“Substance Abuse” Is a Label We Should All Reject & The End of the Addict

[S.J.B.]

"Drug abuse" is just a stupid catch-all term that encourages people's misconception that all use of prohibited drugs is intrinsically harmful.

 

[slimvictor]

^ excellent post! Thank you, slim.

Thank you
I am passionate about linguistics, and can happily discuss it for hours!
Folley and HolyToast were caught in a thinking trap, which is very easy to get caught in, because the language is telling us that drug "abusers" are one type of "abusers".
Just like, when we hear "blood orange" for the first time, we know (or assume) that it must be some kind of "orange".
So, many or most people simply follow this line of reasoning, but the language was "stacked" unfairly by the anti-drug crusaders!!

 

[Folley]

I don't disagree that "drug abuse" is a term that is applied too broadly to be an effective term, and this is likely the consequence of anti-drug preaching, but that doesn't mean that it's impossible to improperly use drugs. Especially from a medical standpoint. Perhaps it needs to be redefined but we need to be real about it if we expect any kind of backing from the mass public, addiction is a VERY real thing that isn't going to "end" any time soon. We need to learn to live with the monkey on our back, let it pick the flies instead of smacking ourselves in the head.



I won't argue the semantics of the word, meanings can change over time and the phrase has become much more of a cultural phenomena if anything. A bad one, albeit, but one that exists.

 

[slimvictor]

^ I agree with what you say.
It is definitely possible to use drugs improperly.
Or food, for example.
But there is not a term "food abuse". So I find this interesting.
And, as you said, it is a cultural phenomenon, and (to be clear) I am not saying that it is "wrong", but just that it involves a strange bias.
I was fooled until I read this article, and I suspect that most people are fooled, so I was glad to recognize this.
Peace.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I am not saying that it is "wrong", but just that it involves a strange bias.

I'd chime in but as slim and ro4 got this on lock I'll just keep my eyes open for more shit like this from other un-colonized minds keep up the good fight everyone!

 

[Zerrr]

Addiction treatment is one of the many rackets run by the pseudo-psychiatric mafia. They want you to feel the only options that you have are death, jail, or treatment. If you want to get out of that life, you can either kill yourself, go to jail, or they`ll embrace you with open arms.

As long as you can afford their 'services' ofc..

 

[Jabberwocky]

Yes, the Recovery Industrial Complex is pretty fucked.

I am beginning to learn of more and more legit forms of treatment, even when it comes to inpatient settings, that are becoming available that actually use clinically demonstrated protocols as opposed to merely using the narrow-minded 12-Step paradigm. Still, the gems that do exists are few and far between. Many, especially when it comes to inpatient treatment, are only really affordable by the middle class. Insurance often only goes so far even for these (and most poor persons insurance, if they even have it to begin with, often won't cover it).

But the barriers to adequate treatment facing poor communities is a whole other topic...

 

[slimvictor]

I'd chime in but as slim and ro4 got this on lock I'll just keep my eyes open for more shit like this from other un-colonized minds keep up the good fight everyone!

Yes, this is exactly the message here! Thank you for taking it there, tpd!!
And thanks for finding the articles in the first place!
I really enjoy working together to increase understanding and awareness of these issues.

 

[neversickanymore]

I abused the shit out of myself on a few drugs and was an addict to a few.

I dont think that drug abuse should be a term for people who are using mind altering substances for recreation or to get real high. It should be a term for people who are actually abusing drugs, or using drugs in a fashion that causes significant harm to themselves over an extended period of time. I also dont agree with the idea that if someone is addicted to a few drugs they will automatically be addicted or become addicted to all drugs. I also do think the use of any drug will automatically lead a person to the use of the drugs they have a problem with.

But I sure as hell know that the use of some specific drugs for me is not a good idea because even if I can use these substances without haveing problems they have turned on me and their use is no longer pleasurable anyway. I also am starting to think that the plasticity of the brain is significant enough that a person can put in the work and change their thinking, rewire the addicted brain, through changing ones thoughts and behaviors, thus changing the synaptic pathways, and thus trnasforming into something that is no longer addicted and can be something that is far superior to a "normal" brain.

I dont however think yet that a person will be able to go back to drugs that have turned on them and receive any sort of a good experience for long. I just think that the brain adjusts to quickly to the use of these substances after they turn on us.

I also dont agree with the addict concept as it is thought of in the majority of current approach to recovery. In fact I think much of the current addiction and substance treatment is a bad joke.

 

[ro4eva]

(Apologies in advance if anything in the following post has been addressed already in this thread)

Hey Folley, I'm sorry if I came across as condescending in some way - or if something I may have written in relation to you in general was somehow unsettling. In other words, forgive me if I sound like a smart-mouth pain in the ass, as it's not my intention.

With that said, and taking into account the past day or so of posts you and others have made regarding this topic, I wanted to let you know that I do understand your point of view. Please let me know if any of the following points you made are paraphrased incorrectly (because although it appears to be improving, I still have a rather terrible short term memory):

- There are many examples of issues or problems - other than drug addiction - in which the victim and the perpetrator may be the same individual.[1]
- You consider yourself to be a drug addict because you feel you have used various street drugs to the point where they have caused your body a lot more harmful long term effects in comparison to any benefits gained.[2]
- You have been smoking weed on a daily basis for approximately 4 years, and that if you go a day without smoking any, you notice that you begin to become severely agitated and generally dysphoric.[3]

[1] - On the topic of the same person being the victim and the perpetrator/culprit:

How many otherwise law-abiding, non-violent "cutters" end up behind bars for "cutting?" I'd wager the number is extremely low.

How many otherwise law-abiding, non-violent binge eaters end up behind bars for continuing to eat, despite repeatedly ignored warnings from their physicians to go on a diet? I'm guessing none.

How many otherwise law-abiding, non-violent street drug users end up behind bars for choosing to use a drug? Countless amounts all over the world.

[2] - Would you say that a series of events in your life (which were traumatic in some way, shape, or form) provoked you into ultimately resorting to street drug use? Or was it purely curiosity which led you to mind-altering substances? Perhaps it all started as a means of you feeling that by choosing to use a certain drug, you'd be accepted by the popular kids in school (which, if you think about it, is a form of escapism - escape from experiencing the pain of feeling unaccepted by others).

[3] - It is possible that you may have developed some form of physical dependency to THC - in which case, chances are that trying to stop cold turkey will result in some form of withdrawal. But so what?

Virtually every psychotropic drug carries some risk of dependency, including the ones that aren't considered recreational. I've seen co-workers in withdrawal from caffeine dependency. One of them had to be sent home because he was feeling so sick.

Never once have I heard anyone describe caffeine as "evil" - even though it can lead to a nasty dependency under the right conditions.

My point being that for far too long, the government has been very successful in brainwashing our society into viewing a certain group of drugs as "evil," when in fact, they carry similar risks to certain Rx meds.

It doesn't aid their reputation that street drugs:
- cost a ton of money to buy
- are very rarely pure
- are sold by individuals who rarely care about their product's impact on the end user's health
- are sensationalized by the media
- end up putting a lot of money in the pockets of law enforcement due to their legal status via seizure of money used to buy and sell street drugs
- end up putting a lot of money in the pockets of law enforcement due to their legal status via seizure of property bought and sold using drugs and/or drug money
- end up putting a lot of money in the pockets of methadone clinics, rehab/detox centers (I had to pay close to $20,000 when I went), pharmaceutical companies, etc.

 

[Jabberwocky]

My point being that for far too long, the government has been very successful in brainwashing our society into viewing a certain group of drugs as "evil"

That kind of de jure and de facto manipulation is exactly what we're talking about. You can call it whatever you want, but the meaning behind the words used is significant, as their is reason for that meaning and that meaning has certain effects itself.

Imperial governments also subjugated local colonized populations by brainwashing them as well, often through missionary work first and then other "scientific" or "moral" methods. E.g. The White Man's Burden. At the same time, and continuing to this day, governments continue to control their own populations via the same and similar methods, in order to create/recreate/maintain power structures that keep the government intact as well as keep society running smoothly when it comes to certain dominant interests. Culture can be just as coercive as it can be liberating.

Hence, the decolonization of minds is, along with material liberation, is a prerequisite to living in a truly just, free and humane society.

Ideas are powerful, although guns are too (imho guns are more so, but ideas are not necessarily less powerful under certain conditions, when used in certain ways). I guess you could say ideas can be more insidiously powerful.

Combine the guns and ideas, with guns backing up certain ideas, upholding Law and Order, you've got a real force to recon with. Especially when it protects those vested interests and the status-quo enshrined in the power structures of the day. To complicate things "revolutionary" cultural or civil movements are often co-opted by this power structure, granting a little bit of often superficial chance in order to maintain a certain facade - that things have changed in a much more meaningful way than they actually have - all the while doing nothing but actually strengthening the power structures that be. In most cases, nothing happens to the old power structures but their recreation, making them even more powerful and domineering than before.

A bleak way of looking at things, yes, but true in more ways than not.

 

[Zerrr]

lol'd at The Recovery Industrial Complex..

thanks