ADDICTS ARE HUMAN BEINGS WITH A STORY
CATHY McDOWELL: ‘ADDICTS ARE HUMAN BEINGS WITH A STORY’
‘Safe injection sites and crack kits are not the solution; neither is incarceration, forced rehab or low-end employment’
ASK HARD QUESTIONS ABOUT ADDICTION
Re: “Enabling addiction is no solution,” letter, June 14, Times Colonist.
Not all substance abusers – whether it be alcohol or drugs – do so because they have made poor choices in their lives.
Were that true, I have little doubt that many would welcome the opportunity to go into rehab so that they might become clean and sober.
Addiction is more than poor choices. Addiction is about the child born of an alcoholic mother who consequently lives his or her life dealing with the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome.
Addiction is the crack baby having to be weaned off drugs ingested in the womb long before he ever makes his first sound in this world. It’s about children who are abandoned by their parents, or worse, used as collateral as a means of financing their own addiction.
Addiction is a response, albeit a poor one, to a world that has failed to provide the necessary supports to a human being when he or she needed it most.
Safe injection sites and crack kits are not the solution; neither is incarceration, forced rehab or low-end employment. Victoria has been tossing around solutions without looking at the problem.
When do we stop treating people as a balance sheet and start asking the really hard questions about who they are? Addicts are human being with a story. Perhaps it’s time to listen to what they are saying and hear what tehy have been unable to say. Then, maybe, we can start to make inroads toward a win-win solution for all parties.
source: http://gregoryhartnell.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/cathy-mcdowell-addicts-are-human-beings-with-a-story/
‘Safe injection sites and crack kits are not the solution; neither is incarceration, forced rehab or low-end employment’
ASK HARD QUESTIONS ABOUT ADDICTION
Re: “Enabling addiction is no solution,” letter, June 14, Times Colonist.
Not all substance abusers – whether it be alcohol or drugs – do so because they have made poor choices in their lives.
Were that true, I have little doubt that many would welcome the opportunity to go into rehab so that they might become clean and sober.
Addiction is more than poor choices. Addiction is about the child born of an alcoholic mother who consequently lives his or her life dealing with the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome.
Addiction is the crack baby having to be weaned off drugs ingested in the womb long before he ever makes his first sound in this world. It’s about children who are abandoned by their parents, or worse, used as collateral as a means of financing their own addiction.
Addiction is a response, albeit a poor one, to a world that has failed to provide the necessary supports to a human being when he or she needed it most.
Safe injection sites and crack kits are not the solution; neither is incarceration, forced rehab or low-end employment. Victoria has been tossing around solutions without looking at the problem.
When do we stop treating people as a balance sheet and start asking the really hard questions about who they are? Addicts are human being with a story. Perhaps it’s time to listen to what they are saying and hear what tehy have been unable to say. Then, maybe, we can start to make inroads toward a win-win solution for all parties.
source: http://gregoryhartnell.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/cathy-mcdowell-addicts-are-human-beings-with-a-story/
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