Reducing Addiction
The addiction industry loves to talk about recovery and percentage of success of those who completed the program and are still sober is really brainwashing language of the industry and the last thing they want to do is solve the addiction problem as it only makes them more money.
Edgewood in Nanaimo, BC is $40,000 for two months and if you leave early, you don’t get your money back. Instead you fail meaning you need treatment even more now. The Orchard on Bowen Island is $50,000 for one month! Again, no money back if you leave early. In Edgewood, they can keep you until they say you are ready to go also charging you more and more money for you stay. It was rumored one person was kept there for over a year and paid well over $100,000.
In the words of Stanton Peele in the Diseasing of America, “What is this new addiction industry meant to accomplish?” It tells you first that you have a disease and that you are not in control and that you need this type of treatment otherwise you will die. Yes this is the main gist of the 12-step program and it is a blatant lie!!
Firstly, “treatment” consists of a spiritual approach even though they in the same breath says it is a biological and a disease. How can praying to god cure this disease? Yes of course, there is no cure, you have it forever and the only cure is to stay away from the drug of choice. Again, if you consider it to be biological, how can the absence of something cure your illness?
When an individual is diagnosed with cancer one thing they always have to do it have hope and they will continue to fight but for those diagnosed with some arbitrary label of alcoholic or drug addict (no concrete way of deciding you have this disease aside from culturally defined ones - at one time even smoking tobacco was illegal). It has nothing to do with actually helping the sick but rather labeling them in society as deviants and putting them in programs to stop them from engaging in that deviant behaviour rather than actually getting to the route of the problem.
The current treatment industry is harming more than helping in addiction and it must stop. Stanton Peele began to speak out against the use of 12-step programs back in 1975, that was when I was born. These ideas are not new however, they are not spoken of. It is similar to that inability for those in the SS party during the Nazi Reign not able to speak out against the dictator Hitler. That might seem a bit extreme to some but really it isn’t.
The temperance movement which fueled the AA and 12-step recovery programs that currently dominate our addiction treatment system was fueled by intolerance, judgement, discrimination, prejudice and violation of fundamental human rights such as the right to autonomy which includes the right to put whatever we want into our bodies as long as we don’t harm others. These programs assume that any use of substances is fundamentally wrong and it doesn’t distinguish between use and abuse or addiction which of course are entirely different.
These so called “treatment” programs insist that simply removing the substance and recovery will occur but this is drastically incorrect. Often people are using these drugs as a way of self-medicating and it is now being more recognized that this drug use is keeping these sick people alive and prevents them from committing suicide or doing other very impulsive actions to escape their internal brain pain. Those who abuse drugs are literally experiencing pain due to an unhealthy brain. This unhealthy brain is often only being further harmed due to traumatizing and forceful treatment that is the only available possibility.
Addiction is really a result of pain, brain damage and trauma. It is being more recognized that healthy people use drugs but they don’t abuse whereas unhealthy people do use drugs and may proceed to potentially develop addiction. The prescription medications that are pushed on these people often have worse side-effects than most of the recreational or psychoactive substances available on the street, what would you choose to use?
In addition, the idea that addiction is a disease and thus you are out of control of it only leads to a believe that once you start using, it is an excuse to let all responsibility go out the window, “well sorry officer but I blacked out and didn’t know what I was doing” is commonly heard in the courts and this is absolutely your fault as you got yourself to black out in the first place and it is only up to that person to not do it again.
Back in the early 1800s, it was generally accepted that drinking was fine but intoxication causing harm to others wasn’t. What ever happened to this idea? Why can’t we apply this to all drugs at all times? Why are drugs so culturally defined? Up to this point, we have had very little understanding of the brain, drugs and the effects of the drugs on the brain and our behaviours. But with the advents of neuroscience (study of the brain), we are beginning to understand that addiction is really just a symptom of the an unhealthy brain that has been harmed through trauma.
This trauma rewires the brain and sadly, our brain is wired to avoid pain. It uses drugs to achieve this avoidance strategy and at the beginning it works but due to being unsupervised by professionals and the products being of unknown quality and quantity, harm begins and the use becomes abuse. Those who are trying to escape the pain in their brain are unable to get proper services to help deal with this thus turning to street drugs or alcohol. Some use the prescription medications such as benzodiazepines and pain killers to avoid this pain in the brain and too become seriously addicted. Even the anti-depressants and anti-psychotics are used for its intoxicating or sedating effects.
In a newspaper article about the President of Mexico wanting to decriminalize drugs, the DEA acting director, Michele Leonart said that legalization “would be a failed law enforcement strategy for both the USA and Mexico”. Well of course it would be as legalization isn’t a law enforcement strategy but rather a health strategy and it also makes you wonder, what is the current law enforcement strategy then? A success? How is it leading to a reduction of drug use or abuse and addiction? It is only preventing those who really want to help people from the harms of addiction to not be able to except for putting them into jail for their so called “criminal” activity?
Sadly, decriminalization isn’t going far enough. How does it make sense to legalize half a business transaction? It would be like allowing cars to be only available for purchase but selling it would be still illegal. What do you think a car salesmen would do to sell their product? This is how prostitution is, half there but still harmful to the person selling the sex (aka the women). If a behaviour is going to be legal to engage in (buy and consume drugs), the selling of the drugs is going to have to be legal and regulated as well. You still can’t have the cartels and monopolies running and distributing harmful impure substances to people. It makes no sense.
So the harm of addiction can only be reduced if we begin to look into having a pragmatic way of regulating and distributing psychoactive substances in a respectful in following the fundamental rights set out by the United Nations.
For people to really get better from addiction, we need to stop telling people they have no control and rather that they can reestablish control back into their lives as that is what needs to happen if one it to get better. It requires the desire to get better as well as the belief that one can get better and has a reason to. We all deserve this obviously but trauma can distort these beliefs in people.
Thanks Colleen
June 21, 2009
June 17, 2009
Drug Dealers: a screwed stereotype!!
It rarely is said in society that drug dealers are just people but that is what they are, really!! They are not the murderous and crazy people that are hell bent on harming others. It is true that there are some very bad drug dealers in the world but that is no different then any other job. There are bad police, lawyers, judges and doctors, teachers and even those who own or run businesses. To portray these people as being worse is only due to the fact that these people are expected to break the law due to providing something that is in demand.
The drug dealers I know which is many over the course of about eighteen years were good people just wanting to get buy and the worst thing they ever did to me was show up late which was really all the time or not show up at all. I was wanting something they gave me and luckily I was empowered enough to make sure that the products were of good value.
The dealers I have bought from for 18 years may or may not have been getting their product from organized criminals (more likely there were) but that does not make them immoral and deserving to be in jail. After all they were just providing something I wanted in the circumstances they were in, the "war on drugs".
In terms of the perspective of harm, automobile dealers are far worse than the illicit drug dealers. Yes, that includes your local car salesperson. The cars we see today pollute, cause death, allow for out of control drivers to take over the street, reliance on having to build expensive roads and in fact is changing our climate system so significantly that entire species are dying off which may include homo sapiens one day.
We not only don’t consider these people as being harmful to society but instead actually help them along by giving them tax payers money to save them from possible bankruptcy. Our use of cars is like a drug addiction and that is we are using them even in the face of negative consequences. Why do we allow this to continue while concurrently trying to get more severe punishments for those who deal drugs? Are the drug dealers really the ones who are doing the most harm to our society?
How about the large multi-billion dollar corporations that walk all over this globe and take what they want for their production of products for again the mass consumption of goods aimed at distracting us from the harm they are doing? Don’t get me wrong here, so many misinterpret this as to me saying that any using of other countries outside of North America is wrong and that is not what I am saying. I am against the abuse of those in other lands for the use of their land without any support given to the people already living on that land.
A professor as SFU, Bruce Alexander, argues that the globalization of addiction is actually due to the free market. He says that due to people wanting to exchange goods and there for acquire goods for sale or to be able to produce into something else, we have the dislocation of those people who are on these lands and thus they resort to addiction (drugs/activities) to escape the feeling of being lost and having no direction.
I do agree that yes, the fact that throughout society, people have abused others for the use of their land for resources, goods, and services, this is no different than any animal in the world. All animals when in need of more resources will expand their territory usually expanding into already occupied territories. Thus this results in war. It happens in all species that have expanded to the point of overlapping territories. This is a fact of life, we work at surviving both individually first, than our community, then society, than country. Our brain firstly, works at our survival than reaching our potential.
For these people who are native to their land and are invaded by others is the norm however, it sadly, shouldn’t be the case any longer. As humans, we have the ability to be aware that we are harming others and we have the awareness to attempt to work together for the benefit of all rather than the benefit of some. Sadly, for some this is not yet believed and they still work to the benefit of themselves. This involves the abuse of others and thus resulting in trauma thus leading to vulnerability to addiction.
This is my theory of how addiction occurs. It is not simply the exchange of goods (aka free market) but rather the abuse of one by another when exchanging goods. We can work together in way that is profitable to all rather than just some. The globalization of abuse is what is our problem, not globalization itself. In fact, globalization is likely would could help us survive. We all do things differently around the world and this isn’t bad but rather what might help us survive as a species.
Globalization allows me to see cultures from Asia, India, and Russia. Without the global way of thinking, this wouldn’t be possible. This ability for me to become aware of other ways of living and being allows me to open my mind and thus allows my mind to grow to be in a way, the “globalization of my mind.” I like this phrase as it comes from a day I was on a ferry with a friend talking about the internet and how cool google earth was. It is the most fantastic thing that I can see the Eiffel Tower without actually being in Paris from all angles. I can see beaches in Portugal even though I am not physically there.
This globalization can allow us to reach all globes with our minds. We can explore other products, cultures and possibilities without actually being there. Granted, it is still much better to be there but we all don’t have that capability aside from hooking up to the internet. It is so cool, I can talk to my cousins even though I haven’t seen them for 14 years.
How does this all relate to drug dealers? Well, blaming the drug dealers is misguided as they are not generating our addiction issues. They are only providing a product that people want which at times can be harmful but so is our automobile industry. What about McDonald’s or Wal Mart? They case much more harm with their products both with how they are produced and what they are made of (chemicals in the McDonald products are not meant for humans to attain full health both physically or mentally).
The drug dealers are not our problem but rather the problem is working at keeping people safe from those that oppress and attempt to harm others for the benefit of themselves. Drug dealers aren’t forcing me to take a drug, I choose that myself and under the law, I have autonomy over my own body.
What I don’t have a choice with is how I transport myself to other places? I can’t buy an electric car or a car that runs on solar power even though we have the technology for this. I found it incredible when I learned electric cars were first as cars that ran on oil/gas where disliked due to how dirty they are and noisy. Why don’t we have the choice to buy cars that aren’t harmful to society? Hybrid still is making us dependent on oil!! In terms of food, why isn't there predominantly healthy fast food? Why is it all processed, full of chemicals, sugar and bad fats? It too has addicting substances in it such as MSG.
Drug dealers are not the horrible people as they are made out to be and this is distracting us from the real harms in society. I want to reduce harm but only thinking about the harm from drugs is really missing much of our problems. Drug dealers are a scapegoat to allow those with the power to continue to deserve us. We need to speak out and take control especially against police, politicians and those very powerful business corporate giants that are only oppressing more. This oppression isn’t just to women, homosexuals, or those who use drugs but rather to everyone that doesn’t have a connection to these people. If you aren’t rich, a friend of the Bush family or the oil people around the world, you are nothing. We need to get out of the cloud of automobile fumes we are living in and begin to see the light.
Minimum sentences and tougher punishments does nothing to deal with the real harms we are seeing in our society. Violence, oppression and dependence on oil and $$ are our real problems. We need to stop shopping and start loving.
The USA claimed there were weapons of mass destruction which was a lie of course but what isn’t being talked about weapons of mass consumption. These are the businesses that are focusing us to consume products we may not necessarily want. Do we really need more stories of tragedy on the news instead of the decisions being made by politicians without any proper information? We are being blocked from discussing what affects us and this is to maintain the current status quo.
Our brain lies to us all the time and what we think is try likely isn’t. Drugs doesn’t kill, people do just like guns. I used to think that guns were only bad but now I realize they too can be used to benefit in that it preserves life just as drugs can do. I know today, I am alive due to my drug use and I don’t hate my dealers, I like them. Most in fact are my friends and they are good “otherwise” law-abiding citizens who just want to run a proper business.
Drug dealers are needed to be part of the solution when it comes to how can we end the “drug war” but sadly, like lawyers, police, judges and others who benefit from the failed war on drugs, they too won’t speak out about the harms they see not only to themselves due to having to hide income, personal information and such, they also see the harm to their clients done by the drug war, not the drugs themselves.
If drugs really killed, drug dealers wouldn’t have repeat customers. That doesn’t make for a very good business. Alcohol dealers are drug dealers too and we don’t see them killing each other in the streets and creating monopolies but we used to - during alcohol prohibition. It came to an end as will this war but for this too happen we have to stop dodging the idea that drug dealers are people. We have to begin to accept that they too just want to make a living and may not necessarily want to kill their customers as is portrayed in the media.
We need to stop buying and start talking about solutions to our addiction to consumerism which is and likely is fueling our economic problems. It is no different from a person spending too much money on alcohol, cannabis, gambling, sex, or shoes. If we are buying the shoes even though we don’t need them, why are we buying them? This buying something we don’t need not only further fuels the addiction to oil/gas as it is required for the production of these shoes as well, the profits don’t go to those who made the shoes (physically) but rather the people who forced these people to make them without very good compensation.
This is the ongoing trauma and oppression that we are propagating when we buy something we don’t need. We may think we need it but again, our brain lies to us a lot. We need to stop listening to the brains wants and rather identify consciously what we need to live and prosper. Love, food, shelter, clothes (not brand names) and more love. That is all, the buying of shoes is that false love we so reach out for which is also preventing us from talking about what is reality and what isn’t.
Drug dealers being bad isn’t a reality but the dependence we have on oil dealers is. We need to think about our take on reality and start to fight to be heard that we don’t want this world anymore. We want one that is based on love, caring, compassion, respect, dignity, autonomy and honesty.
The drug dealers I know which is many over the course of about eighteen years were good people just wanting to get buy and the worst thing they ever did to me was show up late which was really all the time or not show up at all. I was wanting something they gave me and luckily I was empowered enough to make sure that the products were of good value.
The dealers I have bought from for 18 years may or may not have been getting their product from organized criminals (more likely there were) but that does not make them immoral and deserving to be in jail. After all they were just providing something I wanted in the circumstances they were in, the "war on drugs".
In terms of the perspective of harm, automobile dealers are far worse than the illicit drug dealers. Yes, that includes your local car salesperson. The cars we see today pollute, cause death, allow for out of control drivers to take over the street, reliance on having to build expensive roads and in fact is changing our climate system so significantly that entire species are dying off which may include homo sapiens one day.
We not only don’t consider these people as being harmful to society but instead actually help them along by giving them tax payers money to save them from possible bankruptcy. Our use of cars is like a drug addiction and that is we are using them even in the face of negative consequences. Why do we allow this to continue while concurrently trying to get more severe punishments for those who deal drugs? Are the drug dealers really the ones who are doing the most harm to our society?
How about the large multi-billion dollar corporations that walk all over this globe and take what they want for their production of products for again the mass consumption of goods aimed at distracting us from the harm they are doing? Don’t get me wrong here, so many misinterpret this as to me saying that any using of other countries outside of North America is wrong and that is not what I am saying. I am against the abuse of those in other lands for the use of their land without any support given to the people already living on that land.
A professor as SFU, Bruce Alexander, argues that the globalization of addiction is actually due to the free market. He says that due to people wanting to exchange goods and there for acquire goods for sale or to be able to produce into something else, we have the dislocation of those people who are on these lands and thus they resort to addiction (drugs/activities) to escape the feeling of being lost and having no direction.
I do agree that yes, the fact that throughout society, people have abused others for the use of their land for resources, goods, and services, this is no different than any animal in the world. All animals when in need of more resources will expand their territory usually expanding into already occupied territories. Thus this results in war. It happens in all species that have expanded to the point of overlapping territories. This is a fact of life, we work at surviving both individually first, than our community, then society, than country. Our brain firstly, works at our survival than reaching our potential.
For these people who are native to their land and are invaded by others is the norm however, it sadly, shouldn’t be the case any longer. As humans, we have the ability to be aware that we are harming others and we have the awareness to attempt to work together for the benefit of all rather than the benefit of some. Sadly, for some this is not yet believed and they still work to the benefit of themselves. This involves the abuse of others and thus resulting in trauma thus leading to vulnerability to addiction.
This is my theory of how addiction occurs. It is not simply the exchange of goods (aka free market) but rather the abuse of one by another when exchanging goods. We can work together in way that is profitable to all rather than just some. The globalization of abuse is what is our problem, not globalization itself. In fact, globalization is likely would could help us survive. We all do things differently around the world and this isn’t bad but rather what might help us survive as a species.
Globalization allows me to see cultures from Asia, India, and Russia. Without the global way of thinking, this wouldn’t be possible. This ability for me to become aware of other ways of living and being allows me to open my mind and thus allows my mind to grow to be in a way, the “globalization of my mind.” I like this phrase as it comes from a day I was on a ferry with a friend talking about the internet and how cool google earth was. It is the most fantastic thing that I can see the Eiffel Tower without actually being in Paris from all angles. I can see beaches in Portugal even though I am not physically there.
This globalization can allow us to reach all globes with our minds. We can explore other products, cultures and possibilities without actually being there. Granted, it is still much better to be there but we all don’t have that capability aside from hooking up to the internet. It is so cool, I can talk to my cousins even though I haven’t seen them for 14 years.
How does this all relate to drug dealers? Well, blaming the drug dealers is misguided as they are not generating our addiction issues. They are only providing a product that people want which at times can be harmful but so is our automobile industry. What about McDonald’s or Wal Mart? They case much more harm with their products both with how they are produced and what they are made of (chemicals in the McDonald products are not meant for humans to attain full health both physically or mentally).
The drug dealers are not our problem but rather the problem is working at keeping people safe from those that oppress and attempt to harm others for the benefit of themselves. Drug dealers aren’t forcing me to take a drug, I choose that myself and under the law, I have autonomy over my own body.
What I don’t have a choice with is how I transport myself to other places? I can’t buy an electric car or a car that runs on solar power even though we have the technology for this. I found it incredible when I learned electric cars were first as cars that ran on oil/gas where disliked due to how dirty they are and noisy. Why don’t we have the choice to buy cars that aren’t harmful to society? Hybrid still is making us dependent on oil!! In terms of food, why isn't there predominantly healthy fast food? Why is it all processed, full of chemicals, sugar and bad fats? It too has addicting substances in it such as MSG.
Drug dealers are not the horrible people as they are made out to be and this is distracting us from the real harms in society. I want to reduce harm but only thinking about the harm from drugs is really missing much of our problems. Drug dealers are a scapegoat to allow those with the power to continue to deserve us. We need to speak out and take control especially against police, politicians and those very powerful business corporate giants that are only oppressing more. This oppression isn’t just to women, homosexuals, or those who use drugs but rather to everyone that doesn’t have a connection to these people. If you aren’t rich, a friend of the Bush family or the oil people around the world, you are nothing. We need to get out of the cloud of automobile fumes we are living in and begin to see the light.
Minimum sentences and tougher punishments does nothing to deal with the real harms we are seeing in our society. Violence, oppression and dependence on oil and $$ are our real problems. We need to stop shopping and start loving.
The USA claimed there were weapons of mass destruction which was a lie of course but what isn’t being talked about weapons of mass consumption. These are the businesses that are focusing us to consume products we may not necessarily want. Do we really need more stories of tragedy on the news instead of the decisions being made by politicians without any proper information? We are being blocked from discussing what affects us and this is to maintain the current status quo.
Our brain lies to us all the time and what we think is try likely isn’t. Drugs doesn’t kill, people do just like guns. I used to think that guns were only bad but now I realize they too can be used to benefit in that it preserves life just as drugs can do. I know today, I am alive due to my drug use and I don’t hate my dealers, I like them. Most in fact are my friends and they are good “otherwise” law-abiding citizens who just want to run a proper business.
Drug dealers are needed to be part of the solution when it comes to how can we end the “drug war” but sadly, like lawyers, police, judges and others who benefit from the failed war on drugs, they too won’t speak out about the harms they see not only to themselves due to having to hide income, personal information and such, they also see the harm to their clients done by the drug war, not the drugs themselves.
If drugs really killed, drug dealers wouldn’t have repeat customers. That doesn’t make for a very good business. Alcohol dealers are drug dealers too and we don’t see them killing each other in the streets and creating monopolies but we used to - during alcohol prohibition. It came to an end as will this war but for this too happen we have to stop dodging the idea that drug dealers are people. We have to begin to accept that they too just want to make a living and may not necessarily want to kill their customers as is portrayed in the media.
We need to stop buying and start talking about solutions to our addiction to consumerism which is and likely is fueling our economic problems. It is no different from a person spending too much money on alcohol, cannabis, gambling, sex, or shoes. If we are buying the shoes even though we don’t need them, why are we buying them? This buying something we don’t need not only further fuels the addiction to oil/gas as it is required for the production of these shoes as well, the profits don’t go to those who made the shoes (physically) but rather the people who forced these people to make them without very good compensation.
This is the ongoing trauma and oppression that we are propagating when we buy something we don’t need. We may think we need it but again, our brain lies to us a lot. We need to stop listening to the brains wants and rather identify consciously what we need to live and prosper. Love, food, shelter, clothes (not brand names) and more love. That is all, the buying of shoes is that false love we so reach out for which is also preventing us from talking about what is reality and what isn’t.
Drug dealers being bad isn’t a reality but the dependence we have on oil dealers is. We need to think about our take on reality and start to fight to be heard that we don’t want this world anymore. We want one that is based on love, caring, compassion, respect, dignity, autonomy and honesty.
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