SOMETHING CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT

by a CEPTA reporter

It is a vital part of a journalist’s job to be curious, nosey, questioning and quite often a doubting Thomas.

So when our attention was attracted to stories of countries where drug prevention is successful, and where drug addiction is being cured every day of the week, it was bewildering to find Westminster based organisations such as the All Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Misuse declaring that UK drug addicts have incurable mental illnesses which only psychiatrists using pharmaceutical drugs can handle.

In other words, the reports we were hearing from that Parliamentary Group, from the NHS National Treatment Agency for drug abuse, from DrugScope, from the National Addiction Institute and from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, et cetera, were in direct opposition to reports being received from Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United States and 28 other counties.

How could drug addiction of all types be shown by results in 39 countries to be a curable condition in nearly 84% of cases, yet in Britain be officially described as an incurable mental illness which – like diabetes – must be ‘managed for life’ with drugs such as methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone, along with psychiatric counselling?

Obviously, we thought, one of these two opposing viewpoints had to be wrong – but which?

What we learned is that around 16% of addicts are incurable for three main reasons. i) because they are convinced that addiction is incurable – at least as far as their own case is concerned - or, ii) because they are totally in love with their drugged existence and, as long as someone will continue to provide their favourite fix, will go happily to an early grave, or, iii) in a small number of cases, because their use of drugs holds some form of psychotic condition at bay, attempts to help them abstain plunge them back into their psychosis. (N.B. Psychosis can of course be caused by the drug itself.)

However, of much more importance are the four times greater number of cases who first time through a programme developed in 1966 in the Arizona State Prison System, are helped to successfully achieve lifelong abstinence, whilst approximately half of the 31% who fail their first time through that programme normally return for a second time and achieve a similar result.

We discovered also that there are other systems such as Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, ISAAC (International Substance Abuse & Addiction Coalition) and others, who also regularly demonstrate that drug addiction is not incurable and is not a mental illness.

In fact, far from being an illness, we learned that in a majority of cases drug use is ‘a solution’ - entered into in order to solve a problem or condition. That such usage then itself becomes a problem is traceable to the toxic effects of drugs on the body, mind and personality of the user.

It is not however the function of a journalist to analyse the technical veracity of these various systems, but it is our job to report observable and provable results, and we found overwhelming evidence that drug addiction is not only curable but that such results are on the increase across those parts of the world about which we were able to obtain reliable data.

On the other hand, we found that the National Treatment Agency, DrugScope, the National Addiction Institute and the Royal College of Psychiatrists were in many ways an incestuous group, scratching each others’ backs and basically all supporting unproven diagnoses leading to non-curative treatments and lifelong ‘management’ of drug dependency based on the supplying of pharmaceutical drugs and psychiatric advice and counselling – all paid for by the UK taxpayer.

In fact we found that during 50 years of ineffective drug treatment, via their counselling sessions, ‘advice’ centres, clinics and pharmacies, etc., psychiatrists together with their pharmaceutical suppliers and backers have been in near exclusive contact with - and control of - the addicts and other users, who form the consumer demand side of our drugs marketplace.

Furthermore, in all those 50 years, THERE HAS BEEN NO REDUCTION WHATSOEVER IN DRUG USE – quite the reverse in fact – as UK drug-use increase is outstripping most other forms of consumer demand.

So what became really clear is that because the psycho-pharmaceutical industries make millions out of a continuation of drug addiction, they have no interest whatsoever in curing drug dependent individuals because that would be the equivalent of killing a goose which lays golden eggs for them.

Probably the statements which do most to confirm our own reporting are those which have been written by the very individuals who have achieved lifelong comfortable abstinence and / or by the parents or families of such former addicts.

Because of lack of space, our biggest problem has been the necessity to leave out numerous heart-rending stories of lives, marriages and families saved from the devastating effects of continuing addiction. In addition we have only been able to find space for a few experienced professional statements on the subject.

We therefore leave you to read these and make your own assessment about whether drug addiction is an incurable mental illness or a disastrous but temporary condition which, when properly handled, can be reversed for the benefit of the individual, plus his or her family and the community at large.

We also leave you to decide what should now be done about drugs and drug addiction, and about those vested interests who have brought our communities to their present troubled condition.

And finally, now that it is clear that something can be done about drug addiction, we leave it to you to decide what you would be prepared to do to rid our great country of this debilitating curse.

If you are an addict or are concerned about the habit of a friend, colleague or family member, phone in confidence on (01342) 810151.

If you would like to help others and at the same time protect your own family, contact CEPTA (the Campaign for the Effective Prevention and Treatment of Addiction) on (01342) 811099, and ask for details of how you might be of assistance.

If you are concerned about prevention of drug use in schools or elsewhere, you may also contact the National Drug Prevention Alliance on (01753) 677917 or 542296.

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