Professional Life (Part 1)

Upon my return to Jamaica in 1961 my family doctor who administered the medication insisted that I go to see the head of the Neurological Department of the University Hospital but the only direction I was given was to continue with the medication(Dexedrine) I was taking, which I did. Nothing changed in respect of my medication for more than twenty years until the early eighties when the then acting head of the department looked in a text book and advised that the current medication which was being used for EDS was Ritalin (Methylphenidate) and the medication for Cataplexy was Imipramine (Tofranil). As a result my doctor, on his instructions, switched my medication to Ritalin (5 x 10 mg tablets daily) and Imipramine (3 x 25 mgs tablets daily). Quite frankly, there was hardly a noticeable difference between the effect on my EDS of Ritalin and Dexedrine and I simply continued the use of Ritalin because it was the recommended medication, and I had been hearing rumblings about the abuse of dextroamphetamine tablets especially by college students. In fact, even the “Prescribing Information” put out by the manufacturers (SK&F) contained phrases like “Amphetamines have been extensively abused", "Tolerance, extreme psychological dependence, and severe social disability have occurred", "Manifestations of chronic intoxication with amphetamines include severe dermatoses, marked insomnia, irritability, hyperactivity and personality changes.”

As I have said before, in the more than twenty years that I have used Dexedrine, literally every day, there has not been the slightest hint of any psychological dependence nor has there been any urge at all to increase the prescribed dosages of medication. Of course I am not in a position to say whether the fact that I am a narcoleptic makes me less liable to forming a dependence on amphetamines than normal persons and in fact I have heard it suggested that narcoleptics have a “paradoxical” reaction to such drugs but I cannot say with what authority such a suggestion is made. What I can say without any doubt is that I was, and still am, liable to forget to take my medication every day if I did not work out a system to ensure that I always had some spare tablets on my person in case I had forgotten to take the prescribed medication when I should.

In regard to my profession, I established private “digs” and went into private practice as a criminal defense attorney from time to time in association with other attorneys, without revealing, except in the case of close friends. I managed to make adjustments in relation to my napping practices and intake of medication so as to be able to practice in the Courts reasonably successfully. One thing that I had become aware of from I was in high school but which came home to me very sharply early in my practice was the fact of my poor memory for details and that it required that I put in twice as much work in order to master the facts and the law in each case. It also meant that where the citing of authorities were necessary in any case I could not depend upon my previously acquired knowledge of these authorities except as to the fact of their existence and I had to repeat earlier research in order to rely on it again.

In addition to my private practice I, and a number of other persons, especially lawyers, who were aware of a tremendous amount of social and economic injustice in the Jamaican society which led to exceptional civil and human rights abuses especially by the police, got together in 1968 and formed the Jamaican Council for Human Rights, dedicated to fighting against the growing civil rights abuses which were being practiced. Along with the creation of the JCHR I initiated the practiced of filing civil actions against not only against the security personnel who had committed the civil or human rights abuse but also against the state itself, on the principle that the policeman was, at the time acting as the servant or agent of the state. The JCHR has had some significant success in raising public awareness of the prevalence of civil rights abuses by the police, it has also succeeded in getting legislation introduced to curb the practice of wanton police abuses and has by its militance succeeded in preventing the exercise of capital punishment since 1983 until the date hereof. However, further elaboration of my legal practice and related matters must be reserved for another time and subject matter.