Would You Prefer to be an Opiate Addict or a Marijuana Addict?
Posted by Douglas Dennis on
Let's talk about harm reduction for a moment.
Hypothetically, is it better to total a car - or to dent a fender?
Is it better to lose a finger - or an arm?
Bare with me for a moment, I have a point to make.
Now, let's tie that into addiction.
If you were to have an addiction, would you prefer to be an opiate addict - just about the worst chemical dependence possible - or would you prefer to be a marijuana addict?
Obviously, any sane person would choose the later.
So, why then do we punish the opiate addicts in our community who are in drug treatment programs, such as Suboxone Clinics, if they happen to curb the withdrawal from tapering by smoking marijuana?
Why punish them for using this relatively harmless herb for harm reduction purposes?
As far as I can tell, it is because of old and outdated institutions such as NA and AA that are still highly regarded and respected within the medical field - despite not being scientifically based in ANY way.
They are religiously based organizations with a fair amount of success - credit where credit is due - but they preach total abstinence.
Thus, if it were up to them, opiate cessation medications such as Suboxone and Methadone would be completely out of the question despite their tremendous success rate.
So why are we listening to them and allowing them to guide our laws? Misinformation and myths.
The most recent studies actually have shown that addicts and former addicts are far LESS likely to develop new addictions than the general population.
These are solid studies of thousands upon thousands of individuals.
It makes sense too - if you’re already suffering from an addiction then it means you know what a nightmare it is and the last thing you want to do is go and add one to the collection.
Now, I recently wrote an article on the possible pain-killing properties of marijuana.
If this is true, then marijuana could turn out to be a great method for opiate cessation.
In fact, it has already been a go-to strategy for millions of former users who have quit in the past.
Sure, this is anecdotal evidence, but marijuana forums and opiate recovery forums are filled with stories of people using pot as a means to curb withdrawal.
Besides the medicinal properties that are being overlooked, however, is the sheer brutality of ripping a struggling addict from a life-saving drug like Suboxone simply because they had a moment of weakness and took a hit or had a beer.
Yet - this is how our laws are currently written.
This is how our doctors are currently operating in their clinics.
By the way - You doctors are pissing me off.
You would rather pad your success rate numbers and kick someone out of your program than actually help them through the long hard road of relapse and missteps to recovery.
Shame on you for that - and shame on you for being “cash only” instead of accepting Medicaid or other insurance.
#NotAll You get the picture though.
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