ro4eva
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2004
- Messages
- 3,881
@ro- Oversimplifying addiction is not helpful in the long run. The fact that religion is still commingled into a lot of the recovery protocols available. In the 21st century people still believe an imaginary mythical deity is going to stop them from using. Also, when it is oversimplified great thinkers feel stuck on a single path instead of thinking about addiction in many different ways.
You're absolutely right, plain and simple. And if I gave the opposite impression, well, I never meant to.
What I do know for certain regarding addiction is that it is anything BUT simple, black and white, and addressable by way of a quick fix.
In my own case, I could argue that my drug addiction issue began when I was but a child. I was constantly being picked on in school; was sexually molested by a "loving" uncle on multiple occasions; was beaten pretty harshly by a father who never seemed happy about anything; was dragged to a Christian fundamentalist church on weekends and told that doing anything remotely fun and exciting in life could result in me being burned alive for eternity in a lake of fire; and I had no one to turn to for emotional support when I was hurting.
And once I began experimenting with drugs, and more specifically with MDMA, I noticed that I was temporarily freed of any physical and psychological torment. It was nothing but pure, unadulterated bliss for several hours at a time. Not that I recommend it to others, but how could I refuse such artificial happiness in the future? Thankfully, I didn't kill myself in the process, but I got awfully close.
Anyway, put simply, I'm trying to state that it's a very complex issue a few decades in the making. And for that reason, it's not as easy as snapping my fingers to stop using something I've been using as a coping mechanism for chronic pain (according to the logic of prohibitionists and drug warriors). But at the same time, the question of whether addiction is a bona fide disease or not is something I can not answer definitively.
Sorry - I'm babbling again. I'll shut up now
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