Thinking About Addiction

It’s also possible for one study to validate a viewpoint and another study to validate a contradictory view.

This goes back to a problem in assessing pain. There’s no physical test for what is essentially a subjective experience.

There’s a civil rights issue: Over time, suspension of those rights can (and often does) become the new normal.

That was always the flaw with the concept of fighting a “war” on drugs– who exactly is the enemy?

Eventually it’s the business that adapts to a changed environment. But before they do, some will go to great lengths to prop up the revenue from their current opioid products.

Of course, we still lose several hundred thousand people annually. But that’s actually progress.

But it quickly becomes clear that the powers that be within the land are far more interested in fighting and squabbling among themselves over political power and riches, than in addressing this existential horror. 

That’s the thing about illicit drug use– no quality control, or truth in advertising.

The benefits of the program are framed mostly in terms of harm reduction– what doesn’t happen.

We were warned about such risks, but went ahead anyway.