ADDICT: A DOCTOR'S ODYSSEY

This spends well over 15 years with Dr. DeWitt during his off and on, more on than off, drug addiction which cost him his practice, his wife (actually she was never helpful) and four children, and thousands of dollars. DeWitt started to use drugs after he ruptured a disc in his back and surgery proved more or less ineffectual. He began modestly -- ordering codeine or Demorol for patients but using it himself or stealing from the hospital supply room; he ended up using anything in sight (barbiturates; Miltown -- it took 75 tablets a day; alcohol) and spending long periods in locked wards and jails. He was joined in the last years by Doris, also an alcoholic, but now both of them seem to have licked their habits and DeWitt is currently working in Boston with other younger victims. DeWitt tells his story in a straight, non-exculpatory fashion and you'll go the distance from downer to nadir to comeback.