The Opioid Epidemic - A.K.A The Crisis of Addiction

While I've been harping on the "yeah, now we are focusing on addicting treatment," it must be said, there is a reason this did become a story...and one guy got a Pulitzer for it:
http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/eric-eyre

For:
http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-health/20160523/drug-firms-fueled-pill-mills-in-rural-wv
http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-h...0m-painkillers-into-wv-amid-rise-of-overdoses
http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-h...ious-drug-order-rules-never-enforced-by-state

Good for him.

 

Again, the sudden epiphany that addiction is an issue which should not be criminalized is not what I have been arguing. But this particular reason why this should not be separated out is why I'm arguing this so strongly. If we decide to strengthen drug laws v. drug manufacturers, the opioid crisis is solved, but the addiction issue is not.

 

That is an oversimplification to me.

There are numerous drug war parallels that fit here, and many that do not. Far too many substances are abused and have plenty of ramifications (or lack thereof) depending on who is using and providing.

Alcohol is legal, and is arguably the most addictive and harmful to communities - in general there are issues like: police turning a blind eye to drunk driving by co-workers, historical racial prejudice used to criminalize cannabinoids, psychedelics and club drugs being created for party purposes, opioids being marketed and traded and addicts being abetted via varying scenarios for centuries, crack vs coke and how that affected whites vs POC, date rape drugs.

We can hive off the discussion into a half dozen threads, but the common element is addiction, or at a more basic level: pleasure seeking. This is why I say this should be a separate thread.

 

Watched 'Orange Sunshine' on Netflix - it's about the chemists behind LSD in the 60s - it touched on some of this due to the origins of the drug used by the CIA as a truth serum, and research done in the 40s and 50s on mental health benefits.

Would like to hear that segment.

 

Maybe don't google the 'Worst Toilet In Scotland' scene from Trainspotting...

 

The people who make the laws have never seemed to want to get into the details. Hell, my rep, when talking about the health care bill, said that addiction was a temporary condition and was a choice.

That is precisely the point I'm making. Society as a whole is finally starting to come around to addiction being a permanent medical condition, an idea which is not supported by the current laws.

 

it

Society is coming around (reducing stigma, etc,) but what do you suggest to help progress? The laws aren't enough unfortunately, and the powers that be are a bit "meh" about it ,clearly . I feel like this needs for of a scientific push (and in the meantime a sociological push). Strange how most of the progressive studies are being done out of the U.S. They aren't tied to the current "Minnesota model" (which unfortunately is the default answer despite its poor success rate) and actually are more open minded on new ways to combat the issue.
We discuss alternatives but here is a model which I support:
http://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-ju...-in-half-by-connecting-users-with-communities
The Opposite of Addiction Is Connection
This gives us an insight that goes much deeper than the need to understand addicts.

A heroin addict has bonded with heroin because she couldn’t bond as fully with anything else.
Professor Peter Cohen argues that human beings have a deep need to bond and form connections. It’s how we get our satisfaction. If we can’t connect with each other, we will connect with anything we can find—the whirr of a roulette wheel or the prick of a syringe. He says we should stop talking about ‘addiction’ altogether, and instead call it ‘bonding.’ A heroin addict has bonded with heroin because she couldn’t bond as fully with anything else.

So the opposite of addiction is not sobriety. It is human connection.