de justice criminelle;

• — II comprend des formes ≪ traditionnelles ≫ dons les sociétés d'Europe de l'Ouest et d'Amerique du Nord, l'alcool notamment, mais aussi des toxicomanies qui paraissent relativement recentes dons ces sociétés.

C'est un plaisir pour moi d'être ici. Je vous remercie de votre cordiale invitation.

In contrast to some of our earlier speakers, my paper is less dramatic but is probably representative of the smaller inland Canadian cities. I say probably as similar statistical data from other cities is not available. The Ottawa Civic Hospital Poison Information Centre situated in a 1,000 bed general hospital has kept data on all poisonings since 1966 and from this statistical data we first saw the appearance of Drug Abuse in 1968. The Poison Centre has continued to maintain statistics on all poisonings including Drug Abuse, so I shall present our experience at our centre over the last four years.

Aux termes de l'article VI 3b du règlement intérieur « la Commission scientifique adresse un rapport annuel au Conseil sur son activité ».

Tel est, en conséquence, l'objet du présent document, dans lequel seront examinés i'organisation et le fonctionnement de la Commission scientifique, les problèmes relatifs aux congrès, au Centre international de criminologie comparée, aux conférences et cours internationaux, aux annales et publications et au « Prix Denis Carroll », ainsi que les perspectives d'avenir.

Since the passage of the Narcotic Rehabilitation Act of 1966, the number of agencies for treating drug addiction, both public and private, have multiplied rapidly. The experience of these treatment centers has developed numerous treatment modalities; but no “one best way” or truly effective solution for treating the complex drug-using population has been found. The different treatment modalities have been moving gradually from the criminal approach to addicts to a purely clinical approach, and, in some areas, to a social and psychological approach to the patient in this entire human and environmental ecology.

Under the terms of Article VI 3 b, of the By-Laws “The Scientific Committee shall present an annual report of its work to the Board of Directors”.

Consequently such is the object of the present document, in which the organisation and working of the Scientific Committee, the problems relating to Congresses, to the International Centre of Comparative Criminology, to Lectures and International Courses, to the Annals and publications and to Denis Carroll Prize will be examined, as well as future prospects.

The City of Philadelphia had a population slightly under 2,000,000 persons in 1970. It was estimated that, as of August 1971, there were 15,000 to 20,000 heroin addicts and 30,000 to 40,000 other drug addicts. In addition there were an estimated 60,00C to 80,000 alcoholics. These addicted persons made up approximately 5 % of the total population. An estimated 5 % of these addicted persons were in treatment.

As of January 1972 al least sixty-four public and private agencies or groups had been established to provide some form of drug referral, treatment and/or education. Some of these agencies had been in existence for many years, while others were in the initial stage of organization. Facilities for the treatment of alcoholics are not currently receiving the same emphasis.

There has been a paucity of information about illicit drug use in Australia up to date. Available figures refer either to persons admitted to mental health and other treatment facilities (Krupinski and Stoller, 1964-1971, Ma and Edmonds, 1969; Wheeler and Edmonds, 1969; Whitlock and Lourey, 1967), to drug offenders (Davis and Milte, 1970; Kyte-Powell, 1968), or both (Le Fevre, 1971).

Although these data cannot be regarded reliably as even the tip of an iceberg, they are indicative of a recent growth in illicit drug usage. Thus, the number of drug offenders in Victoria increased from 60 in 1965 to 160 in 1967 (Kyte-Powell, 1968). A survey carried out in New South Wales (le Fevre, 1971} identified 2,182 drug offenders born after 1939 who were recorded during the period 1965-1969. Since May 1969, the Central Crime Intelligence Bureau of the Commonwealth Police Force has been systematically collecting information on drug offenders throughout Australia (Davis and Milte, 1970) and, within a year, they gathered 5000 files on persons convicted or charged with an offence relating to drugs in Australia.

Il n'est pas dans notre intention d'effectuer un recensement statistique très précis, ayant une réelle valeur scientifique, des toxicomanies dans la région lyonnaise.

En effet, comme pour toutes les conduites deviantes, ii est extremement difficile d'accomplir un tel travail exhaustif. D'autre part, de tout temps, la region lyonnaise s'est trouvée un peu à l'écart des points de consommation de drogue, et on peut dire que, même actuellement, elle conserve dons une certaine mesure ce privilège. Cela a permis d'observer, avec une distance suffisanle, le déroulement chronologique de lous les faits et réactions sociales concernant ce problème de toxicomanie, sans être d'emblée submergés par la demande, comme cela paraît s'être produit dons d'autres régions, comme Paris et Marseille.