In response to Barbara Kay’s article Insite Clinic Enables drug users….Insite is a supervised injection site and there is no need to put quotation marks around it as it is exactly what it says, supervised and an injection site. “Safe injection site” was a term erroneously labelled by the media but in the harm reduction movement, it was never called safe as it is never entirely but it is supervised meaning onsite nurses who can save a life who may one day live to recover and live the they were meant to. The site however is safer then no supervision at all.
Harm reduction is not “supposedly” a the four pillar Drug Strategy it is, however the conservative government has made an incredible misguided effort at trying to prove that harm reduction doesn’t in fact work. Harm reduction is a pragmatic response to a health emergency where people are dying from diseases and overdoses. The scientific evidence is in for insite in 40 peer-reviewed scientific journals stating Insite has satisfied the objectives of it and more. In addition, these journals have proven that insite does not initiate new injection drug use.
Would you give sugar to a diabetic who didn’t have enough in there blood? Addiction is a brain illness that requires proper treatment of the brain for it to be effectively dealt with and detox with meetings for AA to follow doesn’t consist of effective treatment. True compassion occurs with the idea that people can change but they can’t because they are ill.
It is sort of like how people with cancer can’t suddenly cure themselves but they can sure help themselves try to do it. The difference between a person with cancer and a person with mental health issues is the person with cancer still has their mind. Addicts lost theirs years before trying drugs. In all likelihood they began to use drugs as a way of contending with unimaginable trauma usually involving sexual as it was the only way to escape their own hell of their body. It is a way of dissociating from pain most of us can’t ever imagine.
Most people who abuse drugs have PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder, which if you are a veteran or rape victim later in life you may get some okay services for but if you are a child who was likely abused by a family member who was supposed to be taking care of you in either sexual, physical or even emotional and neglectful abuse this type of PTSD isn’t recognized by society. It isn’t seen by those who haven’t experienced it as a child as an excuse for emotional dysregulation, hyper vigilance, inability to concentrate, mood swings, nightmares, and paralyzing fear to the point of where thought is impossible due to how the brain works.
The safety net is not about putting a net under a bridge even though for some places that does happen because so many people jump or barricades to prevent it, it is about being a human and treating others as a human rather then a criminal for their illness. The same goes for people who kill themselves. They are ill and have a brain that is not working the correct way, it is the same as how a diabetic doesn’t have their pancreas work correctly. This article has essentially said go ahead and kill yourselves cause really we don’t care about you anyway. You have no family to help you so just die please.
The people whom are addicts and use the service of Insite include those that use alone, without family or friends or are in violent relationships and need somewhere safe to go. There are many who have substance dependence along with serious mental health issues that are someones child, that are talented and incredible people whom if just given the tools could maybe help crawl out of the hole they were put in by the abuse they experienced before they had a chance to defend themselves.
If we want to reduce addiction we have to reduce the trauma children endure by taking better care of mothers, fathers, families (whatever the structure) and reducing the dislocation of those most vulnerable.
May 18, 2011
December 8, 2009
Reducing harm to children!
This is the very dear subject to many people including myself even though I don't have any children. To reduce the access and therefore harm of drug use early on in development is important. Even though some may call me pro-drug, I am simply pro-right to choose however, children haven't developed proper ability to make informed decisions yet along with the brain is still doing lots of work to get ready for adulthood ahead and if drug use can be prevented before the age of around 18-20 depending on the drug and even older for some other one like heroin, cocaine, alcohol and amphetamines.
Hallucinogens could likely be take safely by individuals around even 16 under the right circumstances and for personal growth rather then just getting "fucked up". Cannabis certainly could be used at the age of 16 for beneficial reasons instead of leading teenagers to drink which is even worse for the brain development. We know of serious implications of development being impeded by alcohol in the womb, why would it be any different while the youth is developing? Some children are drinking as young as 6-8 years old, imagine the harm to the brain.
It seems it is impossible for us to manage to stop youth from using drugs which includes alcohol, caffeine, sugar and even video games. We however, need to find ways to reduce the harm and help them use them in a moderate fashion rather then just going overboard on them as at that age, they haven't learned impulse control yet like an adult. It isn't the same for a adult to smoke meth or a youth as the youth doesn't have the experience of life yet and can't determine appropriate responses to something so powerful.
Remember when you were young, 17 years old and you got dumped for the first time. It was intense. It was horrible, unlivable and yet you did. You got through it and survived and even though the next dumping wasn't nice, it certainly wasn't as powerful as the first. Think of having a drug while 17 for the first time, it is going to hit you like a ton of bricks and due to biology and lack of experience to understand this effect, you will think you want more and more as drugs do trigger our pleasure-reward system as does sex, food, and exercise.
A recent brain scan showed a person on heroin and another on sex and both were identical. It isn't the drug we get high on or the activity, it is our brain. This for a young person who hasn't gotten much life experience yet takes this event of drug the drug for the first time to be much more powerful then if they were to use it while an adult over the age of 25 years old when the brain is completed its entire development and impulse control is at full throttle. The brain will realize the drug use isn't all it is cracked up to be and much prefer to be enjoying the activities it already enjoys like life.
However, if this 25 year old doesn't like life and is depressed, unhappy with work and not really in love, the drugs have a different effect too. It is more like as a child and the 25 year old will want to use again and again just like the youth. Luckily, they are easier to intervene with and hopefully manage to get through the blip in the road. For a youth, the blip in the road is more like a giant wall as they haven't learned to climb over it yet.
Harm to children is real and sadly they are using drugs despite programs like DARE that only like to the children. Yes, DARE tells us marijuana is harmful and in the same breath talk about injecting heroin which really is not comparable in any way. We need to teach them self control, self love and goal setting. But do we?
Reduce drug addiction in the future we need to think of the children now. DARE doesn't work. We are not reducing addiction but only seeing it going up especally for video games. This isn't something that they are just going to grow out of as they won't know what to grow into. They will lack direction, interests and social skills. We need to love and find compassion to love who aren't coping well in our society and this really is to be expected as we see childhood trauma rising not decreasing and this is the route of all addiction.
If we end childhood trauma, we can reduce and even end addiction. Bold statement but true!!
Hallucinogens could likely be take safely by individuals around even 16 under the right circumstances and for personal growth rather then just getting "fucked up". Cannabis certainly could be used at the age of 16 for beneficial reasons instead of leading teenagers to drink which is even worse for the brain development. We know of serious implications of development being impeded by alcohol in the womb, why would it be any different while the youth is developing? Some children are drinking as young as 6-8 years old, imagine the harm to the brain.
It seems it is impossible for us to manage to stop youth from using drugs which includes alcohol, caffeine, sugar and even video games. We however, need to find ways to reduce the harm and help them use them in a moderate fashion rather then just going overboard on them as at that age, they haven't learned impulse control yet like an adult. It isn't the same for a adult to smoke meth or a youth as the youth doesn't have the experience of life yet and can't determine appropriate responses to something so powerful.
Remember when you were young, 17 years old and you got dumped for the first time. It was intense. It was horrible, unlivable and yet you did. You got through it and survived and even though the next dumping wasn't nice, it certainly wasn't as powerful as the first. Think of having a drug while 17 for the first time, it is going to hit you like a ton of bricks and due to biology and lack of experience to understand this effect, you will think you want more and more as drugs do trigger our pleasure-reward system as does sex, food, and exercise.
A recent brain scan showed a person on heroin and another on sex and both were identical. It isn't the drug we get high on or the activity, it is our brain. This for a young person who hasn't gotten much life experience yet takes this event of drug the drug for the first time to be much more powerful then if they were to use it while an adult over the age of 25 years old when the brain is completed its entire development and impulse control is at full throttle. The brain will realize the drug use isn't all it is cracked up to be and much prefer to be enjoying the activities it already enjoys like life.
However, if this 25 year old doesn't like life and is depressed, unhappy with work and not really in love, the drugs have a different effect too. It is more like as a child and the 25 year old will want to use again and again just like the youth. Luckily, they are easier to intervene with and hopefully manage to get through the blip in the road. For a youth, the blip in the road is more like a giant wall as they haven't learned to climb over it yet.
Harm to children is real and sadly they are using drugs despite programs like DARE that only like to the children. Yes, DARE tells us marijuana is harmful and in the same breath talk about injecting heroin which really is not comparable in any way. We need to teach them self control, self love and goal setting. But do we?
Reduce drug addiction in the future we need to think of the children now. DARE doesn't work. We are not reducing addiction but only seeing it going up especally for video games. This isn't something that they are just going to grow out of as they won't know what to grow into. They will lack direction, interests and social skills. We need to love and find compassion to love who aren't coping well in our society and this really is to be expected as we see childhood trauma rising not decreasing and this is the route of all addiction.
If we end childhood trauma, we can reduce and even end addiction. Bold statement but true!!
November 25, 2009
Reducing harm of lost work on the brain
Don Drummond, chief economist for TD Financial Group, will discuss productivity and the GDP at a Toronto Board of Trade breakfast Wednesday morning, but not in the way you would expect. His audience will be the Psychology Foundation of Canada and he will be talking about the toll that unemployment and mental illness take on the Canadian economy.
Mental illness costs the Canadian economy about $33 billion each year – about 2.1 per cent of GDP – in absenteeism and lost productivity. Disability from mental illness amounts to 4 to 12 per cent of all payroll costs, and mental health claims are the fastest growing category of disability costs for employers and insurance companies. And yet the connection between the economy and mental health is often called into question.
What I question about this quote is namely the total amount they list as the issue?
$33 billion only includes missed work and reduced ability to work yet it doesn't include those who have lost their jobs and are now beginning to get mentally ill due to lost homes, lost nutrition, increases health problems and lost love which are all vital to our well-being and recovery from the problems of economic demise that some people in this country are seeing.
We need to focus on helping these individuals with not only economic support but also support relating to their general well-being such as happiness. These could be supports that provide recreational sports for the family to attend in community settings at reduced prices to help keep our communities active and socializing through this economic downturn. It is more important then we know.
We should also be funding work projects for all not just construction projects as this only gets back to work a small part of an entire country. It is more then just construction workers that have lost their jobs.
What is the cost to the country of the lost homes, lives to depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses that result from lost identity as was mentioned in the article? This can take over the brain and change it at a biological level making it very difficult to bounce back without the support, love and compassion of those around them. We all need to help take care of each through this tough time and sadly, it doesn't seem to be happening with our government and their delay in deciding what to do about EI. What is there to decide?
What other help has been provided to those whom have lost their jobs in this economic recession? What about those who can't feed their family? There has been marked increase in food bank visits this year while they are more strapped then ever? Is this the face of a caring and loving government who is listening to its citizens? You decide!
Mental illness costs the Canadian economy about $33 billion each year – about 2.1 per cent of GDP – in absenteeism and lost productivity. Disability from mental illness amounts to 4 to 12 per cent of all payroll costs, and mental health claims are the fastest growing category of disability costs for employers and insurance companies. And yet the connection between the economy and mental health is often called into question.
What I question about this quote is namely the total amount they list as the issue?
$33 billion only includes missed work and reduced ability to work yet it doesn't include those who have lost their jobs and are now beginning to get mentally ill due to lost homes, lost nutrition, increases health problems and lost love which are all vital to our well-being and recovery from the problems of economic demise that some people in this country are seeing.
We need to focus on helping these individuals with not only economic support but also support relating to their general well-being such as happiness. These could be supports that provide recreational sports for the family to attend in community settings at reduced prices to help keep our communities active and socializing through this economic downturn. It is more important then we know.
We should also be funding work projects for all not just construction projects as this only gets back to work a small part of an entire country. It is more then just construction workers that have lost their jobs.
What is the cost to the country of the lost homes, lives to depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses that result from lost identity as was mentioned in the article? This can take over the brain and change it at a biological level making it very difficult to bounce back without the support, love and compassion of those around them. We all need to help take care of each through this tough time and sadly, it doesn't seem to be happening with our government and their delay in deciding what to do about EI. What is there to decide?
What other help has been provided to those whom have lost their jobs in this economic recession? What about those who can't feed their family? There has been marked increase in food bank visits this year while they are more strapped then ever? Is this the face of a caring and loving government who is listening to its citizens? You decide!
November 5, 2009
reducing harm of alcohol
In the recent past there has been much up-rise after the dismissal of David Nutt: Drug Adviser for the UK for indicating that alcohol is more harmful then cannabis, LSD and MDMA. All he is doing is practicing harm reduction by both telling the facts about the drugs and not going on myths. Nutt was going in the right direction but due to undue influence his presence is not welcome as he will end the drug war and thus for whatever reason the UK are becoming increasingly paranoid about drugs and their uses there although they have horrible problems with alcohol including violence.
This brings us to the harms of alcohol. I am not going to say we should prohibit it due to how bad it is but rather that we should put more controls on it while lessening those on the other less harmful drugs so that when people turn to using, they turn to something that won't hurt them as much.
We have to admit that drug use is part of being human and there isn't anything wrong with that. We have to begin to be truthful like Nutt was for speaking his mind about alcohol and that yes, it too is a drug and it is harmful. Most of our problems in society surrounding drugs is alcohol and tobacco.
While tobacco has received increased controls such as not being able to be visible to children, the next step is to be removed from having actors smoking all the time and having other tobacco products available without having the added chemicals. Tobacco is a natural plant like cannabis, opium and coca and has purpose however, the way our use has become has lead to it becoming very toxic and more addictive then simply just nicotine on it's own.
To begin reducing the harm done from alcohol, we have to stop promoting it. We shouldn’t do this for any drug, it should not be portrayed on TV as having great powers to turn you into a fashion model and a plastic surgeon as Captain Morgan claims “he” can do for you. We need to begin admitting that alcohol is a drug just like the illegal ones and therefore, we need to come to rational and pragmatic ways of dealing with drug use, abuse and addiction in society.
This brings us to the harms of alcohol. I am not going to say we should prohibit it due to how bad it is but rather that we should put more controls on it while lessening those on the other less harmful drugs so that when people turn to using, they turn to something that won't hurt them as much.
We have to admit that drug use is part of being human and there isn't anything wrong with that. We have to begin to be truthful like Nutt was for speaking his mind about alcohol and that yes, it too is a drug and it is harmful. Most of our problems in society surrounding drugs is alcohol and tobacco.
While tobacco has received increased controls such as not being able to be visible to children, the next step is to be removed from having actors smoking all the time and having other tobacco products available without having the added chemicals. Tobacco is a natural plant like cannabis, opium and coca and has purpose however, the way our use has become has lead to it becoming very toxic and more addictive then simply just nicotine on it's own.
To begin reducing the harm done from alcohol, we have to stop promoting it. We shouldn’t do this for any drug, it should not be portrayed on TV as having great powers to turn you into a fashion model and a plastic surgeon as Captain Morgan claims “he” can do for you. We need to begin admitting that alcohol is a drug just like the illegal ones and therefore, we need to come to rational and pragmatic ways of dealing with drug use, abuse and addiction in society.
October 25, 2009
thoughts on CSSDP Confernce
The weekend sure had it ups and downs for me but overall it was fantastic. I finally was among like minded people and wasn’t feeling like I needed to lie about anything like I normally do. I certainly felt much more able to “come out of the closet” not just as a person who uses drugs but also a person with a serious and persistent mental health problem.
Yesterday was one of the hardest days I have had with my anxiety in a long time. I was able to go to a conference on Concurrent Disorders in May that was three days with little problem but this conference shock me. The I feel was due to the negative past run in with a member of the CSSDP that was there along with having speakers that I really wanted to impress. I don’t really care about the opinions of the people at the conferences for mental health and addiction but this conference, these people have been my idols for years and I really wanted to impress them.
What Rick Doblin said in his talk spoke to me and he actually mentioned brain scans and having scans of people who use drugs with holes in their brain. Well, I of course did not and I knew he would be intrigued by this.
Dr. Gabor Mate spoke of addiction and its causes which are two things and it isn’t the drug ever otherwise everyone who used it would become addicted and this doesn’t happen. Finally, someone is speaking my language although people would likely assume I am speaking his but I knew this watching friends use while others abused and my friends tended to be from all over the place rather then just one group. I even once met a intern doctor at St. Paul's coming down from mushrooms on the yaletown walk while I was smoking a joint. She worked the next day. We are all drugs users and that was repeated over and over at the conference. Drug use is not addiction.
The conflict that I had with the member in the group specifically said that I couldn't say that as firstly his friends who smoke pot wouldn't think of themselves as drug users. Well, they are...
Addicts have lost two things: belonging and connection. Belonging is having a purposeful and healthy life that contribute to society, family and self. The other is spirituality in the sense that we are all connected and therefore, not every truly alone yet for addicts, they are alone and the pain is unimaginable and that is what drugs or activities provide is a “chemical” feeling of belonging or connection rather then one that is creating by being a healthy environment.
The morning talk of Drugs & Healing that included the panelists, Rick Doblin, Dr. Gabor Mate, Phillipe Lucas, & Kenneth Tupper. They spoke of Ayauasca being a medicine that helps people face the demons in their past to allow them to move beyond being frozen in time due to the trauma. There will be research using this medicine to help aboriginal women on the DTES recover from the excessive trauma they have experienced.
It was so refreshing that I am not the only one who is realizing these facts about addiction and neuroscience.
Rick Doblin invited me to write about my MDMA experiences when using it for my treatment of PTSD and how it saved my life. I am trying to arrange to be in his study here in Vancouver for using MDMA for PTSD along with a friend of mine. You know who you are, I won't say any names. I was serious, girl when I said I would get you in! Plus, I want to do it to and I could only do this with you. We also need to find two men that we trust to do it with us.
I did talk to Rick but not Dr. Gabor Mate about my brain scans. The scans he mentioned were Dr. Amen’s and he said Dr. Amen wasn’t scientific as it was purely for business. I couldn’t argue with that however, on the same note, you can’t blow it off entirely as just being about profit. Dr. Amen puts the context of your scans into your life with a three hour history that goes through it all. I also did indicate that I saw Dr. Amen and that even he admitted that he couldn’t prove that the scans weren’t like that before the drugs and the drugs were an attempt to try to fill in those holes. I think Dr. Amen was doing it more for political reasons rather then due to believing it as they never pressured me to stop the drugs.
In fact, they understood why I continue to use them even after being put on all the supplements. Yes, I still use drugs. OMG and no I am not an addict and never have been aside from tobacco for 20 years which I quit almost 3 years ago now. He did say he was happy to hear they had helped me. It was really interesting to hear this point of view as I tend to be so scientific. I knew it was profit for the AMEN clinics but some people really are in it to help others while being placed into a capitalistic world. We need money to survive and he is still subject to the pressures of the profit medical model in the USA. I still think regardless of the profit factor of Dr. Amen and his drug scans, he has generally helped people.
The second awesome thing was talking to Dr. Gabor Mate. I did ask him about potentially providing support with my self help guide that I wrote and sent to Vancouver Coastal Health both for helping clients and maybe even educating the staff. He said not right now but send me an email in April after he writes his book and he can potentially be interested. This is something.
In the afternoon, it was just Dr. Mate with only about 15 other people, it was really an honor. He got to the heart of everything so naturally without even having to “think” about it and it was like being in the presence of “god”. I even thought during his presentation “Buddha is in front of me.” It was incredible. He even quoted from Understanding the Mind which is written by Thich Nhat Hanh. He also wrote the book I read time to time when I need gentle reminders of how to just be - Buddha Mind, Buddha Body.
I know some friends on facebook still believe that drugs cause addiction, please understand it isn’t true. Stress damages the brain causing it to seek tools to help itself albeit sometimes misguided. We are just animals and they too use drugs and abuse them and even become addicted but this is only under stress. Prohibition increases this stress!!
Cocaine isn’t addictive, heroin isn’t either but the person who uses them might have a vulnerability to having a particular type of reaction to the use of usually certain types of drugs (some prefer stimulants, others depressants) or activity (gambling, sex, internet, TV) due to past experiences (childhood) resulting in developmental damage (structural, chemical and more changes to the brain) resulting in the reaction of feeling love and belonging that had been missing in their lives up until that moment.
Please believe me, it isn’t ever the drug. Happy people who use heroin and cocaine will not become addicted.
Others I talked to Dana Larsen whom I overheard talking about coca leaves and how nutritious they were (that was such a satisfaction as I wish I could grow them as I need both stimulation and better nutrition - medicinal coca - how is that so different then medicinal marijuana). I talked to Tara Lyons, Gillian Maxwell, Warren Michelow, Phillipe Lucas, Caleb Chepesiuk, Ann Livingstone, Marliss Taylor, Nathan Seckinger and the former Drug Policy Coordinator in Vancouver, Donald MacPherson and Deb Harper.
I missed Kirk Tousaw, Mark Haden, Libby Davies, Rielle Capler, Evan Wood, Judith Grant, and I think that is it. I said Hi to David Malmo-Levine but by that time I was unable to talk which was really disappointing as we both have a very big interest in the decriminalization of drug use in Portugal, how it has been implemented and the effects it might have on drug users who don't abuse or have any potential of developing addiction due to not having any vulnerability.
This was much longer then intended but I type so fast and think faster so...it usually is inevitable. If I try to edit, it just gets longer. I have way to many words floating around in my head all the time. You can by the way become addicted to meditation as the drug or activity doesn't matter, it is the person. This is what Dr. Gabor Mate as everyone kept asking about the stereotypical things like withdrawal. He as I always have said you can't equate physical dependence to addiction as they aren't the same things. Physical withdrawal is not what makes people keep using drugs, it is just a fact of pharmacology and how drugs react to our chemical bodies. We adapt to its presence and this isn't indicative of an addiction problem.
We do not need decriminalization of marijuana we need legalized, regulated and controlled distribution, production of all psychoactive drugs and support for those who use psychoactive drugs, abuse them and are addicted to them.
We need to end Prohibition as forcing people to not do something doesn’t work.
Yesterday was one of the hardest days I have had with my anxiety in a long time. I was able to go to a conference on Concurrent Disorders in May that was three days with little problem but this conference shock me. The I feel was due to the negative past run in with a member of the CSSDP that was there along with having speakers that I really wanted to impress. I don’t really care about the opinions of the people at the conferences for mental health and addiction but this conference, these people have been my idols for years and I really wanted to impress them.
What Rick Doblin said in his talk spoke to me and he actually mentioned brain scans and having scans of people who use drugs with holes in their brain. Well, I of course did not and I knew he would be intrigued by this.
Dr. Gabor Mate spoke of addiction and its causes which are two things and it isn’t the drug ever otherwise everyone who used it would become addicted and this doesn’t happen. Finally, someone is speaking my language although people would likely assume I am speaking his but I knew this watching friends use while others abused and my friends tended to be from all over the place rather then just one group. I even once met a intern doctor at St. Paul's coming down from mushrooms on the yaletown walk while I was smoking a joint. She worked the next day. We are all drugs users and that was repeated over and over at the conference. Drug use is not addiction.
The conflict that I had with the member in the group specifically said that I couldn't say that as firstly his friends who smoke pot wouldn't think of themselves as drug users. Well, they are...
Addicts have lost two things: belonging and connection. Belonging is having a purposeful and healthy life that contribute to society, family and self. The other is spirituality in the sense that we are all connected and therefore, not every truly alone yet for addicts, they are alone and the pain is unimaginable and that is what drugs or activities provide is a “chemical” feeling of belonging or connection rather then one that is creating by being a healthy environment.
The morning talk of Drugs & Healing that included the panelists, Rick Doblin, Dr. Gabor Mate, Phillipe Lucas, & Kenneth Tupper. They spoke of Ayauasca being a medicine that helps people face the demons in their past to allow them to move beyond being frozen in time due to the trauma. There will be research using this medicine to help aboriginal women on the DTES recover from the excessive trauma they have experienced.
It was so refreshing that I am not the only one who is realizing these facts about addiction and neuroscience.
Rick Doblin invited me to write about my MDMA experiences when using it for my treatment of PTSD and how it saved my life. I am trying to arrange to be in his study here in Vancouver for using MDMA for PTSD along with a friend of mine. You know who you are, I won't say any names. I was serious, girl when I said I would get you in! Plus, I want to do it to and I could only do this with you. We also need to find two men that we trust to do it with us.
I did talk to Rick but not Dr. Gabor Mate about my brain scans. The scans he mentioned were Dr. Amen’s and he said Dr. Amen wasn’t scientific as it was purely for business. I couldn’t argue with that however, on the same note, you can’t blow it off entirely as just being about profit. Dr. Amen puts the context of your scans into your life with a three hour history that goes through it all. I also did indicate that I saw Dr. Amen and that even he admitted that he couldn’t prove that the scans weren’t like that before the drugs and the drugs were an attempt to try to fill in those holes. I think Dr. Amen was doing it more for political reasons rather then due to believing it as they never pressured me to stop the drugs.
In fact, they understood why I continue to use them even after being put on all the supplements. Yes, I still use drugs. OMG and no I am not an addict and never have been aside from tobacco for 20 years which I quit almost 3 years ago now. He did say he was happy to hear they had helped me. It was really interesting to hear this point of view as I tend to be so scientific. I knew it was profit for the AMEN clinics but some people really are in it to help others while being placed into a capitalistic world. We need money to survive and he is still subject to the pressures of the profit medical model in the USA. I still think regardless of the profit factor of Dr. Amen and his drug scans, he has generally helped people.
The second awesome thing was talking to Dr. Gabor Mate. I did ask him about potentially providing support with my self help guide that I wrote and sent to Vancouver Coastal Health both for helping clients and maybe even educating the staff. He said not right now but send me an email in April after he writes his book and he can potentially be interested. This is something.
In the afternoon, it was just Dr. Mate with only about 15 other people, it was really an honor. He got to the heart of everything so naturally without even having to “think” about it and it was like being in the presence of “god”. I even thought during his presentation “Buddha is in front of me.” It was incredible. He even quoted from Understanding the Mind which is written by Thich Nhat Hanh. He also wrote the book I read time to time when I need gentle reminders of how to just be - Buddha Mind, Buddha Body.
I know some friends on facebook still believe that drugs cause addiction, please understand it isn’t true. Stress damages the brain causing it to seek tools to help itself albeit sometimes misguided. We are just animals and they too use drugs and abuse them and even become addicted but this is only under stress. Prohibition increases this stress!!
Cocaine isn’t addictive, heroin isn’t either but the person who uses them might have a vulnerability to having a particular type of reaction to the use of usually certain types of drugs (some prefer stimulants, others depressants) or activity (gambling, sex, internet, TV) due to past experiences (childhood) resulting in developmental damage (structural, chemical and more changes to the brain) resulting in the reaction of feeling love and belonging that had been missing in their lives up until that moment.
Please believe me, it isn’t ever the drug. Happy people who use heroin and cocaine will not become addicted.
Others I talked to Dana Larsen whom I overheard talking about coca leaves and how nutritious they were (that was such a satisfaction as I wish I could grow them as I need both stimulation and better nutrition - medicinal coca - how is that so different then medicinal marijuana). I talked to Tara Lyons, Gillian Maxwell, Warren Michelow, Phillipe Lucas, Caleb Chepesiuk, Ann Livingstone, Marliss Taylor, Nathan Seckinger and the former Drug Policy Coordinator in Vancouver, Donald MacPherson and Deb Harper.
I missed Kirk Tousaw, Mark Haden, Libby Davies, Rielle Capler, Evan Wood, Judith Grant, and I think that is it. I said Hi to David Malmo-Levine but by that time I was unable to talk which was really disappointing as we both have a very big interest in the decriminalization of drug use in Portugal, how it has been implemented and the effects it might have on drug users who don't abuse or have any potential of developing addiction due to not having any vulnerability.
This was much longer then intended but I type so fast and think faster so...it usually is inevitable. If I try to edit, it just gets longer. I have way to many words floating around in my head all the time. You can by the way become addicted to meditation as the drug or activity doesn't matter, it is the person. This is what Dr. Gabor Mate as everyone kept asking about the stereotypical things like withdrawal. He as I always have said you can't equate physical dependence to addiction as they aren't the same things. Physical withdrawal is not what makes people keep using drugs, it is just a fact of pharmacology and how drugs react to our chemical bodies. We adapt to its presence and this isn't indicative of an addiction problem.
We do not need decriminalization of marijuana we need legalized, regulated and controlled distribution, production of all psychoactive drugs and support for those who use psychoactive drugs, abuse them and are addicted to them.
We need to end Prohibition as forcing people to not do something doesn’t work.
October 24, 2009
Harm of Public Policy
Having public policy in society is very important and this couldn’t apply more then to the consumption of psychoactive drugs in society. Often it is assumed that when individuals talk about ending prohibition they envision a future with children injecting heroin and peddlers on every street but this assumption is sadly, incorrect. People who believe in ending prohibition like myself want a regulated and controlled market rather then the unregulated and uncontrolled market of drugs that currently exists. It isn’t because we don’t want control on the drugs, it is because we do. This control will result in ethical, respectful and scientific ways of distributing drugs which obviously would have to include the production of it as well.
We also need to think about the consumption aspect of it, where would it be allowed? Who would be allowed to use it? What could be ways of establishing a licencing practice similar to like automobile driving which is much more dangerous then sitting at home smoking a joint and even snorting a line of cocaine.
A regulated market provided by both governmental and non-governmental agencies would be required. It would require likely years of implementation with both help from all levels of government, communities and businesses including the currently illegal business which include selling marijuana, hallucinogens, cocaine, and more. We can move beyond cops busting down doors and lawyers trying to make sense of this ineffective method with more realistic and pragmatic policies that hell people rather then hurt. Even with the laws of murder, murder doesn’t cease to exist and sadly with the laws of some drug use being prohibited, murder increases as can be seen right now with the violence in Mexico.
Criminalization of particular behaviours that don’t result in harm to another only crushes the sense of belonging for those who engage in this behaviour. It applied to women while not able to vote, own property or do particular jobs. You only now see women really rising to the challenge to being equal and even after years of fighting, we are still not truly as the ousting from societies and more still exists regardless of how smart or powerful women are becoming. There still is no female as president but yes, a black man will do.
The criminalization of human behaviour that doesn’t harm others isn’t anything new and it includes being gay, not being of particular religion beliefs, of colors, and other behaviors labeled as deviant in society but really are just variances on a spectrum of human behaviour. Murder is a very harmful human behaviour directly to another person that causes great hurt to society as a whole and as yet, we do not understand why the human being behaves in this fashion but until this can be “cured” we put them in jail as we have no other means of protecting society from individuals who may kill again. This goes with for those who hurt others in some way purposely with intention of benefiting from this act. However, people who use drugs, they don’t want to hurt anybody and people who become addicted, are very sick people due to having a potentially life-threatening brain disorder which has many causes, none of which are the individuals fault or the drugs.
Abuse and addiction of drugs is a medical problem with biological roots along with psychological, sociological and cultural/spiritual influences. If the biology is messed, all the other areas of the person's life will be seriously impeded on and unable to function thus leading to maladaptive drug abuse and addiction along with an assortment of problems related to health. Public policy needs to be aware of this and treat those who abuse or are addicted to with special consideration as to their needs for the disability they have. By criminalizing addiction to some drugs, we will never develop any sort of cohesion in society that allows for drug use to stabilize and become less of a social problem then it is currently.
Public policy is creating our social problem of addiction along with how our biology works. When we lack control over our circumstances (prohibition creates this), we begin to do more irrational and dangerous actions as we become more desperate due to the law not preventing people from using drugs but it does cause people to have to lie about it. It is no different then when women would lie and pretend to be a man, today, gay men lie and say they like women and so forth. Drug users lie because we force them to. If prohibition is taken out of the equation of public policy, harm of drugs will go down as the distribution of them becomes established. it is related to feeling internal shame of which is extremely detrimental to the person which transfers to the community and so on, think of the DTES of Vancouver, BC.
A future involves being allowed to grow the coca plant to enable you to chew on the leaves instead of snorting it is as coca leaves aren’t available only cocaine isolated as it is easier to ship and cheaper resulting in bigger profits for the amount of cargo. A regulated market can take this away as people are able to go to a governmental agency that provides known doses of a variety of psychoactive drugs including tobacco and alcohol as they too need to be regulated more effectively to reduce the promotion of the substances. This shouldn’t be allowed as this greatly increases the use. To top it all off, the promotion of these drugs encourages its use as really, most people should be smoking marijuana not drinking alcohol. It is much safer on a daily basis for thirty years. Alcohol can’t be consumed in that fashion without serious health consequences due to its neurotoxicity.
The system won’t be perfect obviously and people will become addicted to drugs no matter what but really the solution is harm reduction as it allows for people to belong again and connect with who they are along with others. It crushes the harm of prohibition as it is no longer demonized as being wrong when it is just a human behaviour that goes wrong sometimes when people are sick.
A future can also recognize that drug use is a tool that we use just like our cars, houses and laundry machines. It has good and bad consequences and for some things, our tools are harder to understand and put into categories. Drug use is very hard and most can’t think of people using drugs without becoming addicted but this is really the norm. Policies need to recognize that drug users aren’t criminals unless they are doing something illegal like drink alcohol and drive.
We need to regulate and try to put some sort of order on our world but this attempted order can’t be more harmful then what it is trying to control.
We also need to think about the consumption aspect of it, where would it be allowed? Who would be allowed to use it? What could be ways of establishing a licencing practice similar to like automobile driving which is much more dangerous then sitting at home smoking a joint and even snorting a line of cocaine.
A regulated market provided by both governmental and non-governmental agencies would be required. It would require likely years of implementation with both help from all levels of government, communities and businesses including the currently illegal business which include selling marijuana, hallucinogens, cocaine, and more. We can move beyond cops busting down doors and lawyers trying to make sense of this ineffective method with more realistic and pragmatic policies that hell people rather then hurt. Even with the laws of murder, murder doesn’t cease to exist and sadly with the laws of some drug use being prohibited, murder increases as can be seen right now with the violence in Mexico.
Criminalization of particular behaviours that don’t result in harm to another only crushes the sense of belonging for those who engage in this behaviour. It applied to women while not able to vote, own property or do particular jobs. You only now see women really rising to the challenge to being equal and even after years of fighting, we are still not truly as the ousting from societies and more still exists regardless of how smart or powerful women are becoming. There still is no female as president but yes, a black man will do.
The criminalization of human behaviour that doesn’t harm others isn’t anything new and it includes being gay, not being of particular religion beliefs, of colors, and other behaviors labeled as deviant in society but really are just variances on a spectrum of human behaviour. Murder is a very harmful human behaviour directly to another person that causes great hurt to society as a whole and as yet, we do not understand why the human being behaves in this fashion but until this can be “cured” we put them in jail as we have no other means of protecting society from individuals who may kill again. This goes with for those who hurt others in some way purposely with intention of benefiting from this act. However, people who use drugs, they don’t want to hurt anybody and people who become addicted, are very sick people due to having a potentially life-threatening brain disorder which has many causes, none of which are the individuals fault or the drugs.
Abuse and addiction of drugs is a medical problem with biological roots along with psychological, sociological and cultural/spiritual influences. If the biology is messed, all the other areas of the person's life will be seriously impeded on and unable to function thus leading to maladaptive drug abuse and addiction along with an assortment of problems related to health. Public policy needs to be aware of this and treat those who abuse or are addicted to with special consideration as to their needs for the disability they have. By criminalizing addiction to some drugs, we will never develop any sort of cohesion in society that allows for drug use to stabilize and become less of a social problem then it is currently.
Public policy is creating our social problem of addiction along with how our biology works. When we lack control over our circumstances (prohibition creates this), we begin to do more irrational and dangerous actions as we become more desperate due to the law not preventing people from using drugs but it does cause people to have to lie about it. It is no different then when women would lie and pretend to be a man, today, gay men lie and say they like women and so forth. Drug users lie because we force them to. If prohibition is taken out of the equation of public policy, harm of drugs will go down as the distribution of them becomes established. it is related to feeling internal shame of which is extremely detrimental to the person which transfers to the community and so on, think of the DTES of Vancouver, BC.
A future involves being allowed to grow the coca plant to enable you to chew on the leaves instead of snorting it is as coca leaves aren’t available only cocaine isolated as it is easier to ship and cheaper resulting in bigger profits for the amount of cargo. A regulated market can take this away as people are able to go to a governmental agency that provides known doses of a variety of psychoactive drugs including tobacco and alcohol as they too need to be regulated more effectively to reduce the promotion of the substances. This shouldn’t be allowed as this greatly increases the use. To top it all off, the promotion of these drugs encourages its use as really, most people should be smoking marijuana not drinking alcohol. It is much safer on a daily basis for thirty years. Alcohol can’t be consumed in that fashion without serious health consequences due to its neurotoxicity.
The system won’t be perfect obviously and people will become addicted to drugs no matter what but really the solution is harm reduction as it allows for people to belong again and connect with who they are along with others. It crushes the harm of prohibition as it is no longer demonized as being wrong when it is just a human behaviour that goes wrong sometimes when people are sick.
A future can also recognize that drug use is a tool that we use just like our cars, houses and laundry machines. It has good and bad consequences and for some things, our tools are harder to understand and put into categories. Drug use is very hard and most can’t think of people using drugs without becoming addicted but this is really the norm. Policies need to recognize that drug users aren’t criminals unless they are doing something illegal like drink alcohol and drive.
We need to regulate and try to put some sort of order on our world but this attempted order can’t be more harmful then what it is trying to control.
October 23, 2009
The basic user
It isn't anything new for people to argue, "but the addicts, the addicts" when I talk about using drugs not abusing them or becoming addicted. It is also a fact that yes, we have no idea exactly how many users are out there as the only people that get counted as using drugs are those who either visit the ER due to problems associated with their drug abuse or enter some type of treatment program either in or outpatient.
However, the lack of research into the total number of users out there in comparison to those experiencing problematic substance use or addiction doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. Some research indicates that there are as many as 12 users of cocaine for every addict to cocaine. That is less then 10% of people who develop any sort of dependence on cocaine. This is the same for all drugs including alcohol.
Some research is done into simple use instead of only focusing on addiction but not much. One man is Peter Cohen at the University of Amsterdam. His research indicates that even the drugs claimed to be most addictive like heroin, they don’t show ongoing rates of use in those who do use them. This means that most people who use it don’t eventually develop serious and debilitating addiction as is claimed by most.
Although I am not denying addiction exists and never have, I am arguing it isn’t the drug however, but rather the person and their environment. Drugs don’t just suddenly result in physical dependence as this goes against scientific pharmacology. It is the person that craves that love and belonging that the drug can artificially create as that person isn’t finding it in healthy and natural ways.
Drug use by most is not about finding artificial happiness but rather using it to benefit their lives while still loving life. It isn’t about escaping or not wanting to be sober for people who use but rather it is for growing, experience, fun, social bonding and more. Drugs are nothing but tools.
I can argue that cars kill and we need to prohibit them but for the most part, we use them as a tool that can have harm. Drugs are no different!
However, the lack of research into the total number of users out there in comparison to those experiencing problematic substance use or addiction doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. Some research indicates that there are as many as 12 users of cocaine for every addict to cocaine. That is less then 10% of people who develop any sort of dependence on cocaine. This is the same for all drugs including alcohol.
Some research is done into simple use instead of only focusing on addiction but not much. One man is Peter Cohen at the University of Amsterdam. His research indicates that even the drugs claimed to be most addictive like heroin, they don’t show ongoing rates of use in those who do use them. This means that most people who use it don’t eventually develop serious and debilitating addiction as is claimed by most.
Although I am not denying addiction exists and never have, I am arguing it isn’t the drug however, but rather the person and their environment. Drugs don’t just suddenly result in physical dependence as this goes against scientific pharmacology. It is the person that craves that love and belonging that the drug can artificially create as that person isn’t finding it in healthy and natural ways.
Drug use by most is not about finding artificial happiness but rather using it to benefit their lives while still loving life. It isn’t about escaping or not wanting to be sober for people who use but rather it is for growing, experience, fun, social bonding and more. Drugs are nothing but tools.
I can argue that cars kill and we need to prohibit them but for the most part, we use them as a tool that can have harm. Drugs are no different!
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