In Russia, Harsh Remedy for Addiction Gains Favor

phr

phr

Bluelighter
Joined
May 25, 2004
Messages
36,649
Location
St. Charles, IL
In Russia, Harsh Remedy for Addiction Gains Favor
Seth Mydans
NY Times
9.2.11


YEKATERINBURG, Russia — The treatment center does not handcuff addicts to their beds anymore. But caged together on double-decker bunks with no way out, they have no choice but to endure the agonies of withdrawal, the first step in a harsh, coercive approach to drug treatment that has gained wide support in Russia.

“We know we are skirting the edge of the law,” said Sergei Shipachev, a staff member at the center, which is run by a private group called City Without Drugs. “We lock people up, but mostly we have a written request from their family. The police couldn’t do this, because it’s against the law.”

...


Link!
 
235360287471352662 said:
no different than Western jails; possibly better, if you can get a job upon release
Click to expand...

Except for the whole due process of law thing. This will ultimatly due more harm then good as it will push addicts away from treatment I know for me going cold turkey is my absolute worst fear. Whats up with Russians being brutal? must be the cold weather.
 
YEKATERINBURG, Russia — The treatment center does not handcuff addicts to their beds anymore. But caged together on double-decker bunks with no way out, they have no choice but to endure the agonies of withdrawal, the first step in a harsh, coercive approach to drug treatment that has gained wide support in Russia.

“We know we are skirting the edge of the law,” said Sergei Shipachev, a staff member at the center, which is run by a private group called City Without Drugs. “We lock people up, but mostly we have a written request from their family. The police couldn’t do this, because it’s against the law.”
Click to expand...
what the fuck?

their pharmacological ignorance is directly torturing a lot of russians, and worsening their addiction.
 
Man I knew russians were all tough as hell but damn!

bet theres some intense fightsm why lock 2 people together? :/
 
nice free bunking provided by russians. Or maybe that shit costs like a vodka bottle or something ._.
 
Jeez i wonder what the relapse rates with this treatment is? I'm sure it's just a wonder cure 8)
 
Reading this article makes me so grateful to be on MMT. I lost awhile ago how many times I tried (and sometimes was forced) to quit cold turkey, only to start up again. Weeks would pass during WD, and although physically I felt much better after usually about 5 days, the cravings would never stop. Thanks to MMT, they have stopped and I've been able to resume functioning like my usual self again - which is why I'm wondering why methadone/suboxone maintenance is still illegal in Russia.
 
This sounds so horrible. Even withdrawals at home are bad and that's with the numerous small comforts that come with it - privacy, your own bed, hopefully a beautiful boyfriend/girlfriend to help you through.

While I can understand why the article is so negative towards this approach - does anyone actually know the real statistics when it comes to recovery with substitution programs vs cold turkey? Personally....I have always found cold turkey is the only way for me. And this being said, I have never experienced the true extent of the horrors of certain withdrawals, so perhaps my experience means nothing...but I would be interested if there were actual statistics between the rates of success between certain methods. I guess it is impossible to really tell. Rehabs always tell you that you'll always fail alone, but ime, it seems most people eventually do just quit on their own.
 
footscrazy said:
This sounds so horrible. Even withdrawals at home are bad and that's with the numerous small comforts that come with it - privacy, your own bed, hopefully a beautiful boyfriend/girlfriend to help you through.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I wish i could see a picture of these cage bunker type things. This has got to be so fucking awful. Its weird they say cage? I imagine it as a very small area and two guys laying on the cold hard floor drooling on each other, writhing in pain and moaning. And what about the diarrhea! God damn fuck thatttt.
 
I personally don't think withdrawing cold-turkey from heroin is as bad as people say it is. I've done it several dozen times and have stopped fearing it. For me, the shittiest part is not the withdrawal, but having to live without heroin once withdrawal is over.

There is spiritual value to heightening your pain threshold by suffering.
 
well for instance, I no longer steal in order to keep my habit going. If I run out of money and have to detox, so be it.
 
235360287471352662 said:
I personally don't think withdrawing cold-turkey from heroin is as bad as people say it is. I've done it several dozen times and have stopped fearing it. For me, the shittiest part is not the withdrawal, but having to live without heroin once withdrawal is over.
Click to expand...

As unpopular as this opinion is on this site, I agree. I've kicked dope dozens of times over the years and as terrible as it may be at the time it's not the end of the world. And I agree, staying sober is much more difficult than getting sober. I think the insomnia/anxiety/apathy of PAWS is much more difficult then acute withdrawal, because it seems like it may never end.

Of course, that's not to say I agree with what the Russians are doing at all.
 
lol notice that everyone here is decrying the unmedicated detox, and nobody has mentioned the KIDNAPPING
 
dhcdavid said:
Actually I'm still decrying what YOU - a Moderator here, who should be aware that what they in particular write could well influence the thinking of some of the younger and more impressionable members of our community.

Seriously, it's good that you no longer steal to finance your habit but I'm still utterly failing to understand the spiritual value in heightening your pain threshold by suffering.

I mean, it sounds like such a tough yet noble life lesson but having suffered chronic physical pain for 2 decades, dreadful mental pain for a similar timespan and seen several very close friends die of long, drawn-out diseases which caused them untold amounts of suffering I am almost at a loss for words as to how best to respond to someone who casually writes down that there is spiritual value in heightening one's pain threshold by suffering.

If you're trying to make sense of years of kicking a particular drug-habit and how horrible it is each time then by all means ennunciate just that but please don't belittle many, many folk's genuine and inescapable sufferings by claiming that spiritual value, enlightenment or nirvana lies therein.
Click to expand...



http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ascetic
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/self+mortification
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu

There are many lessons to be learned near the threshold of death, and in the stirs of insufferable pain. It's often why people who know they are going to die become calm. And there are people who worry and fight the inevitable. The latter of which not only miss the lessons that can be gained but also only add to their mental and or physical suffering. It's the way of Wu Wei.
also
Man often attacks what he doesn't understand. And you friend, admitted that you don't understand his view and instead of possibly doing some research ( or asking nicely), decided to make an inflammatory remark against another him.

Why is everyone on this forum so god damn hostile?
 
I think what dhcdavid is trying to say is that when pain becomes something you cannot control (such as chronic pain), there is no value gained because man usually also attacks what cannot be controlled. In other words, acute opiate/opioid WD may bring days of suffering, but the value gained from having been through it countless times is the knowledge or first hand experience that it eventually subsides (the physical pain, not necessarily the psychological). However, with chronic pain, there may be no end. So any value(s) turn(s) to misery, frustration, anger, etc.
 
ro4eva said:
I think what dhcdavid is trying to say is that when pain becomes something you cannot control (such as chronic pain), there is no value gained because man usually also attacks what cannot be controlled. In other words, acute opiate/opioid WD may bring days of suffering, but the value gained from having been through it countless times is the knowledge or first hand experience that it eventually subsides (the physical pain, not necessarily the psychological). However, with chronic pain, there may be no end. So any value(s) turn(s) to misery, frustration, anger, etc.
Click to expand...

Well I didn't mean to discount any of that. But dhcdavid's post was quite rude and relatively presumptuous. Just because HE doesn't understand 235360287471352662's post he responded with hostility as if he has the final say about 235360287471352662 's feelings. When, really... He was wrong. And 235360287471352662 never said anything belittling to him. Though he may see it that way. he is in an entirely different situation.
 
I can't really speak about chronic, intractable pain because I haven't experienced it. I guess, though, that if the pain falls under some degree of psychological control (i.e. it is not entirely intractable) then the therapy can be both physiological (painkillers) and psychological.

If opiates (including methadone and buprenorphine) were abundant and freely accessible (not to mention free), this would be a moot point. In this sense I envy those in the UK because, as I understand it, they do not have to pay for their medicine. My perspective is from a society in which opiates are expensive and restricted. So then, faced with scarcity, one can either constantly hustle for dope, or they can accept the suffering. I call this acceptance spirituality.
 
hiphophippy said:
Well I didn't mean to discount any of that. But dhcdavid's post was quite rude and relatively presumptuous. Just because HE doesn't understand 235360287471352662's post he responded with hostility as if he has the final say about 235360287471352662 's feelings. When, really... He was wrong. And 235360287471352662 never said anything belittling to him. Though he may see it that way. he is in an entirely different situation.
Click to expand...

Ah I see.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top