On Addiction…
We are constantly bombarded by Mainstream Media, by government spokesmen, by public service announcement and even by the Local News, and our pastors, with words and images of Addicts and their pain, and the grief their addiction brings others. What a terrible tragedy for a parent, a sibling, a friend. But it is no tragedy for the addict, and its does no good to feel sorry for them anymore than it does to feel sorry for an alcoholic. Both are inflicted with a terrible disease, no, not addition, but Narcissism and despair. The terrible truth is that they brought addiction on themselves; they made a choice to abuse themselves, to deny their intrinsic value, to deny love of others and accept a state of self-gratification. Addicts render themselves incapable of higher order human emotion and reason, they strip away all family and friendships, they deny their own humanity, and they literally cease to function with what we describe as “normal” human behavior and in any form of positive personal relationships. While there exists what clinicians describe as “high-functioning” addicts, even they are in truth, and were before their addiction, what is best described as a “sociopathic personality” with a narcissistic complex. Their behavior before and after chemical addiction is essentially the same, self-centered, self-loving and completely egocentric. They live to satisfy themselves with the next “high,” which is in truth no more than an extremely immature form of orgasm, a childish and pre-pubescent state of self-gratification, a delusion of self-importance and denial of the need and want of others.
When an addict is found dead, it should be remembered that death by overdose is not a suicide, and normally is in no way intentional. Addicts do not kill themselves; to the contrary, they seek a state of perpetual pleasure and escape from reality, leading not to an end, but to a fugue, a permanent dissociative state of self-indulgence. Addicts show little or no concern for their interactions with other humans unlike Suicides who most often act because of the troubled state of their relationship with other humans. Self-destruction by addicts is inevitable, self-destruction by distressed, depressed humans need not be, and is truly far more lamentable and tragic act.
As with the alcoholic, there is no cure for Opioid Drug Addiction, only prolonged abstinence can restore normal human behavior and functioning. If drug abuse is detected early, while the super ego holds some sway, and particularly during adolescence, Operant Behavioral Modification may delay and ultimately postpone the onset of sociopathic and narcissistic behavior, but the underlying psychosomatic proclivities will remain throughout life. Post Adolescent Operant Conditioning Therapy is least efficacious with highly intelligent individuals who are often able to rationalize any objectionable behavior, but is most effective with individuals of normal intellect. In other words it may work miracles on the addicted Waffle House waitress but will fail to alter the behavior of a Medical Doctor who is gleefully prescribing Opioids, raking in profits from Pharma, and who is also a drug abuser.
There is no reason for society to show sympathy or restraint in treating the addict. What we would describe as a character “flaw” is actually is actually an integral and essential and irreplaceable personality trait or predisposition in the addict’s personality inventory. It is essential that such traits, discernible in pre-adolescents, be treated before they literally tear the lid off “Pandora’s Box.” Naturally, our promiscuous and licentious cadre of psychotherapists and drug counselors care little to treat children and adolescents as money is best made treating the “incurable” and monthly, or weekly returnable adult.
Just how many Naloxone treatments must an addict endure until they finally find permanent relief? While I would without doubt administer Narcan to an addict in respiratory distress, it is not lost on me that such intervention is rather like stopping the pouring water, for a few minutes, when waterboarding a human and then turning on the tap full again. Addicts are drowning in our compassion, our pity, our rapid response, only to be revived to drown again and again.
Now lest you find no reason for hope other than chemical ablation of the addiction and not incidentally, a large portion of the addict’s personality, let me introduce Faith into my comment. Faith is the sole immutable answer to Addiction of any kind. Faith is a gift of Almighty God, one that can be sought, but not deserved or earned. The greatest tragedy of Addiction is the loss of Eternal Life, and when addicts deny the Grace of God, they deprive themselves of the Gift of Faith.
I can, with clarity of purpose and presence of fact, describe much contemporary human behavior. I cannot define Faith, God, or explain human healing or why God is merciful, or even explain why I, you and all the living addicts I know have been given life and sustained it to this date. I do believe that we live within God’s Will, and I believe that the prayers of others, and our own prayers spoken often in response to fear, can heal, can comfort, can bring down the Grace of God on others and on ourselves. If you know an addict, pray for them. Praise God.
Heroin is not the demon, we are, each of us has unlimited free will. Saint or Sinner is our choice. I need not share my opinion of Pharma, of Medical Practitioners, of Street Dealers and Cartels, of Therapists and Counselors, of Parents who leave their stash in unlocked cabinets (and their loaded pistols under pillows), of Politicians who play with the money and the bodies of citizens in a game we call “Reelection.” I will tell you that not everyone can be saved from themselves, and that only those who try to overcome their weaknesses and depravities are salvageable. Finally, I believe that a theory Darwin called “Natural Selection” finds itself proven daily in the children of so many miscreants, so many incredibly poor parents, whose progeny are “evolving” in reverse, and promoting a culture that seeks the Lowest Common Denominator. For this reason alone, I am inclined to say: “Let them eat Hydrocodone! Let them snort cocaine! Let them drop LSD! Just don’t let them vote or drive!