author
Ernest S. (Ernest Simons) Bishop
1876–1927
A physician-writer from New York who argued that narcotic addiction should be treated as a medical condition rather than a moral failing, he brought unusual clinical experience and urgency to a subject many people of his time misunderstood.
1 Audiobook
The narcotic drug problem
by Ernest S. (Ernest Simons) Bishop
About the author
Born on Nantucket, Massachusetts, on November 29, 1876, Ernest Simons Bishop became an American physician best known for writing The Narcotic Drug Problem (1920/1921). Contemporary biographical notices identify him as Dr. Ernest Simons Bishop and describe him as one of the best-known American authorities on narcotics of his day.
Bishop taught medicine at the New York Polyclinic Medical School and was active in public-health and legal discussions about habit-forming drugs. In his writing, he pushed back against the idea that addiction was simply a matter of weak will or bad character, arguing instead for closer medical study and more humane treatment.
That perspective gives his work lasting historical interest. Even when some of his era's language and science feel dated now, his central effort to understand addiction as an illness rather than a purely moral problem helped make his book an important early contribution to the field.