Overcoming Addiction

i didn't mean for this blog to be filled with so much healthcare related stuff, but it seems like most of my inspirations / ideas to write come from there. pardon me. :)

i had an attachment at the Methadone Clinic this morning. it's a clinic where people with problems in drug addiction voluntarily come and seek treatment. They are assessed by a doctor and prescribed with Methadone, which is a drug that is chemically similar to Opioids (eg. Heroin, Morphine) but harmless. (relatively) it helps them combat the withdrawal symptoms of not taking say Heroin anymore and slowly wean off the addiction.

now when u think 'Drug Addicts' what comes to ur mind would be (well for most of us at least) shabby unkempt looking immoral hopeless criminals who in no way should be associated to us. in a less harsh way, it's pretty hard to be compassionate for this group of ppl.

do they deserve to be shunned by society?

can they control their addiction if they had immense will power?

who asked them to start taking drugs in the 1st place anw? it's their problem. is it?

Drug addicts caught by the police used to be thrown into cells and left 'cold turkey'. meaning, left to suffer the effects of drug withdrawal such as bodily pain, feeling as if a thousand needles were poking through ur body, u can roll around in agony take off all ur clothes and u would still feel that intense burning pricking pain that wont go away for all mercy. there would be secretions flowing out from ur nose and ur eyes tear non stop. u feel like u have no ounce of energy left in ur body to move. in more severe cases, they start vomiting and have diarrhea and start shaking.

I used to picture all these in fear, feeling slightly sorry for them but not really feeling much empathy.

There is another perspective to this.

Drug addiction is a disease. An illness, that requires treatment. Just as how ppl brought obesity to themselves by overeating and lacking exercise, or bringing lung cancer onto themselves by smoking cigarettes out of their fingers, drug addicts were thrown into this desperate abysmal, unable to climb out due to a wrong step in their past. perhaps due to immaturity / curiosity / lack of moral judgement / multifactorial stress etc.

In other words, leaving people with drug addiction problems to die with this problem / refusing to help them is inhumane.

To expect them to completely put a halt to this drug abuse would be like asking yourself not to sleep for 3 days. ok poor illustration. lol. but u get what i mean. the drugs affect a person's mental condition. and unfortunately ur mind is what controls ur body. so when ur mind goes haywire, so does ur body and its a whole vicious cycle.

The Methadone replacement therapy helps them to overcome the addiction. But not entirely so they still have to have self discipline and want to help themselves overcome it in order for it to work. The dose is slowly tapered off, however, it takes years for a person to completely overcome the addiction. They visit the clinic daily for a dose of methadone, a pink liquid that they gulp down in front of the pharmacist. those who're more stable are allowed to take home let's say 2 or 3 days of supply.

now this was a new aspect of humanity to me. i always thought of methadone clinics being a programme. not so afterall. it's a treatment. there's a difference if u get what i mean.

the downside though is that Methadone only helps Opioid addiction. for other drugs like Amphetamine, Benzodiazepine, Cocaine, Cannabis etc, there isnt yet a solution. in future perhaps hopefully. :)

it's a social phenomenon. we dont want it but it exists. and its rampant. prevention and cure needs to come hand in hand. and the best way to treat it is in a humane way.