Dealing with the Drug Problem

A traditional approach to a health problem has been to wait for the person to become ill, then attempt to treat and rehabilitate him. The drug abuse area has been no different even though little is known about effective treatment. The rehabilitation of the heroin addict requires much more than removing him from his physical dependence on the drug. The addict is a person who is often a product of a poor social environment and who has spent all his time “hustling” (stealing) and “shooting up” (infecting heroin). His rehabilitation therefore hinges on his acceptance and preparation for a new life-style. He must develop a marketable occupational skill and discipline himself to accept the regimen of a working society. His desire for a new way of life must be strong enough for him to view heroin addiction as a threat to a good thing. Affecting that kind of dramatic change is not easy. The success rates of treatment and rehabilitation programs have therefore been under:

Methadone maintenance Programs

Methadone is an addicting, synthetic, narcotic drug. Its pharmacological properties are quite similar to those of heroin. Methadone has the ability to block the euphoric high the addict gets from heroin as well as to prevent withdrawal symptoms from heroin. Methadone thus blocks the physical need for heroin. With this as a crutch, time is provided to help the addict develop psychologically, socially, and vocationally. Where successful, the addict finds a steady job, supports his family, and becomes a productive member of society.

Since methadone is itself addictive, the addict is really switched from heroin addiction to addiction of a more manageable drug. He must, however, take a daily dose of methadone usually dissolved in orange juice or a similar beverage. Some people have compared the addict maintained on methadone to the diabetic who needs a dose of insulin daily to maintain his normal functioning.

The long-term effects of methadone use are as yet undetermined. Evidence indicates that alcohol use in combination with methadone can cause liver damage as well as other toxic effects. Since many addicted to heroin also abuse alcohol, screening out such individuals from methadone programs is imperative. Some researchers report that studies of brain tissue of methadone users (whose causes of death have been attributed to drug overdose) have shown abnormalities indicating early senile changes usually found in much older people.

A problem on the increase is the rising incidence of methadone-addicted babies born to mothers on a methadone maintenance program. Indications are that withdrawing these infants from methadone may be more difficult than withdrawal from heroin. This presents an additional facet to an already complex problem.

The shifting of a person’s addiction to what is considered a less harmful drug can be viewed as progress, but it certainly is an incomplete answer to the problem. The success rate for the treatment of drug addiction has been highly questionable, with a small percentage truly rehabilitated. Methadone maintenance may prove to be a step forward in this area. It is hoped, of course, that continued research will bring more adequate answers to the problem. Prevention, however, still remains as the best cure to any problem.

Drug Abuse: A Social-Health Problem—Not a Legal Moral One

In the United States we have viewed the drug abuse problem as a legal-moral problem rather than the social-health problem that it is.

A young person (preferably bearded) in possession of marihuana may be legally incarcerated, whereas the person (preferably white, older, middle-class) becoming addicted to a legal drug such as a barbiturate is on the verge of self-destruction with no one about to intercede. The societal judgments in the drug field appear to be made on the basis of legality and the particular values and life-style of the person in question. The effect on the health of the person appears to be a most secondary consideration.

An example of this is the expectant, heroin-addicted woman who enters the hospital without revealing her addiction. Shortly after having the child she leaves the hospital to seek out heroin before the withdrawal symptoms set in. estimates are 50 to 90 percent of children born to addicted mothers will exhibit withdrawal symptoms. It is also estimated that deaths among the untreated drug-dependent newborn runs as high as 96 percent. It would seem that it was neither the intent of the mothers in these cases or society to so punish these innocent newborn. Does the legal-moral approach, then, have the opposite effects than intended? Does it also produce a hysterical environment with people feeling that crime is rampant but not knowing what the crime is, who is performing it, and where it is being performed? It would seem important to define the problem carefully so that it is understood and can be reacted to objectively and constructively.

This means that schools and universities need to develop program that focus in on the motivations for drug abuse and the psychosocial issues surrounding it. Communities need to become much more knowledgeable of the real issues in the drug abuse field and the individual and societal responsibilities each person has in helping to develop an environment in which constructive action can take place. This means recognizing the problems of legal drugs, and adult drug abuse, among others. It also means a more responsible news media who are interested in accurate reporting rather than sensationalism that sells newspapers and air time. It also means putting to eternal rest the political rhetoric that daily declares war on drugs as though these inert substances were “the enemy.” It is time that each of us began to really understand the underlying causes of drug abuse and, more important, to recognize constructive alternatives for ourselves and others.

Despite the criticisms we may level at the mismanagements of the drug problem by government, by news media, by industrial self-interest, and by a variety of inept community groups, when all is said and done, Pogo, the comic strip character, probably summarized the situation best when he stated. “We have met the enemy, and they are us!”      

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Category: Mind-Alternating Drugs