Archive for July, 2009

One Man's Story of Addiction and Recovery

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Published in The New York Times yesterday, “Lost in an Abyss of Drugs, and Entangled by Poverty” follows a local Argentinian fighting for survival in the Buenos Aires shantytown Ciudad Oculta. Pablo Eche has returned home from yet another stint in drug rehab, battling his addiction to paco. Although rather uncommon and unknown in North America, paco is the highly-addictive smokable drug currently laying siege on Argentine.

Paco is made of residual cocaine, averaging a mere 10% according to experts, mixed with such solvents as kerosene or rat poisoning. Nerve and brain cells, according to doctors interviewed by The NY Times, start to die almost immediately following use. The drug is also a powerful appetite suppressant, many addicts literally dying of starvation. The vast majority of discovered operations, according to Argentinian officials, are home-based and family-run, cooked up in local kitchens. Paco has a street value of about $1.30 a dose.

As the drug is so new, no clear, successful treatment has been established.

The story of Pablo Eche, although set in a far-off impoverished country and centering around a relatively unknown substance, is the story of drug addicts everywhere. His is the face of depression, isolation, and drug addiction.

“This is what keeps me company now. [Paco] doesn’t demand anything of me. It doesn’t promise me anything, nothing at all.” Mr. Eche told The NY Times.

These are universal feelings echoed throughout the sobriety community. This is the lure of drugs and alcohol. This is at the core of fighting addiction.

In times of depression and darkness, what do you tell yourself to keep you on your path to sobriety?

Photos credit: Drugs seized in Argentinian raid; Pablo Eche. The New York Times.

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Portugal's Drug Laws: A Case Study in Decrimilization

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Recently, we’ve been speaking a lot about the criminal justice system and drug use. With the Obama Administration’s new Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske, change certainly seems to be in the air and the North American stance on illicit drugs is coming under scrutiny. After twenty-some-odd years, the ‘War on Drugs’ may finally be coming to a close.

Consider this: the US has the harshest, most punitive, drug laws in the world. The US also has the highest rates of cocaine and marijuana use in the world. This is no coincidence.

Portugal, as recently reported by Time Magazine, re-focused their drug laws in 2001 to treatment over punishment. Working with the hypothesis that a punitive system does nothing more than drive drug addicts underground and is unnecessarily expensive, Portugal abolished all criminal penalties for drug possession across all drugs. Instead of jail time, treatment is offered.

Those found guilty of possession of small amounts of drugs stand before a panel (consisting of a social worker, psychologist, and legal adviser) who determine the best treatment option for the individual.

Studies shows, across all metrics, that this treatment-centric approach is far more successful:

Before:

  • Portugal had some of the highest levels of hard drug use in Europe

Now:

  • drug use among teens decreased significantly
  • rates of new HIV cases from intravenous drug use decreased significantly
  • rate of people seeking treatment more than doubled
  • Portugal has the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use of people over 15 in the EU
  • the number of deaths due to overdose decreased by more than half
  • the number of people in methadone and buprenorphine treatment increased to over 14,000
  • funding to treatment programs increased, stemming from money saved
  • law enforcement able to zero-in on high-level drug dealers and activities surrounding large amounts of drugs

“Judging by every metric, decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success. It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country does.” says Glenn Greenwald, an attorney, author and fluent Portuguese speaker, who conducted the research (as reported by Time Magazine).

As history has shown us time and time again, prohibition is not a successful approach. Creating deviant behavior merely divides groups, pushing illicit behavior further underground and impeding pathways with which to seek out help and treatment. Addicts are made to be criminals; addiction is falsely defined as a crime, not a condition.

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Shifting The Rhetoric from War to Treatment

Friday, July 10th, 2009

Last month, the new so-called ‘drug czar’, Gil Kerlikowske, the White House Office’s Director of National Drug Control Policy, announced plans to move away from the ‘war on drugs’. The Obama Administration’s viewpoint, in contrast to Administration’s past, favors treatment over incarceration.

For October 2009, the Obama Administration is increasing funding for substance abuse treatment programs to $3.6 billion–a 4% increase, moving away from a criminal-justice approach, framing it as a public health issue including a needle-exchange program, which has been banned federally in the US.

“Regardless of how you try to explain to people it’s a ‘war on drugs’ or a ‘war on a product,’ people see a war as a war on them,” he exlpained in an interview. “We’re not at war with people in this country.”

This moves the American’s approach to illicit drugs to more closely align with the drug policies of Europe–policies that have time and time again proven more effective in countering drug abuse. This isn’t to say that we will be seeing the US loosen their drug crime laws, but that a focus on treatment and prevention will be added to the mix.

For those of us in the addiction community on both sides of the border, this is what we have all been waiting for. We’ve known for years that a purely punitive approach is not successful in combating substance abuse and addition. Your approach may fall into the 12-step framework, it may not. Each person’s recovery is different, a personal road filled with its own curves and pitfalls.

But we all have a common goal: treating the deeper issues at hand, burrowing down to each individual’s unique root of the addiction, and finding forgiveness both for oneself and others. We seek to provide solace, not punishment.

And it is only once you have healed can you grow and find release from the addictions that have haunted you.

Posted in Drug Addiction, Substance Abuse, Treatment, Treatment Approaches | 3 Comments »