Addiction a mental health issue
Addiction a mental health issue
When I was a medical student, my professors taught us that we should never refill a prescription for narcotics because one of every 10 patients have emotional problems and become addicted.
Once addicted, withdrawal symptoms are very painful and it is hard to stop taking these drugs. When I became a professor of family medicine, I taught my residents the same thing. Unfortunately, times had changed.
The drug companies were telling doctors of that era that “pain management” meant that no one should ever feel an ounce of pain. In my career, I had hundreds of patients who were addicted to drugs and alcohol, never once did I experience any benefit from calling these folks criminals.
Ninety percent of folks who use drugs and alcohol have no addiction problems. Addicts are people in a lot of pain. They are emotionally and/or mentally ill.
The headline in the Garden Island on March 12 made me sad: “Alleged drug trafficker arrested.” Some poor guy is going to jail because he had three teaspoons of amphetamine and some heroin in his car. How will society benefit from throwing this guy in jail? Addiction is not a job for the police and the courts, it is a mental health issue.
Gordon LaBedz, MD, Kekaha
Also Addiction to Fake News?
Wow, I am glad that I wasn’t one of your interns!
Pain management if very important to the recovery of injuries and diseases…. emphasis on MANAGEMENT! And the holistic herbal treatments included….
Behavioral health, as it is now called, also prescribes medications to treat maladies of personality disorder etc….
Wow, I am glad that I wasn’t one of your interns!
Pain management is very important to the recovery of injuries and diseases…. emphasis on MANAGEMENT! And the holistic herbal treatments included….
Behavioral health, as it is now called, also prescribes medications to treat maladies of personality disorder etc….
Condoning any amount of meth and other illegal drugs as being a mental health care problem instead of a criminal offence is really out of your area of expertise. The Hippocrates Oath says, Dr. Do no harm…. did you miss that on your final exam?
I don’t believe the statistic that “Ninety percent of folks who use drugs and alcohol have no addiction problems. ”
That implies that 90 percent of drug users are functional, recreational drug users. I doubt that. I will agree that many people start with drugs because of issues, but chemical dependency can keep people addicted, long term.
I am not sure what is proposed from this letter. Is it to decriminalize drugs, or just remove jail time as a punishment from drugs? I don’t think anyone would disagree that rehab is going to be a part of any solution.
I don’t think a 100% decrimininalization is the right mode. We as a society must protect people from themselves. People don’t have the sense to avoid killing themselves, endangering others, and hurting the ones they love for short term pleasure.
Aloha Kakou,
Per the article today in the Garden Island about Wilcox Hospital losing a lawsuit for $700,000.00 for forced drug treatment on a patient, it would appear people need protection from doctors harming them.
Charles
We all know the term “alcoholic”. It’s a person addicted to alcohol, which is perfectly legal to buy and possess with some limitations for age and location. We don’t throw people into prison for possessing beer, wine or vodka. We, instead, and rightly so, punish behaviors which harm or potentially harm others when people are under the influence of alcohol. We should do the same for drugs which are currently illegal. Make them legal for those over age 21, restrict and tax them, and punish any illegal behavior of people whether under the influence or not. Being under the influence of either alcohol or drugs is not, and should not be, a defense to criminal activity. Why is alcohol legal but drugs are not? Doesn’t make any sense, given what we know about the dangers of alcohol. Let adult citizens accept the responsibility of whether they chose to use drugs or not, just as they have the right to use alcohol. If they screw up, lock em up. Why should the government tell us what we can or can’t use? Freedom and potential danger always go hand in hand.
I like to go to the Bible for wisdom. The Bible includes a civil code for society under Moses. This code was not necessarily “religious,” it was just a civil code. It is easy to make fun of, since our culture is so different. However, I will pull one point from the civil code of Moses. Drunkenness was not a crime. In the other parts of the Bible, we see that drunkenness is a sin. But the point I am pulling out is that, according to the Bible, not every sin is a crime. The Bible supports liberty. If you criminalize every sin, you lose your liberty.
On the question of which drugs should be illegal, Bible lovers like me might believe that alcohol should be legal. Beyond that, I think it is a matter of collective judgement. Personally, I think dangerous synthetics like Meth should be illegal and more natural types of drugs should be legal. However, I am no expert on all the various drugs.