THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 21, 1994 TAG: 9408190822
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J6 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 127 lines
Is ``Treatment on Demand'' the wrong solution to combating U.S. drug problems? In the Aug. 7 Commentary Richard Moran, a professor of sociology and criminology at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, argued yes. We asked readers their opinions. Following are excerpts from some of the letters received.
I am a recovering addict and alcoholic who is an alumnus of Serenity Lodge.
I totally disagree that expanding treatment isn't the solution to our drug problems. It may not be the only solution, but it is the No. 2 solution.
In order for any treatment program to be successful they have to have sincere, kind and considerate employees, starting with the counselor and ending with the custodian. Treatment facilities have to be a place of tranquility, comfort and support.
Trying to get into treatment is as hard as trying to get into Yale University. If you are destitute and have no insurance - and many of us don't - many times we are left out in the cold. Something needs to be done to make it much easier for addicts trying to get treatment to have necessary means of obtaining it.
The user must want and have the desire to stop using. This is the No. 1 prerequisite to stop using.
Moran also stated that drug addiction is a chronic condition with continual relapses. That is true, somewhat. But if the addict has continual support, regularly attends hisor her meetings and has the desire to stop using, that goal can be accomplished.
One has to realize that alcoholism and addiction is a disease arrested, not for a month, a year, but for the rest of his or her life! This is easier said than done. The user must change mostly everything overnight, which is extremely hard, because we are usually in financial ruins because of our previous way of life.
Moran is a professor of sociology and criminology at Mt. Holyoke college in Massachusetts. I am a recovering alcoholic and addict and didn't get my information from textbooks or research. I received all my knowledge through experience and treatment. Without treatment I would still be blind to some things. God is the No. 1 solution to addiction, with treatment centers No. 2. Without treatment I don't know where I'd be!
Curtis Mayfield, Chesapeake
I think Moran is correct in his assertion that expanding drug treatment is futile. According to the latest figures, current treatment methods are ineffective. This is why the Clinton administration needs to focus more on research and improving the type of treatment available, rather than expanding obviously unproductive programs.
Drug users cannot just decide intellectually that they need help and go for it because, with a few exceptions, an addiction that is that severe is not psychological. These people's bodies crave these drugs and need them, and until the addict is put into structured treatment where they can be weaned from the drugs and monitored for withdrawal symptoms, they physically cannot stop.
It's been medically proven that some people are extremely vulnerable to addiction. The thing to do now is conduct research and find that one link that sets off the addiction.
The average drug addict is treated more than 200 times? If this reflects a nationwide trend, then something is terribly askew. The people need to be educated. It needs to be explained to these individuals that though they are not responsible for having their disease, they are responsible for their treatment and recovery. Addicts need to have explained to them what they have and what to do about it. You wouldn't tell someone they have kidney disease, give them a little medicine and send them out to die; and yet that is what happens to addicts on a regular basis. On top of that, they're told they're bad for having the disease.
No, don't expand ineffective treatment programs; expand research, so we eventually have something worthwhile to expand upon.
Also, anyone unknowledgeable or skeptical about the whole disease concept should read a book entitled Under the Influence by Dr. James R. Milam and Katherine Kicham. It's extremely enlightening reading and may change a lot of people's views about addicts in general. It focuses primarily on alcoholics, but it gives a clear, accurate picture of the disease model of addictions.
Vicki Violette, Virginia Beach
I agree with Richard Moran that treatment on demand, like the war on drugs, is probably an exercise in futility. Man is born free to choose between good and evil. Some men choose good, others choose evil.
Likewise, man is free to take care of his body or to abuse it. Some men choose to take care of their bodies, others choose to abuse their bodies. That's how it always has been and probably always will be no matter how many laws we pass, how many people we put in prison, or how much money or resources we throw at it.
Pat Patrick, Norfolk
I'm shocked!!
Ask yourself these questions to resolve this issue.
Should AIDS treatment be made more effective before it is made more available?
Should cancer treatment be made more effective before it is made more available?
Addiction is a disease and should be treated as a disease. Don't treat these victims as criminals.
The expansion of treatment programs should parallel effectiveness of treatment. Drug abuse is a major problem in our society. Long-term treatment on demand is essential for victims of the disease of addiction as well as the victims of other terminal diseases.
Imagine a 34-year-old male working two jobs, trying to support his family, as well as a drug habit. The family also becomes victims of the addiction. Their only help was a treatment center.
Regardless of the effectiveness of treatment, I needed to be taken off the street away from the drug environment that was killing me and victimizing my family.
I haven't done a study of this issue and I don't have statistical data to back me up. But if one person can clean his life up from the horrors and death of drug abuse, how he or she did it should be made more available to others.
By the way, I haven't used for seven years.
That's the statistical data I base my assumption on.
Surely much more education, research, and treatment are needed to help fight the disease of addiction.
I am disappointed in the philosophy of professor Moran, who appears to be insensitive in his writing. I plead with him and others in the helping professions and government officials to be more sensitive to our needs as a diseased population. Make treatment available on demand for all with the disease of addiction.
Michael J. Brown, Portsmouth ILLUSTRATION: FILE ART
by CNB