ADDICTIONS EXPERT - "Saving Dope Fiends" Prologue (Continued)
We hear a lot these days about “Harm Reduction.” The notion is that if we only give addicts clean needles and clean places to shoot up, we, the good citizens, will be spared the horrors of urban crime. The proponents of harm reduction fail utterly to understand the basic mechanics of addictions. They embrace a pipe dream, perpetuating the naïve search for a “silver bullet” answer to a complex problem.
Addictions may be a medical issue or a science issue or a public policy issue and so on, but they are certainly a spiritual issue. And by that I don't mean God or Jesus or religion. I mean that at the core of addictions lies a great gnawing emptiness. Loneliness is the central struggle for all human beings. We come into the world alone, we leave alone, bound by our skin, and in between, if we are lucky or open or we try hard enough, we allay the separation from others with friendship, companionship, love.
All humans have some kind of "spiritual" urgency, a sense of wanting to be a part of the mystery of the world. The addict is especially craving this kind of fulfillment, and especially needing to.
If, in our response to addicts, we don't include hope and morality and decency and the ideas that lead to a greater sense of belonging, we are shortchanging the addict, the community and ourselves.
This book will illustrate that the antidote to addictions is rigorous engagement of the whole person.
The book is written as an enormous Valentine to the millions of men, women and children who have recognized their addictions and moved on to clean and sober lives, and to the tireless workers who have stood by them.
It is also intended as a swift kick in the rear to the countless politicians, mandarins and enabling “helpers,” who have never invested a single penny in treatment or an ounce of human energy in providing the hope and skill that allows the afflicted to live as citizens. These are the woolly-headed “experts” who, under the flags of “compassion” and “love” are, in fact, further enslaving the already woebegone.
(God help me.) May those latter have children and grandchildren who are addicts. Maybe then, we, as a body politic, will change.
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