http://news.drugfree.org/2009/08/13/pharmacotherapy-treating-addiction-with-medicine/ Yeah you read it right, they want to treat addiction with more drugs I repeat more drugs. One might say: "Hmmm what if someone is adicted to prescription medicine as it is? Wouldent they hold a high chance for addiciton to this substance? Taken from the article itself: "Lessening the amount of dopamine – the brain’s “feel-good” chemical – released following alcohol consumption, topiramate curbs binging by preventing drinkers from feeling an alcohol-induced high. Alcohol-addicted individuals taking the prescription pill can’t get physical pleasure from drinking, so most don’t feel the urge to consume enough alcohol to get drunk. Instead, they are able to lead sober and productive lives – often for the first time in years." Ok addiction is a disease and once you reach the point of alcoholism its not only about getting drunk but about the actual act of drinking and everything involved in it. Just because they don't get drunk when they consume alcohol does not mean they are going to stop drinking. The very act of using a substance is part of the high. "Topiramate users aren’t the only people in recovery who are receiving help in the form of a prescription medication.Today, many struggling with alcohol or opiate (such as heroin or prescription painkiller) addictions are benefitting from legal pharmaceutical aids, also known as pharmacotherapy products, including naltrexone, methadone, buprenorphine, and more. These medications, which can be taken orally or injected by a doctor, work in various ways to keep users away from their drugs of choice by subduing withdrawal symptoms, reducing cravings, blocking the pleasurable effects of substances, and, in the case of a product called disulfiram, making users sick when they drink alcohol." In the article is curves as if these are drugs simply to reduce withdrawl symptoms when actually these drugs, especially methadone, are actually just weaker versions the person was addicted to in the first place. I can understand the strategy of trying to wean someone of something but when your giving them the very drug they use to do it it is only assuring the paitient that all the pain would go away at higher dosage "Despite the many proven advantages of pharmacotherapy products, critics –including some physicians and many people in the recovery community – are quick to argue that medication-assisted sobriety isn’t “real” sobriety. Although most FDA-approved pharmaceutical aids are not addictive, some refer to medication-assisted treatment as “treating addiction with addiction,” or substituting one form of chemical dependence with another. Others believe that the “quick fix” of a pharmacotherapy product encourages users to seek instant gratification, no matter what the source. Furthermore, some professionals in the substance abuse field, such as Sally Satel, M.D., are wary of pharmaceutical aids; although they may like the idea, they don’t think that these products tackle the emotional reasons why addicts use drugs or alcohol – only the physical ones. “Why do people use drugs?” challenges Dr. Satel, a psychiatrist at Oasis Drug Treatment Clinic in Washington, DC and Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. “People use drugs for a reason. If these deeper matters of self-medication and bad decision-making styles remain, patients are likely to replace [opiates or alcohol] with other substances that alter mood and feelings related to demoralization of self-worth." This was said by critics and other doctors, not by this orginization itself, i researched addiction and have also found many times the root is emotional. I love the quote at the end explaining that just because they are taking a substitute does not mean their addicitve behavior will go away. To me, even though many of the drugs are said to be "nonaddictive", the people taking them may rely on them to stay clean or curb side effects just as much as the substance they are being treated for Opinions Grasscity?
lol, they do this if your addicted to Heroin, they work you down through a variety of drugs until you arent addicted to Herion but the drugs they gave you to get off H...Kind of like a giant loop.
All of this information and this very idea have been around for some time. Think methadone, etc., which has been used for years. In the case of methadone and suboxone, it is the idea of "maintenance" rather then "sobriety." It is not true sobriety. Instead, they provide you with something that is legally prescribed to keep you high (or at least stave off the withdrawals). The truth of the matter is most of the drugs they use as substitutes have worse withdrawals then the drugs the user is already addicted to. Methadone withdrawal is one of the worst things ever
yeah its a tricky situation because they are not "sober" while on things like methadone but many people are able to live a much more productive life than when they were doing heroin. and the "plan" for methadone is to taper down to sobriety but i read an article recently that said something like 80% of people in methadone treatments are still using it 5 years after they begin, talk about slow tapering lol. i think people need more therapy in order to be in these programs.
the government doesnt give a fuck if ur addicted to drugs , as long as its there drugs and theyre making the profit. not dealers.
They aren't living a "sober" life.. But like in the first quote, the alcohol is the problem, it's the poison. What the pill and the medication they are talking about it going to do is just release more dopemine, which is already in the body. Most medication already does this, but I'm sure for the situation with the alcoholism it releases more.
They have a new drug for opiate addiction called vivitrol (i think thats the name) and if you ask me it's like a miracle drug. It's a shot, and when you get it, it blocks you from being able to get high on opiates for a month and also takes away cravings, so it's not like suboxone where if you want to get high one day you can just not take your pills. Also it's not like putting opiates in your system everyday to keep your addicted brain satisfied. I think it was origionally made for alcohol, I didn't read the article, but maybe that's the drug there talking about.
