What Addicts Need

weakminded losers!!!

claire, sounds like you were 13th stepped. sorry about that. AA is not about that. And the thinking of a 12 step program if you go out is not that you failed, you just haven't HONESTLY admitted that you were powerless over alcohol and you were not ready yet to stop drinking/using. It truly is a fascinating article and it will stir much debate.
patty t.

What A wonderful And Very Important A Article,For Coming Into The 21Century With Some Real Strong Ideas,And More Important,Real Understanding And Solution That Are Going Too Help Addicts In Trouble Today,And Tommorow! I,M A Senior Now, 68 Years Old.I Used Heroin For 32 Years Ann It Was A Journey! I,ve Been Clean Now For 5 Years It Took Prison For Me. I Would Like To Help,.sonnyt1940ralph@gmail.com.773 507 0295

Giberfam, Unless you are an addict yourself, your knowledge of methadone is limited to the literature. Methadone is a Schedule II narcotic, and no clean addict is going to tell you that replacement therapy is recovery.

Tangerine: While I agree with your view that quality rehab facilities are not accessible and affordable to the people who really need them, don't kid yourself. The drugs they are talking about will most likely be very expensive and many insurers will find ways not to cover them. For the uninsured, if you can't afford shoes, you won't be getting any fancy new drugs from American pharm companies.

THis article needs way more research. Naltrexone is used for opiate addiction, not alcohol, and they don't even mention the Naltrexone implants for opiate addicts. Also. to say that 12-step programs shame a person who relapses is blatantly false! One reading of the literature will tell you that. Don't write about something that you are not willing to read about.

This article misrepresents a major premise of the 12 step recovery movement as embodied by AA. 12 step programs absolutely consider addiction tobe a chronic, recurring disease. Tat the medical community is finally catching up with AA is heartening, but the movement is not being lead by the medical community, but the medical community is finally catching upwith the 12 step community.
Once the medical aspects of addiciton are addressed, the relearning of behavior and attitudes is, in my experience, the next step in recovery, and a huge part of relapse prevention. This is where the 12 step programs excel.
There is plenty of room for both modalities...neither is mututlly exclusive.

dm

its only called a war so that the Government can use executive order to try and rule us ans subvert the Constitution but it wont work, we are on to you and your lies Uncle Sam

Alcohol and drugs are simply a symbol of a malady which is spiritual in nature. Some fill that void with possessions, some with sexual acts, some with drinks, some with drugs, some with the manipulation of people, and most with various combinations of these things. I certainly have. Today, February 24, 2008, I choose to look at my part in things. Only then, perhaps I may be of service to others that struggle as I do. Perhaps that may be you, but then only you may choose to consider this suggestion.

-Mo

What a wonderful and engaging article, it covers all the pros and cons and mysteries and caverns of the brain and addiction. All I can say is Gods Speed to medical science on this issue since it is without question perhaps the biggest malady of todays society. I lost my father to alcoholism and currently know someone who has lost everything due to crack cocaine addiction and has become a homeless street person. If you are not financially able to take advantage of a rehab facility and at least have a shot at clearing your head to make some proper decisions, there are no options for you. When you have no support system left, no money or a roof over your head your chances of pulling yourself up by the boot straps are next to impossible. If science can actually pin this thing down and offer hope to the hopeless it would be nothing short of a miracle.

What a wonderful and engaging article, it covers all the pros and cons and mysteries and caverns of the brain and addiction. All I can say is Gods Speed to medical science on this issue since it is without question perhaps the biggest malady of todays society. I lost my father to alcoholism and currently know someone who has lost everything due to crack cocaine addiction and has become a homeless street person. If you are not financially able to take advantage of a rehab facility and at least have a shot at clearing your head to make some proper decisions, there are no options for you. When you have no support system left, no money or a roof over your head your chances of pulling yourself up by the boot straps are next to impossible. If science can actually pin this thing down and offer hope to the hopeless it would be nothing short of a miracle.

I have been a sober member of AA for over 20 years.I applaud the medical professionals who seek solutions for the pain of addiction and alcoholism. I have seen countless people relapse in my years in AA and it is important to acknowledge the disease model that is described in the first chapters of the "Big Book". I felt the quote, from a fellow member of AA, was a bit unfair. It is a bit judgmental to call drugs that help people stay sober a "crutch". AA is a crutch, a crutch that I love and owe my life to, but a crutch nevertheless. ANYTHING that stops the death & suffering is a cause for celebration.