We’re told that addiction is a compulsion, that the addicted person essentially has no choice over their behavior, that they’re continuing to abuse substances involuntarily. This is how the experts characterize the “disease”, then they tell you that since it is a compulsion, the only hope for stopping is treatment – but then we find… Continue reading Pharmaceutical Treatments For Addiction Contradict The Disease Theory
Addiction Experts Keep Shaming Us Into Believing The Disease Theory
A few hours after making this post about the Argument From Intimidation, I found this story, A New Treatment For Narcotic Addiction by Lloyd I. Sederer MD, which was published the same day, on the Huffington Post, and served as a near perfect example of the fallacy in action. The article was pushing for public acceptance of buprenorphine as a treatment for opioid… Continue reading Addiction Experts Keep Shaming Us Into Believing The Disease Theory
Ebert At The Meetings
The important thing is that you don’t consider yourself to be your own Higher Power, because your own best thinking found your bottom for you. -Roger Ebert The above quote from Roger Ebert is troublesome and it reflects a common view among AA members. Ebert says that “your own best thinking found your bottom for… Continue reading Ebert At The Meetings
The Disease Theory Argument From Intimidation
In “The Virtue of Selfishness” Ayn Rand brilliantly identified a logical fallacy in wide use today, which she called “The Argument from Intimidation”. If you don’t wholly support and endorse the disease theory of addiction, then you will undoubtedly be countered often with the Argument from Intimidation. If you’re aware that the argument isn’t really… Continue reading The Disease Theory Argument From Intimidation
News Flash: Medical Professionals Over-Think Addiction!
University of Maryland addiction researcher Clinton B McCracken PhD was arrested last year for growing marijuana plants in his home. Police found the plants while responding to a 911 call – McCracken’s fiancee and research partner died while injecting what they thought was an opiate that they’d bought online. They’d both been doing opiates for 3… Continue reading News Flash: Medical Professionals Over-Think Addiction!
"By changing the way we talk about addiction, we change the way people think about addiction"
The above quote reflects a view I believe whole-heartedly. If we were to talk about addiction as a choice, then people would think of it as a choice, and furthermore, they would behave as if it were a choice. Unfortunately, the person who spoke this quote, Joe Biden, said it while introducing the Recognizing Addiction… Continue reading "By changing the way we talk about addiction, we change the way people think about addiction"
The False Dichotomy of "Treat em or Jail em"
Stanton Peele wrote about the treatment or jail dichotomy almost 10 years ago, and what he had to say was brilliant (click the heading of this post to link to it). Almost a decade later, the same argument is presented again and again. The argument goes like this: Drug addicts are breaking the law by… Continue reading The False Dichotomy of "Treat em or Jail em"
Satel Reviews – ADDICTION: A DISORDER OF CHOICE
Sally Satel reviews Addiction: A Disorder of Choice by Gene M. Heyman I’ll be reading this and offering up my own review soon, but for now, here’s a few snippets of Sally’s review: In so-called contingency management experiments, subjects addicted to cocaine or heroin are rewarded with vouchers redeemable for cash, household goods, or clothes. Those… Continue reading Satel Reviews – ADDICTION: A DISORDER OF CHOICE
Opium Addiction Fuels Afghan Chaos (or is it the other way around?)
The title of this post links to a BBC article about opium use in Afghanistan. I think the article has a very telling and honest tone which I hear constantly when people talk about addiction. When people talk about addiction and why substance abuse happens they often list the dismal life circumstances of the abuser, the… Continue reading Opium Addiction Fuels Afghan Chaos (or is it the other way around?)
Natural Recovery From Heroin Addiction
If you haven’t heard of Natural Recovery, it is the “phenomenon” where substance abusers stop abusing substances without having received any sort of treatment or 12 step group attendance. Natural Recovery is also known as Self Change, Self Recovery, Spontaneous Remission, Auto-Remission, and other names. There is a lot of peer reviewed research on natural… Continue reading Natural Recovery From Heroin Addiction