Addiction

After repeated tests and lengthy scientific analysis, researchers at the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse have discovered a link between alcohol and drunken behavior. “A significant correlation can be drawn between alcohol intake and foolish behavior,” says one leading scientist.

Others report that distilled spirits seem to take affect much quicker than brewed beverages and often the participant subjects will pass out before the test is even complete. “Performance becomes an issue” when those being tested were asked to do more than to sit on a barstool or awkardly talk in a very loud voice.

Yes, I was being silly but this parody came to mind after reading this story detailing how scientists have learned that drinking dampens the ability to feel fear. Let's get real here, I don’t need a government grant and a scientific laboratory to understand that copious amounts of alcohol will make one bullet proof!

Fortunately there is far more to this story than just the headline, they are actually making considerable headway in the field of addiction science.

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A recent report by ABC News details the trend of young women posting pictures on social networking sites such as Facebook that show them drunk or drugged and often in compromising positions.

My first thought upon reading this story was, “look at what those crazy kids are doing today!” Then I thought back to my drinking days (what I can remember), before the days of blackouts, tremors, and anxiety attacks when I considered drinking “cool”. Back to the time when the highlight of the weekend was playing a game of presidents and assholes with Ouzo or the time when we hog-tied in duck tape one of our passed out compatriots and hung him upside down from a stairwell… and I know I have no room to talk.

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Newsweek does a very good job this week with a feature called “The War on Addiction”. It includes some great information on the new medicines being developed to combat addiction by The National Institute of Drug Abuse which is headed up by one of my personal heroes, Dr. Nora Volkow. I really appreciate the way Newsweek did not concentrate just on the science and wow-factor of these new medicines, instead in this week’s addition you will find three different stories each highlighting a different front of this “War on Addiction”. I have provided a link and a quote from each of the stories and highly recommend them for your reading pleasure.

What Addicts Need: So for this new paradigm to take hold, a lot of long-held prejudices will have to change. Doctors (and insurance companies) will have to get used to the idea of medicating their addicted patients, rather than handing them a brochure for AA, which a study published in 2005 in The New England Journal of Medicine found was the most common form of "treatment" offered. "If you have hypertension and it flares up, you go to a specialist," says psychologist Thomas McLellan of the University of Pennsylvania. "The specialist doesn't discharge you to a church basement. If he did, we would call it malpractice."

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I am a worry wart; it’s a common trait of alcoholics and addicts (when sober). My recovery program allows me to accept my little quirks of checking to make sure the doors are locked or coffee pot is off, even though it has an automatic shutoff, three times before I leave the house. In fact, understanding my obsessive nature has allowed me to use this part of my nature to an advantage in my professional life managing projects.

So you can imagine the thoughts that raced through my head as I found out I was packed like a sardine shoulder to shoulder with a doctor specializing in infectious disease for a two hour plane flight from Phoenix to Houston. After resigning myself to the fact that I couldn’t hold my breath for the duration of trip there was no choice but breathe and make the most of the opportunity to speak with someone who probably had a unique perspective on the adverse health effects of addictive drug use. He did, in fact he had a whole lecture on the subject, so I’ll give you the high points.

Click “Read more” to see what the good doctor said…

Screedler alerted me to this too funny headline earlier this month. No mention of the humorous wording makes me believe that the publishers of this submission were totally clueless on the double entendre, but that just makes this story that much funnier.

Police searching a downtown home found a man hiding 15 plastic bags of crack cocaine in his buttocks... Lynch was charged with possession with the intent to distribute crack cocaine, possession of crack cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia, obstructing and hindering and making a false statement to police officers.~ MyFoxDC.com

So here’s a TDA salute to the same news outfits that have covered Marion Barry antics for so many years regardless if they knew how funny this really was!

By no means is the thought unique to alcoholism and addiction, but I certainly succumbed to a “lost cause” mentality. “What’s the use,” I would say contemplating sobriety, “I can’t even perform the most basic of tasks without having a drink.” Though a little embarrassed to admit it, even in recovery I have often surrendered to thought that helping others with addiction was quixotic because of the utter enormity and futility of the task.

It is easy to fall prey to this type of thinking; been there and done that as an alcoholic, in recovery and dealing with addicts and alcoholics, and now in the work I do with the substance abuse task force. But recovery has taught me that nothing happens without taking that initial first step, even if it is a very small one. With each following step the way becomes easier and the tasks become more manageable. Along this same line, a small step made by many can move mountains, and this will be the purpose of the new TDA blogroll.

“Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he could only do a little” ~Edmund Burke

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The Discovering Alcoholic will be going through a site upgrade for the next 24 hrs as promised at the beginning of the year. Please bear with us as there may be periods of interrupted service, but be on the lookout for our new look that will follow.

Increased spam protection, improved visibility, easier comment posting, and a new blogroll of advocates are features of the new site that I believe will improve the interaction and user experience. We will probably lose some of the most recent comments, but all of the main content from the old site will be included in the new. Once the site is up, please feel free to comment or e-mail me with your thoughts, suggestions, or bug discovery.

Thank you for your patience!

You will remember screedler from his Letters From Hell series that was a weekly favorite. He is now keeping us up to date as he continues his struggle through court ordered insanity and his own successful recovery.

As I was walking (my driving license has been revoked) from my place of employment to my random drug test; I thought about how much easier it would be to stay sober if it weren’t for the “powers that be”. Be it court ordered, probation officer ordered, court referral officer ordered, group therapy ordered or social ordered I have become less than human. I have lost all my freedoms except for what I eat and the right to smoke. Even though I am not incarcerated (anymore) I still have to pee with someone staring at my unit and be somewhere I don’t want to be most any hour of the day.

The court winds me up and sends me on my way each day to my numerous appointments. Let’s see; what will it be this hour – a drug test. No not yet – an AA meeting. Definitely later. Right now – beg someone to take me (drive) to my probation officer. Maybe I can swing by and see my court referral officer too. Well, if I can’t work any of those things in I can always attend some of my 6 hours a week of “alcohol and drug awareness classes” – that’s always fun. And you might ask? Screedler; how can I have such a vibrant schedule – well let me tell you – it aint free.

Here’s how it breaks down:

Drug tests: $20 a pop – sometimes twice a week
Classes: $40 a pop - twice a week
Probation officer: $30 a visit at least once a month
Court Referral Officer: $20 once a month
AA three times a week: free; but I do drop my share in the bucket.

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An energized Congress has devoted a very large share of their session this week to the issue of substance abuse… of performance enhancing drugs in baseball. The media has gotten involved also with CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and even CSPAN following the proceedings... of the soap opera-like testimonies of Roger Clemens and his trainer. The President has even been busy highlighting substance abuse services… to better see which funding he intends to cut.

In a nutshell, the nation is enraptured by the play by play action of our congressmen grilling juiced professional athletes on whether or not they “play fair” while the President cuts funding to programs targeting real substance abuse issues. Forget the fiddle, Rome is burning and our congress critters are playing baseball. But for all the time they are spending on steroids and growth hormones in baseball, they have balked at addressing real substance abuse issues.

For many people, federal and state-funded treatment and recovery services are the only way that they can get help for alcohol and other drug problems and get on the path to long-term recovery. Over 21 million Americans aged 12 or over still need help and aren’t getting it. Almost half of the people who tried to get help were denied treatment because of cost or insurance barriers. The shortage of addiction treatment and peer and other recovery support services results in waiting lists in many places, sometimes as long as six months. The President’s request of $352.1 million for CSAT (treatment funding) in FY 2008 is a decrease of $46.8 million from FY 2007.

Please tell your congressman (find your representative here, senator here) to stop striking out when it comes to real substance abuse issues. If they would have used half the time and money they’ve wasted on this Clemens debacle, they could have already fully funded the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment and more.

100,000 people will die this year and million will suffer because of substance abuse and addiction, yet apparently our government is more concerned about whether or not a professional athlete should have an asterisk placed beside his records!

Some politicians tend to demagogue the issue of addiction because they know the favor they will gain by appealing to the prejudice and bias of their constituents. Case in point is the proposed bill by state Sen. Mike Carrell of Washington to require those convicted of DUI to display a fluorescent license plate to distinguish them to police and the public. If anyone deserves a shameful branding it is Mr. Carrell for this asinine piece of legislation which I strongly disagree with on three points.

1)Does a convicted drunk driver somehow also deserve humiliation in addition to the traditional punishments they will serve along with those convicted of other crimes? Until I see every citizen forced to wear a placard announcing their police records to family, friends, and employers I think it is easy to see the unfairness and downright discrimination of this practice. 2)For those that are alcoholics, no high profile tag or even loss of license will prevent or discourage them from drinking. 3)Instead of seeking new and inventive ways of punishing and embarrassing drunk drivers, maybe more thought should be put into prevention and actually keeping intoxicated drivers off the road.

I give Sen. Carrell a scarlet “A” for asinine in response to his proposal, but I will make a suggestion that would enable him to change its designation from shameful to a grade of excellence.

Stop shaming drunk drivers, taking away their licenses (the only way many can get to work, take care of kids, or go to treatment and the now mandatory meetings) and increasing the chance that they will fall prey to depression and addiction- instead fine them, educate them, and make them wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet with the warning that they go to jail if they drink… period. The facts are that taking away a license does not keep drunks off the road; my experience is it just makes a bad situation worse. The bracelet insures that if the person being monitored does drink that they will be arrested before they drive, instead of just whenever they are caught driving which is often too late to prevent tragedy. The bracelet becomes a tool that increases sobriety and compliance, allows for more treatment and recovery options, and actually reduces the time a repeat offender may stay on the road. Win. Win. Win.