Thinking About Addiction

…healthcare advocates have to work extra hard while proponents of a more punitive approach simply point to a crime committed by a drug user…

It reminds me of the addicts who convince themselves that somehow, despite all the pain of the past, this time things will be different.

If we’re going to rely on science in decision-making, we should at least make certain it’s good science.

You can’t characterize dead children as collateral damage and not expect it to come back on you later.

Nurses and doctors experience the same feelings about homeless alcoholics they see in the ER every Saturday night.

The larger issue is that most drug pricing is still market-driven, or as my endocrinologist puts it, “they charge whatever they can get away with charging.”

So if… the real problem at this late stage isn’t the lack of a plan but the absence of motivation to implement it– then what’s in the way?

He compares the patients he treats, who are often homeless, to “outcasts” and ‘lepers”, who have been “derided, despised, and marginalized.”

There’s no blood test, no scan to aid diagnosis. Knowing intellectually that one in ten will succumb is very little help; it has no practical value in terms of predicting an individual outcome.

I fear they’re regular Americans, like some of us, except for their twisted attitudes and beliefs about addiction.