Junkies,Alcoholics and Amy Winehouse
Without Prejudice
Addiction is a health issue not a criminal issue. I have met many Junkies in my life and believe me no one starts out with wanting to have a miserable life. Drug addiction and alcohol addiction are miserable things and affect 45 people immediately around the addict. They are not wanting to upset their families and friends, they are addicts.
Addiction begins in the brain. For everyone that tries drugs or alcohol only 10% will have an ongoing addiction. And abstinence is the only permanent cure. There is no such thing as a recreational user of drugs and alcohol for the addict. Most of us can try them and decide that we don't like the effects and stay off them. An addict doesn't have the same control. Its a day by day process for addicts.
I just watched the show by Russell Brand. He dedicates most of the show to Amy Winehouse, From addiction to Recovery. Russell was a user for years of every drug known to man and thought he would never be able to recover. he liked the feeling he received from both. Addicts think the world is bent and they alone have the answer to a fun life, but it never is fun after the first major high. Most addicts would say that their drug of choice is alcohol. Its legal, its cheap and it fills an emptiness in their chest nothing else can.
Addicts need compassion, altruism and understanding rather than hatred, contempt and being ostracised. Seventy percent of criminal offenders in jails at the moment are addicts. And instead of help they may receive Methadone, which is a drug that can be given freely to addicts. But its still a drug and most addicts will use on top of Methadone. Its a panacea for the masses that doesn't work in the long term.
A jail in Brighton in the U.K. is using rehabilatation on offenders and the likelihood of them reoffending is halved. The program is called R.A.P.T. (good term ). Apart from the saving to the community of crime against them, there is the chance that the rehabilatated become functioning members of society and able to help others who want recovery. The best counsellors for alcoholics and drug addicts are former addicts.
They know all the tricks, they know all the manipulations and excuses and the pain that goes with withdrawal from alcohol and drugs. If I were an alcoholic or drug user I would want to be counselled by someone who knew what I was going through, otherwise how could I relate to them ? A Doctor can give medical advice but you can't beat practical advice from someone who knows.
They are undertaking studies on the brain to try and understand the reasons for addiction and most people feel an emptiness inside that onky drugs and alcohol can fill up. One man said he felt the emptiness in his chest, a hollow that only heroin could fill. He may always feel like that or we may be able in the future to have an injection that fills up the hollow.
I have seen so many young talented unique individuals die from alcohol or drugs. Too many. Families, friends left devastated and wondering why. The cost to the bigger community is enormous and the politicians aren't saying so but we as a society have lost control of the drug problem. There is more drug taking now than ever and there is more alcoholism.
Addiction is a health issue not a criminal issue. I have met many Junkies in my life and believe me no one starts out with wanting to have a miserable life. Drug addiction and alcohol addiction are miserable things and affect 45 people immediately around the addict. They are not wanting to upset their families and friends, they are addicts.
Addiction begins in the brain. For everyone that tries drugs or alcohol only 10% will have an ongoing addiction. And abstinence is the only permanent cure. There is no such thing as a recreational user of drugs and alcohol for the addict. Most of us can try them and decide that we don't like the effects and stay off them. An addict doesn't have the same control. Its a day by day process for addicts.
I just watched the show by Russell Brand. He dedicates most of the show to Amy Winehouse, From addiction to Recovery. Russell was a user for years of every drug known to man and thought he would never be able to recover. he liked the feeling he received from both. Addicts think the world is bent and they alone have the answer to a fun life, but it never is fun after the first major high. Most addicts would say that their drug of choice is alcohol. Its legal, its cheap and it fills an emptiness in their chest nothing else can.
Addicts need compassion, altruism and understanding rather than hatred, contempt and being ostracised. Seventy percent of criminal offenders in jails at the moment are addicts. And instead of help they may receive Methadone, which is a drug that can be given freely to addicts. But its still a drug and most addicts will use on top of Methadone. Its a panacea for the masses that doesn't work in the long term.
A jail in Brighton in the U.K. is using rehabilatation on offenders and the likelihood of them reoffending is halved. The program is called R.A.P.T. (good term ). Apart from the saving to the community of crime against them, there is the chance that the rehabilatated become functioning members of society and able to help others who want recovery. The best counsellors for alcoholics and drug addicts are former addicts.
They know all the tricks, they know all the manipulations and excuses and the pain that goes with withdrawal from alcohol and drugs. If I were an alcoholic or drug user I would want to be counselled by someone who knew what I was going through, otherwise how could I relate to them ? A Doctor can give medical advice but you can't beat practical advice from someone who knows.
They are undertaking studies on the brain to try and understand the reasons for addiction and most people feel an emptiness inside that onky drugs and alcohol can fill up. One man said he felt the emptiness in his chest, a hollow that only heroin could fill. He may always feel like that or we may be able in the future to have an injection that fills up the hollow.
I have seen so many young talented unique individuals die from alcohol or drugs. Too many. Families, friends left devastated and wondering why. The cost to the bigger community is enormous and the politicians aren't saying so but we as a society have lost control of the drug problem. There is more drug taking now than ever and there is more alcoholism.
