Posted on 08/19/2007 7:34:56 PM PDT by ventanax5
Drug-addiction services have also grown massively. In our society, every problem calls forth its equal and supposedly opposite bureaucracy, the ostensible purpose of which is to solve the problem.
But the bureaucracy quickly develops a survival instinct, and so no more wishes the problem to disappear altogether than the lion wishes to kill all the gazelle in the bush and leave itself without food.
In short, the bureaucracy of drug addiction needs drug addicts far more than drug addicts need the bureaucracy of drug addiction.
The propaganda, assiduously spread for many years now, is that heroin addiction is an "illness". This view serves the interests both of the addicts who wish to continue their habit while placing the blame for their behaviour elsewhere, and the bureaucracy that wishes to continue in employment, preferably for ever and at higher rates of pay.
Viewing addiction as an illness automatically implies there is a medical solution to it. So, when all the proposed "cures" fail to work, addicts blame not themselves but those who have offered them ineffectual solutions.
And for bureaucracies, nothing succeeds like failure. The Government spends more than a quarter of a billion pounds a year on drug treatment in the UK, despite there being little evidence of any reduction in the number of addicts.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Until just a few short years ago it was considered a disability that qualified addicts for disability checks which they then used to buy their heroin.
County sponsored heroin. Really.
But I thought methadone was the cure...
After some recent and unpleasant dealings with addicts, I’m not sure what to think, beyond “God save me from more.”
Most Americans think that drugs are a problem. So how do you deal with the problem? I think it makes more sense to go after demand than the well organized supply.
The same is true with abortion. Going after abortionists with the law won’t work. We have to convince the people not to go to them in the first place.
“Nobody calls nicotine addiction a disease.”
Folks not informed on addiction (a lot of the country) would fill that bill.
Or the possible outcome of long-term usage (emphysema, cancer, etc)
After hearing about how folks in prison will even trade their “good drugs”
for cigarettes...it’s an addiction all right.
And I got to watch my father shake cigarettes after 25 years of smoking.
He said, even years after quitting, that when someone else lights
up “it smells like candy to me”.
The UK is the place that pays girls who get pregnant, right? Birth an illegitimate kid and the state will award you a prize, an apartment plus money every month. Such a deal. No wonder illegitimacy is growing by leaps and bounds.
Addiction qualifies one for social security disability.
“So how do you deal with the problem?”
I used to work at a summer job with a guy who was happy to be minimally employed simply because it gave him enough money to live in a crummy trailer and buy cheap booze. He had no ambition, and he was not expected to get any ambition.
So, I have a better question for you: how can you get this guy (or any addict like him) to have a purpose in life? Sure he is destroying his life but how can you stop that? If someone chooses to destroy his life do we have a moral obligation to stop him? to allow him?
This is the real question about drug use. It’s really not even about the drugs, it’s about the question of how does society deal with people like this guy I worked with?
If you’ll pardon comment by one not asked, you can only suggest, until he finally resolves, Enough!
How would you go after demand? What has worked in other countries?
thanks, bfl
I have spent years working with alcoholics and drug addicts. None ever stop drinking or using until it stops working. Most don't stop then.
There's no difference in that regard between illegal and legal drugs. It's a chimera to think that we could suddenly bring drug users into the light with legalization.
The problem is simple, most alcoholics and drug users DON'T WANT TO STOP USING. What they want most is keep using without the consequences. And they have great abilities to convince themselves that this time, it will be different--no consequences. It has absolutely nothing to do with legal or illegal. Drug users are not stupid. None of them think they will be thrown in jail for seeking treatment. The fact is, most don't want treatment.
And, legalization just doesn't change that the tiniest little bit. It may even defer the time they have to stop. My observation is that alcoholics come into treatment older than illegal drug users. That may be that alcohol takes longer to do it's job. But it may be that the illegality of drugs creates have-to-stop situations faster.
Here now.
“becomes uncontrollable without professional intervention in most cases”
Couldnt disagree more. The vast majority of people who drink, etc do not become “addicts” as defined by it (addiction) causing a significant life problem.
Addictions, including drinking, are being pushed into the medical realm for one reason, IMHO. That is where the the $ is, re: health ins. Little/No $ in mental illness is forthcoming from govt.
Secondly, IMHO, I dont see addictions as medical issues. The symptoms of addictions for sure are though. So many now follow the medical model and treat the symptoms of addiction and perpetuate the problem.
I wanted to do my doctoral thesis on the incarcerated and/or addicts just to see how many of them actually started with a potential diagnosis of add/adhd. I am willing to bet the % is very high (over 50%?).
Am very intersted in discussing this more.
Bump dat true stuff
Not if usage, addiction, and need for treatment programs would increase 20X+ after decriminaliztion of drugs.
Uhh, going to jail qualifies as "hitting bottom".
And I got to watch my father shake cigarettes after 25 years of smoking.
He said, even years after quitting, that when someone else lights
up “it smells like candy to me”.
______________________________________________________
I smoked for about 10 years and it has been 15 since I quit. Every once in awhile I have this overwhelming urge but I don’t dare light up.
Congrats on the 6 years......beeber is stuned!
The neurochemistry of various drugs result in an actual physiological change in the brain which affects levels of various chemicals - including dopamine. It also can cause a loss of control and compulsive drug intake. Drug use over time can alter the brain’s suceptibility to relapse. http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/158/12/2015
and http://books.google.com/books?id=G9OhG-dZdAwC&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=neurochemistry+tomography+heroine&source=web&ots=Cts0XiShAy&sig=MXUC9oEIC-ApqKSpYwjTV47Nr-U#PPP1,M1 Some of this can be eased by drug therapy as a person attempts to transition to a non-drug state.
Addicts/alcoholics commonly suffer from a “dual diagnosis” with some personality disorder that can be treated.
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