Addiction

For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, my mind of late has been thinking about addictions, more specifically, the “problem” of addiction. This is a question made more complicated by the idea that addictions can be psychological as well as physical/chemical. When I think of addictions I first think of substances like heroin, opium, and even alcohol, substances that if withheld from those addicted to them cause obvious and severe withdrawal symptoms. Nicotine might be considered here also, as those who quit smoking do experience withdrawal symptoms, but not quite as severe or life threatening as those associated with more powerful drugs. I suggest we consider these kinds of addictions “real” addictions. Individuals who claim to be (psychologically) addicted to things like diet pepsi, mountain dew, chewing gum, chocolate, or even something as esoteric as deep-fried chicken gizzards, for the sake of discussion, I term “false” addictions. They are not entirely false because people who believe they are addicted to them do experience discomfort when they are denied them, but this is nowhere near of the same intensity or actual physical discomfort of the real addictions. Here I am basically concerned only with real addictions and their problems.

It appears to me that the problems of real addictions are twofold: first and foremost they constitute a medical problem, and secondly a social problem. Why and how people become addicted to narcotics and such is a study for people in the medical and related professions. What are the physiological, genetic, or other biological factors that cause addictions to occur in some people and not others, to some substances and not others, in some circumstances but not others, and so on. What are the mechanisms involved in withdrawal and its attendant pain and trauma? These reasons are by no means entirely understood and a great deal of on-going research is devoted to them all the time. As purely medical problems these do not generally demand much attention from those outside the professions of medicine and basic research.

Addictions as social problems are quite another matter, and do demand attention from the general public. As addicts will go to virtually any lengths to acquire the substances to which they are addicted, this results in deception, theft, even murder, illegal sales, smuggling, gang wars, bankruptcies, broken families, divorce, and human misery of all kinds. Interestingly enough, the problem here is not the addiction per se, but, rather, the restrictions, laws and regulations, that stand in the way of addicts acquiring the substances upon which they are so completely dependent. In other words, societies create these problems for themselves. Most of them could be eliminated relatively easily by simply changing the laws. Just as the prohibition of alcohol failed, so, too, are the prohibitions relating to drugs failing. That this is true can be seen in the case of Switzerland where drugs were decriminalized and made available to addicts. This resulted in an almost immediate substantial reduction in drug-related crimes. Heroin addicts and others can visit clinics set up to give them the drugs they need and many come in, get their fix, and then go about their daily lives as productive, gainfully employed citizens. It is well known there have been many people, including some very famous and successful people, who lived as heroin, cocaine, or other drug addicts most of their lives. There are probably many people, especially in professions with access to drugs, who live such lives.

Does it really matter very much if someone is addicted to a drug or drugs they need to allow them to live productive lives? There are millions of people who are dependent upon drugs but who are not classified as addicts, for example, those who have to take drugs to control cholesterol, blood pressure, and such. It is true they can do without these drugs, and probably do not suffer serious withdrawal symptoms, but only if they are willing to take the chances of heart attacks or strokes or whatever. Basically, these people are just as dependent upon drugs as are addicts, but we don’t condemn them or classify them as lawbreakers or drug addicts. What does it matter if someone has to have a daily fix of heroin or cocaine or any other drug, provided they are under medical care and do not constitute a menace to themselves or society? Many of our prohibited drugs are sold over the counter in other countries. Until just after the turn of the 20th century laudanum, a mixture of opium and alcohol, was widely prescribed for virtually every ailment (nowadays it is only prescribed for diarrhea). As far as I know, laudanum was discontinued when the addictive properties of opium were better understood and better drugs became available, not because it was regarded as unnecessarily dangerous or undesirable. It was even spoon-fed to babies at times and I believe that its use was still widespread even when I was a child. Similarly, cocaine was one of the original ingredients in coca-cola, which was originally considered a patent medicine. Cocaine was also used in a wide variety of other patent medicines until probably well into the early 1900’s when, what has been described as a kind of “moral panic,” occurred. Cocaine and other drugs suddenly became considered dangerous and started to be controlled.

It seems to me that it was this moral panic that gave us Reefer Madness and other such nonsensical fears. I suspect this moral panic still survives in our culture when it comes laws and regulations relating to drugs, drug use, and addictions. What was, and should have remained a medical problem, became considered a social and political one, and one that now costs us billions of dollars to no avail, encourages crime, including murders, makes otherwise ordinary citizens into criminals, and fills our prisons with otherwise quite innocent people. Why should we not decriminalize drugs, leave the problem to the medical profession where it rightfully belongs, and abandon our ridiculous and failed “war on drugs?” Here is a serious and expensive problem that could be solved virtually with the stroke of a pen. There are no doubt reasons why this will not happen, but I doubt there are any truly good reasons.