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https://www.amazon.com/Chemical-Slavery-Understanding-Addiction-Stopping/dp/1985750325
This extremely ambitious book by Dr. Robert DuPont is the first book that I know of by a leader in the drug abuse prevention and treatment field that has highlighted the message of Pope Francis: that engaging in drug taking for experiential purposes is tantamount to allowing oneself to become enslaved. No one would ever willingly accept such a fate. When one gives up one’s will power, the theosophists say that one gives up one’s soul power. The Dalai Lama has said that a person who uses drugs give up his or her authentic self. This book provides a range of significant roadmaps that have been used by a country, Sweden; and by institutions, treatment programs, families, and individual drug users and addicts, to safeguard or sustain and retain that authentic drug-free selfhood. By bringing to light in one place, many of these roadmaps, Dr. DuPont shares insights into how that authentic self can be safeguarded from the pitfalls of drug taking behavior. He shares insights into the steps that many have taken to retain or reclaim their authentic selves, initiative, will power, brain power, judgment, creativity, and essential humanity.
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Research studies (see Stoové et al, 2009) have long associated surviving a drug overdose with the increased likelihood of a future non-fatal or fatal drug overdose. In a 2017 Massachusetts study of opioid overdoses, 10% of those who survived died within the next year from a drug overdose or other causes. In one of the most rigorous U.S. follow-up studies, Dr. Mark Olfson and colleagues compared the mortality rates of people who had survived a non-fatal opioid overdose to demographically matched members of the general U.S. population. They found that those who survived an opioid overdose died in the next year at 24 times the mortality rate of those in the general population, with most deaths attributed to drug-related diseases, subsequent overdose, circulatory disease, respiratory disease, cancer, HIV, viral hepatitis, and suicide. In another study that might be christened an investigation into lost opportunities, Dr. Linn Gjersing and colleagues found in a retrospective analysis of people who died of a drug overdose that 61% had previously sought emergency medical care and that 18% were frequent users of emergency medical services. The reasons for seeking past emergency care included somatic complaints (48%), injury (44%), alcohol and other drug-related medical problems (32%), and drug overdose (26%).
This is just one of the reasons why it is vital to divert drug users into recovery programs, not simply enable and equip them to continue self-harming with substances – These drug use endorsing mechanisms only increase the risk of harm that the same so-called ‘harm reduction’ strategies are supposed to lessen! (D.I. Comment)
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EXCLUSIVE: NAS - neonatal abstinence syndrome - affects babies whose mothers have abused drugs during pregnancy, leaving their babies to go cold turkey after birth. 22:26, 28 JUL 2018
Three babies a day are having treatment for drug addiction after being born hooked on heroin or cocaine.
Shock figures from NHS Digital show hospitals dealt with 5,000 cases of addicted tots over the last four years.
NAS – neonatal abstinence syndrome – affects babies whose mums have abused drugs during pregnancy.
When the umbilical cord is cut, the supply of drugs suddenly stops, so the addicted infant goes cold turkey.
Typical symptoms include high-pitched or incessant crying, tremors, vomiting and sweating.
But babies can also suffer dehydration, diarrhoea, fevers and even seizures.
Some may need medication to treat severe withdrawal symptoms, usually from the same family of drugs as the substance that the baby is addicted to.
Once the signs of withdrawal are controlled, the dosage is gradually decreased to help wean the baby off the drug.
Figures from the NHS show the problem is countrywide.
“Yet none of the women we support wanted to end up in this position. Most are victims of childhood sexual trauma and domestic violence.
"The shame and guilt they feel is huge. But all they need is help and support to break the cycle.
“A mum might come to us on baby four or five. Her previous children have all been taken into care.
“By getting her through treatment, addressing her underlying issues and enabling her to keep her child, we break that cycle of repeat removal.”
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The recently released Report by the Australian Government on our progress with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): ‘Report on the implementation of the sustainable development goals 2018’ acknowledged some of the movement toward agreed upon (but voluntarily pursued targets) and waxed cautious about shortfalls and opportunities for clear improvement.
Whilst it is vital to note that alcohol and other drug use and misuse do negatively impact 13 out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, it was in SDG three of the report in which glaring omissions were evident.
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The Legalization of marijuana in Colorado has introduce a host of problems for the state – problems often glossed over by the pot industry and the regulators and decision makers they finance. Today’s highly potent marijuana represents a growing and significant threat to public health and safety – a threat amplified by a new marijuana industry intent on profiting from heavy use. State laws allowing marijuana has (in direct contradiction to federal law) permitted this industry to flourish. The full extent of the consequences of these policies will not be known for decades!
See S.A.M (Smart Approaches to Marijuana)