Between a rock and a hard place.

[Walker]

Just to get the ball rolling, this is not an unsolicited swipe at drug addiction. Lets use this thread to discuss our views on what may be the most misunderstood and wrongly treated human malady we face today. I don't have time to start us off, but anyone should feel free to kick things off with their own views and/or experiences.

[Ed]

Huge ball of wax, this one.

First off - drug addiction is a worldwide problem and it affects people from every race and every social background.  Why?

Second - the drugs that kill the most people every year are the legal ones - alcohol and nicotine, accounting for probably millions of deaths between them annually, yet when we talk about 'the drug problem' we always seem to concentrate on the headline grabbers like crystal meth, heroin, coke, crack, E's.

What is it about being human that makes us so susceptable to drug addiction? 

What can society do to cure the problem?

Is prohibition working as well with hard drugs as it did with alcohol in 1920s America?

[SharonBell]

Neurochemistry research demonstrates we are pre-wired for addictions. There are receptors in the brain for nicotine and cocaine. Who knows what else? NIDA is looking at this to see what can be used to block those receptors for those who are addicted. We know it "runs in families," i.e., there is a genetic component (see all the alcohol research). We also know that not every family member is affected. There's the environment argument at work. 

Here's a comprehensive article on addictions that you might find useful
http://www2.nurseweek.com/ce/self-study_modules/course.html?ID=467

[canadian]

Well, from personal experience, I can tell ya that addictive traits do tend to run in families and yet 'not every family member is affected'. Both of my parents were heavy smokers. Both of them drank a lot. I'm a heavy smoker and tend to drink too much beer. The next kid in line, my brother, is also a smoker and is addicted to crack. The two youngest, on the other hand, do not smoke and have never smoked and don't do drugs. My sister doesn't drink and my 'baby' brother likes his beer but I can't say I've ever seen him drink to excess.

Fortunately ... neither of my children smoke or have ever tried heavy drugs (far as I know!).

Having watched my brother descend into the pits of crack has been devastating. I empathize tremendously with Sharon's "White Dust" story that's posted in the Crit section here. My family has now, finally, come to the point of realizing we can only help him so much. For a time, a few family members were doing TOO much for him ... bailing him out, feeling sorry for him ... it's a rough road for everyone.

[Walker]

It's sad to see that so many people are affected by others addictions, and even their own. I have my share of addictions too, but it's an ongoing struggle. I'm beginning to find that it runs much deeper than just a chemical dependency or a habitual comfort; I think our addictions are a manifestation of our society as a whole. From cigarettes to heroin, we pick these things up because we are missing something. In order to miss something, however, we must have had it at some time.

We're never in a more loving and cared-for state than when we're first born. It's that time when people love us and care for us, tell us the truth and have such hopes and aspirations for us. We can feel this; sense it, and we need it to get started in life. I think it's the removal of these affections and values, often in traumatic fashion, that leaves a hole in our spirit or soul. As humans, what the hell do we know about filling a depression in spirit? Nothing, basically, which is why we try to fill it with the only think we know that alters our consciousness-- drugs and addictions. We're constantly grasping for serenity and wisdom. That's the one thing we all have in common; nobody wants to stay dumb, or sick. We want wisdom, health, serenity and completeness or wholeness. The more it's removed from our lives by government and self, the more we try to fill the hole with stuff-- the only stuff we can get our hands on.

There's a huge groundswell happening. There's a huge shift of consciousness taking place right beneath our feet. This grass-roots movement is a shift back to self, and spirit. We, as a society, are beginning to understand that we simply cannot carry on this way (as a species) and expect to have any future at all. We've reached a point where it's now or never-- we are destined to extinction by our own hand!
My prediction for the future is that people-- all people-- will get the spiritual nourishment they need to remain whole and not need chemicals, or other types of vice, to fill the hole in our lives.
Our very belief systems, support systems and governmental systems are the source of our addictive nature. We don't become addicted to crack because of some other 'gateway' drug, we become addicted because our own beliefs and society has completely removed the gate.
We're desensitized to drugs and addictions as a way of life. Pharmacorps peddle their toxic wares to us on every television channel, every magazine and radio station and through manipulation and mis-training of every doctor we go to. We're being told from every angle that this or that drug will make it all okay, but all it does is fill our void with acid that leaves a deeper hole when the fix runs out. A hole in spirit needs to be filled with spirit, and purpose, trying to fill it with anything else leaves us incomplete and begging for more. That's why meditation is so effective.

Anyway, that's my take on addictions, in a nutshell. Maybe not the most scientific view. The remark about there being receptors on our brain for cocaine, etc. doesn't surprise me-- it's very true. I think our brains are designed to work with ANY organic substance. Certain South American peoples use coca leaves as a means to communicate with thier 'gods and ancestors', yet they suffer no addictions like we do here in North America. It's not because they're chewing the leaf instaed of snorting the powder, it's because they revere and honour their spirit. They nourish it with love and respect and give it the attention it needs in the form of meditation and care, not the form of alchohol, crack or Xbox.

Hopefully this will piss someone off, or excite them, or anything to get this talk going. I think it's an important one that bears serious consideration.  Afterall, as humans, we're all affected by this.

[SharonBell]

I agree that there is a spirtual component to addictions. My son's last rehab was at Father Martin's Ashley, a Catholic facility, that treats all religions, with compassionate care. I met Father Martin and he is wonderful, a saint, I think. Also, an alcoholic.

Walker, you can raise the same kids in the same family, by the same parents, and have as Donna has noted, addicts and non-addicts. What does that tell you? In Al Anon and Nar Anon, we say we can't be BOTH terrible parents and GREAT parents. It doesn't make sense--unless you're a borderline personality disorder, but that's for another thread.

I have asthma. When I became pregnant, age the old age of 30 (not kidding, I was considered "an elderly primip"), my asthma got worse. At 6 weeks of pregnancy, I was in the ER, gasping for breath. About 1/3 of asthmatics who get pregnant, worsen their asthma. No one knows why. The other 2/3 get better or remain the same.

I had a choice, breath or no breath. Meds or no meds. Theophylline and prednisone or a dead or retarded baby, because if Mommy isn't breathing, neither is baby. I was on 2000 grams of TheoDur per day for my pregnancy. At delivery (traumatic, pitocin-induced, nearly ruptured my uterus) the cord was wrapped around my son's neck. He was hypoxic, had to be delivered with a low forceps.

In the nursery, he was the only one lifting his head. Wired? Yes he was. On TheoDur. 11 months of colicky infancy, nursing every hour and a half. Sick with bronchitis at 5 months, I said to the pediatricians, "He has asthma." They replied, "There, there, little mother, just because you have asthma, doesn't mean your baby has asthma. It's not genetic." I hope those two burn in hell, because they put my son through hell by denying his asthma, by denying him care. By the time they decided they HAD to accept he had asthma, he'd been hospitalized MONTHLY for THREE years. The bastards worked him up for Cystic Fibrosis, more willing to accept that diagnosis than asthma.

He was put on every upper known to man, plus Vistaril, which potentiates all the uppers. He was on tons of meds for the first 8 years of his life. Then we moved to Maryland, found a wonderful pediatrician, and weaned him off the drugs and got his asthma under control. About then, he started experimenting with illegal drugs.  Any wonder?

So, what would you have done, my friend? Dead baby or live baby? Breath or no breath? It was a Sophie's choice, and I had no idea of the consequences of the choice--nor did anyone else 23 years ago.

[Walker]

Walker, you can raise the same kids in the same family, by the same parents, and have as Donna has noted, addicts and non-addicts. What does that tell you?

Sounds like my own family. I'm the youngest of 6 kids, each with a different set of skills, troubles and addictions. Maybe some environmental influence and other traumatic experience contributing to these conditions? Same parents, same family, etc, but some with serious hard-drug addictions right down to no addictions at all. Some with a healthy lifestyle, some set on a self-destructive course.

I feel bad for the conditions surrounding your sons birth, it must have been a terrible experience, and it sounds like the trouble went on for quite some time.
I know that with you being in the medical field, Sharon, my post may have come off as a slam against that community, but nothing could be farther from the truth. I'm not into doctor-bashing. If I didn't have any faith in modern medicine I wouldn't be seeing 2 different neurologists or injecting myself with Copaxone every single day in the hopes that this non-proven drug would fix me. It's no fun at all, trust me.

In my own personal experience, my siblings all suffered differently. All the conditions were consistent, but what was different was the individuals perception, ability to adjust, sensitivity to criticism, creativeness and ability to diffuse destructive feelings. The brother closest in age to me is as different from me as two people could be-- emotionally, mentally, and even physically-- yet we were raised in identical conditions.

I don't think that my parents had as much to do with the way we turned out as we're led to believe. Society programmed us just as much as our parents did.
Letting parents believe that they've somehow failed, resulting in their kids falling into the addictions trap, totally takes the weight off our way of life. We're in a time of high-speed, instant-gratification, with more and more pressure being put on the middle class and an ever-widening gap between the have's and the have-not's.
Is it any wonder kids turn to drugs? Nope. The last few decades have been getting crazier by the day and now we hear things about how bleak the future looks for the next generation. When I look at my son, I wonder how the hell he manages to cope at all. He's 18 now, and getting ready to step out into this world, yet he's bombarded with horrible information about wars, the environment, no jobs, terrorism and all sorts of things I couldn't even fathom at his age. When I was 18 all I cared about was girls and my car.

If we don't tackle this problem head-on with a constructive attitude then we're going to end up with another entire generation put behind bars because they can't cope with society. There's no way in hell I'll stand by and let my kids be a factor in the police-state mantality so prevelent these days. Building more jails so we can put more and more hurting people behind bars is exactly the opposite of constructive. Our government tells us that Harm Reduction policy is bad and only encourages more drug use. I say our government is more responsible for the ongoing drug problem than any single faction out there, including dealers. There are legitimate solutions to the drug problems of the world, yet they will never be iimplemented because the sad truth is the government doesn't want us off drugs. When the people become self-aware and decide to stop using drugs, then that barrier has been beaten and there's nothing to stop them from also stopping the use of the vast majority of medications. What would happen if there were suddenly no smokers? The gov't would freak! There goes billions in tax money. There goes billions in health care. There goes billions in expensive medications-- all the way from chemo drugs to zyban.
No, the sad truth is that the gov't doesn't want society off drugs-- it's part of the stupour they rely on, and they'd lose way too much revenue. It's up to us to make society better and more aware. I think that's happening, and its happening at an accelerated rate.
I have a lot of faith in the next generation. I have faith in the 'Hundredth monkey', and I think that we'll overcome this someday and look back, with tears in our eyes, at what we put ourselves through to get there.

[Ed]

I think you're right that modern living has a lot to do with addiction being rife in society.  Where other more traditional cultures nurture respect for elders and family, and perhaps most importantly give their people an identity they can measure up to, modern western culture teaches kids to revere pop and movie stars, wealth, beauty and status - all bullshit.  People feel displaced and insecure, so they look for something, anything to make themselves feel better - fill the void.

Personally, I like the old ideas like rites of passage - each child having to complete a task in order to pass from childhood into adulthood.  Boundaries, achievable goals, communion with more natural things.

[SharonBell]

Unfortunately, the rites of passage now involve drugs and alcohol.  I remember turning 18; of course I had to go drinking! 

[Walker]

Yep. Whatever happened to jumping off a building with a vine tied around your ankle?
Good clean fun, dammit.

[SharonBell]

Okay, stop me if you've heard this joke (No, don't!) Remember most of Minnesota was settled by Swedes.

Two Minnesotans walk into a pet shop in Dingle. They head to the bird section and Sven says to Hans, "Dat's dem."

The owner comes over and asks if he can help them.

"Yeah, we'll take four of dem dere little budgies in dat cage up dere," says Sven.

The owner puts the budgies in a paper bag. Hans and Sven pay for the birds, leave the shop and get into Sven's pickup and drive to the top of the Conor Pass. At the Conor Pass, Sven looks down at the 1000 ft. drop and says, "Dis looks like a grand place." He takes two birds out of the bag, puts them on his shoulders, and jumps off the cliff.

Hans watches as Sven falls all the way to the bottom, his body broken on the stones. Looking down at the remains of his best pal, Hans shakes his head and says, "Dis budgie jumping is too dangerous for me."

Just then Ole arrives up at Conor Pass. He's been to the pet shop, too, and walks up to the edge of the cliff carrying another paper bag in one hand and a shotgun in the other.

"Hi, Hans. Watch dis," Ole says.

He takes a parrot from the bag and throws himself over the edge of the cliff. Hans watches as, halfway down, Ole takes the shotgun and shoots the parrot. Ole continues to plummet down and down until he hits the bottom and breaks every bone in hi body. Hans shakes his head and says, "And I'm never trying dat parrotshooting, either."

Hans is just getting over the shock of losing his two friends when Lars appears. He's also been to the pet shop and is carrying a paper bag out of which he pulls a chicken. Lars then grasps the chicken by the legs, holds it over his head, and hurls himself off the cliff. He disappears, down and down, until he hits a rock and breaks his spine.

Once more Hans shakes his head. "And I ain't gonna do no hengliding, neither."

[doolols]

  Very good. And thanks for the explanation beforehand. Necessary for us slow 'uns in the old country.

[SharonBell]

We are a nation of immigrants!  Glad you liked my one CLEAN joke!