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What do you think the addicton epedemic in the US will look like in 50 years?



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What do you think the addicton epedemic in the US will look like in 50 years?

Old 07-09-2014, 09:37 AM
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What do you think the addicton epedemic in the US will look like in 50 years?

will it grow..diminish..or stay the same?

what changes do you believe should take place to possibly make progress on this issue?

do you believe addiction rates will always stay the same and it is something that can't be cured individually? in other words it can only be controlled by sobriety
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Old 07-09-2014, 09:44 AM
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it will grow with the population growth.
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Old 07-09-2014, 09:47 AM
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Originally Posted by LBrain View Post
it will grow with the population growth.
I meant per capita..so i think you mean it will stay static?
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Old 07-09-2014, 09:54 AM
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I would like to think in 50 years we will have a better understanding of this. I think the rates will drop.
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Old 07-09-2014, 09:58 AM
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Is addiction increasing in the US at the moment?

Where I come from, there will always be a variation, some people will have addictions, some that aren't addicted but normally drink, and then there will be those that don't drink at all, as to the statistics on drunk driving, deaths from alcohol etc, I'm not too sure what the stats say.

As for a cure? I can be addicted to alcohol and fix the problem with Sobriety, but that doesn't mean I'm medically cured of the addiction, I'm just managing what I am able to be in control of and that is the consumption of the substance I am addicted to.
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Old 07-09-2014, 10:35 AM
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I believe it will grow as a percentage of per capita. I believe our Government does not understand addiction and there is a lack of educational resources. Inflation will increase as Asia enters a recession and this will further strain the nuclear family creating more environmental stress on children that will find escape in substances and behaviors. I see this leading to a great percentage as a proportion of the population. I see obesity as a leading indicator.

Given the likely legalization of marijuana the good news is we will have a wider variety of legal substances to become addicted to in the US. I wonder when pot commercials will be on TV? I can just picture a Caribbean scene with a Rastafari on the beach and a girl in a bikini with a one hit bat sauntering down the beach to some Bob Marley playing in the background.
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Old 07-09-2014, 10:44 AM
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Watching a PBS special on Prohibition in the USA a few weeks back. They mentioned that in the 1870s the per capita alcohol consumption rate was 3 times higher than it is today. I was surprised to hear that and wonder what their source was for that data.
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Old 07-09-2014, 10:46 AM
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as long as capitalism rules the world (US), and as long as pharmaceutical lobbyists roam the halls of congress, and as long as health insurance is big business with their own lobbyists, our government will never NEVER do what is best for the general well being of it's citizens. Addiction means dollars in pockets. The war on drugs. Really? If we REALLY wanted to we could stop almost all drug trafficking into the US. It's more important right now to fight over oil.
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Old 07-09-2014, 10:47 AM
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Just ot be clear, my views in no way tie legalization to addiction. I do not see a strong correlation and am in fact a proponent of legalization - mostly from a tax perspective.

My views on addiction growth has more to do with the further stress on the middle class in the US combined with a lack of education and understanding about addiction.
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Old 07-09-2014, 10:57 AM
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Originally Posted by LBrain View Post
If we REALLY wanted to we could stop almost all drug trafficking into the US.
[Ironically,] I am involved in that fight, and I disagree with this claim.
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Old 07-09-2014, 11:12 AM
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If we REALLY wanted to...
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Old 07-09-2014, 11:22 AM
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Oh, well in that I case, I still disagree.

Preventing most of the drug trafficking into the USA is not realistic given the methods currently at our disposal to stop it. We could quadruple the size of our armed forces and we still couldn't stop the majority of drug trafficking into this country.
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Old 07-09-2014, 11:25 AM
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If the US decides to ever take a science/evidence-based approach to addiction issues, it should drop. The US being the US, I expect things will get worse as religious fundamentalists and anti-science morons continue to beat addicts down rather than help them.

Not sure why you think pot legalization will be a negative, jdooner. It's not physically addictive like other substances and is already widely available - I expect it'll just reduce profits for organized crime and end violence related to the black market for marijuana. Put anything addictive in front of me and I'm on it like white on rice, but put pot in front of me and I can take it or leave it.

If anything, decriminalization or legalization of substances should reduce addiction - it makes addicts less likely to fear approaching medical professionals and opens up the possibility of treatments that aren't possible under prohibition. As an example, heroin maintenance therapy has been shown to be an excellent way to deal with the most difficult-to-treat heroin addicts, resulting in a sharp reduction of overdoses, disease, and increases in employment and housing stability. It also cuts out the market for heroin dealers (why buy from Mr Streetcorner with proceeds from property crime or prostitution if your MD can write you a scrip for clean junk?). One of the four founders of Johns Hopkins University (William Halsted) spent his life addicted to morphine, but was able to function as a doctor because he could just write up a scrip for himself - that would not fly nowadays and I'd expect he'd just wind up on the streets.

This isn't speculation - Portugal decriminalized everything and saw something crazy like a 50% reduction in addiction. The UK used to use heroin maintenance therapy and discontinued it under pressure from the fine folks in the DEA and subsequently saw addiction rates go through the roof.
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Old 07-09-2014, 11:31 AM
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Will be interesting to see the rate of internet and information addiction growth in the next 50 years as well, and to study correlations between that and substance addiction.
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Old 07-09-2014, 11:38 AM
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We live in an ADHD world, and all manner of addictions have become preferable to sitting still with ourselves, delaying gratification or cultivating growth and change. Even meditation is packaged as a quick remedy for stress reduction. Yet everything we do, including fast-acting meditation techniques, only increases stress. The answers no longer come from within, but are not-so-hidden in something that is alien to my self, something that someone can give to me, an activity that will make life bearable, since achieving meaning or happiness was proved to be not worth all the effort in the Twentieth Century.

When the Internet became widely available, most of us became willing participants in a grand laboratory experiment based on how overstimulation, an abundance of external stimuli that bombard our senses while undermining our own imagination, and instant gratification affect our daily living. We gladly conclude that the benefits outweigh the costs, and quickly move on anxiously to our next Google search or Facebook entry, neglecting the fact that it is not big business or governments that control us, but everything that catches our fleeting attention in the moment.

The relatively recent love affair with the neurosciences and biological etiologies for a range of unwanted physical and psychological conditions have brought us to a place where chemicals are the treatment of choice to fight other chemicals and chemically-based physiological states and processes. We are all mostly in too much of a hurry to wait for the natural course of things to do its good work. With all this, the frantic man or woman never succeeds at anything meaningful. If I'm not "doing something," I am lost, without an anchor, bored, anxious, depressed and leading an empty life. But look! There is a way out! No waiting! The loud din of hyperactivity overrides my unwanted feelings and obsessive thoughts, replaces meaningful relationships and slowly destroys my inner goodness as a human being. I am alienated from my self, and my frantic race to each new activity as a poor but perfectly acceptable substitute for my own humanity. "Virtual reality," no longer a description of a mythical land or a come-on for a digital game, has become the go-to remedy for life's ills.

The headstones of modern man are replete with alienated, unwritten epitaphs. "I got used to my husband's porn addiction. After all, everyone does it, and he doesn't hit me." "My wife is emotionally absent, makes little effort in our relationship, and spends her life lying on the couch, but she was there for me when I needed her." "My boyfriend is emotionally and physically abusive, cheats on me, and never fails to remind me of how much of a loser I am, but he is my soul mate." "I don't have the time to save my life. And besides, what would other people think if they knew I needed help?" Yet there are no corpses buried below these simultaneously desperate and nonchalant Cliff Notes versions of personal memoirs; they are epitaphs for the living.

With addictions, a corner has long ago been turned, and there is no going back. People have long grown tired of recidivist criminals, revolving-door rehabbers, and treatment-resistant addicts. We abuse, criticize and laugh at a "spiritual remedy," insisting that science and evidence-based research are the Promised Land. Yet decades and billions of dollars worth of government- and privately- funded scientific research have yielded...Antabuse, Vivitrol, Naltrexone, and Suboxone. Where's the beef? It's like treating cancer with painkillers. Intensive, therapeutic treatments take too long, are costly, and are merely impotent when it comes providing what we truly crave: a quick and easy solution for life's troubles. Instead of embracing ambiguity we defer to instant gratification, desperately hoping that there is SOMETHING out there that will bring us relief in the next moment. And in every moment that follows, each of which provokes panic from within, lacking as they do guarantees or reassurances of an acceptable outcome.

We have arrived, not in George Orwell's 1984, but in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and we've learned to love it. Or whatever it is that we've learned is an adequate substitute for love, usually a quiet despair that tells us "Everything could be much worse." It is a sickness of the soul and a rejection of our own humanity that ails us, and we search for the answers in a pill, an activity, or any other quick way out, as long as it doesn't require that we sit with ourselves. We've learned and accepted that almost anything is better than being human.
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Old 07-09-2014, 11:43 AM
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Currently 20% of the population has a problem with booze and/or drugs. So in 50 years time, it will only increase, with the advent of legalization of marjiuna its only going to get worse with this gateway drug. Look at Vancouver with those needle shot-em-up street kiosks. I find it odd that at a local state level its legal but federally its illegal. This is what our government has come to. It amazes me some of the stuff that goes on like this.
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Old 07-09-2014, 11:43 AM
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i find the government ignores the research and more concerned about maintaining cultural and political values...In other words the recovery leaders are not in it for the addicts
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Old 07-09-2014, 12:01 PM
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Originally Posted by matt4x4 View Post
Currently 20% of the population has a problem with booze and/or drugs. So in 50 years time, it will only increase, with the advent of legalization of marjiuna its only going to get worse with this gateway drug. Look at Vancouver with those needle shot-em-up street kiosks. I find it odd that at a local state level its legal but federally its illegal. This is what our government has come to. It amazes me some of the stuff that goes on like this.
I live in Vancouver and I assume you're referring to Insite, which is a safe injection site. It's not a street kiosk - it is a facility with medical personnel, clean needles and addictions counselors. Insite has prevented hundreds of overdose deaths and has been shown (in the Canadian Medical Journal) to have a positive effect on addicts - those who go to Insite are much more likely to enter rehab than those who continue to shoot up on the street. It's harm reduction, not encouragement.

As an aside about the legality of Insite - possession is illegal at the federal level (Canada does not have states and provinces do not have their own Criminal Code) but Insite has been specifically granted permission to operate because it helps addicts move into recovery and reduces healthcare costs.

And the idea that marijuana is a "gateway drug" is absolute garbage that I thought we'd moved past in the 21st century, but apparently not. This is what I mean by the United States ignoring evidence and setting policy based on ideology.
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Old 07-09-2014, 12:09 PM
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Sorry, that reply may have been a bit harsh but I find this stuff frustrating.

Canada is very heavily influenced by American drug and alcohol policy because of our gigantic virtually-unguarded border and deep economic ties, so when Americans spout off ignorant crap about addiction it really sets me off. Most Canadians would love to pursue a sane and compassionate approach to addiction, but we can't because we're tied to the US and it's apparent hatred of science, critical thought and policies that actually fix problems rather than making them worse.
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Old 07-09-2014, 12:09 PM
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Originally Posted by newwestdork View Post
I live in Vancouver and I assume you're referring to Insite, which is a safe injection site. It's not a street kiosk - it is a facility with medical personnel, clean needles and addictions counselors. Insite has prevented hundreds of overdose deaths and has been shown (in the Canadian Medical Journal) to have a positive effect on addicts - those who go to Insite are much more likely to enter rehab than those who continue to shoot up on the street. It's harm reduction, not encouragement.

As an aside about the legality of Insite - possession is illegal at the federal level (Canada does not have states and provinces do not have their own Criminal Code) but Insite has been specifically granted permission to operate because it helps addicts move into recovery and reduces healthcare costs.

And the idea that marijuana is a "gateway drug" is absolute garbage that I thought we'd moved past in the 21st century, but apparently not. This is what I mean by the United States ignoring evidence and setting policy based on ideology.
You did not read my second post - I agree with your position on marijuana and harm reduction BTW. I do agree that there is a heavy evangelical influence on the US policy and a lack of education and lack of resources or resources focused on the incorrect areas as the primary issues. I don't see marijuana as a gateway drug but the use is about to skyrocket, due to availability. However, the drug or substance do not make the addcit - see my first post.

Not so sure I see Science as the solution either though...what is the Science based solution? Antebuse?
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