Global Commission on Drug Policy: Legalization, decriminalization, and the war on drugs

June 7th, 2011

A commission made up of some big names, though not really any names of addiction or drug researchers I noticed, just released a report that’s making a lot of noise throughout every news channel including NPR (see here, and here for stories) and others (see CNN). They want the debate about the current state of drug regulation expanded, and since I’ve written on the issue before, I figured it’s time for another stab at this. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Education, Opinions Tags: abstinence, Alcohol, cigarettes, CNN, commission, commission on drug policy, criminal, criminalization drugs, decriminalization, drug, drug use, Drugs, harm reduction, hope, legalization, NPR, offenders, prison, replacement medication, report, Richard Branson, should we legalize drugs?, smoking, stigmatization, stimga, syringe, treatment, War on Drugs

Two Million Dollars a piece – The cost of drug use and violence

May 25th, 2011

The average cost to society of a lifelong criminal = About $2 million

I’ll get into more of this in later posts (I already talked about the cost of addiction prevention versus treatment versus enforcement), but if that cost of drug use and violence doesn’t cry out for a better application of money to prevention and addiction treatment, I don’t know what does.

At that cost, even if a treatment method costs $10k per client, it only needs to work for 1 out of 200 people to break even, and benefit society while doing so. In reality, our success rates are much higher than .5% (1/200) and closer to 15%-25%. When you take into account the fact that average cost of a month in addiction treatment (residential, outpatient treatment is much cheaper) is indeed about $7000-$10,000, it seems silly not to avoid the cost of crime by greatly reducing drug use, and hence criminal behavior.

NIDA, the government’s top agency for drug and alcohol abuse research recommends three months of treatment, but even then, success rates as low as 2% would leave us with a profit by providing treatment. Screw it, even a whole year of treatment would save us money if it succeeded but I can tell you that funding for that kind of addiction treatment length is almost non-existent, especially when compared to the actual need.

So with success rates about 20 to 30 times higher than our break-even point, we would literally benefit, and I’m talking financially, from helping people with treatment as expensive as $100,000 or more (as long as it worked). One of the things I’ve learned in all my work has been that while some individuals are actually interested in helping people, yes, even if they’ve been dirty drug addicts who have commited crimes, almost everyone cares about money. So forget for a second about all the social justice arguments to be made for helping addicts and think about the cost savings to our society… It makes sense.

True, true, not all drug users who would enter treatment would become lifelong offender, but if you’re still keeping tabs, even if only 1/20 or so do, we’re more than breaking even here. In fact, with our prison populations exploding as more and more drug users enter the system, I bet we’re in for some real savings.

Citation:

Dodge, K. A. (2008) Framing public policy and prevention of chronic violence in American youths. America Psychologist, 63, 573-590.

Posted in:  Education, Opinions, Treatment Tags: addiction, average cost, cost, criminal, drug, drug use, enforcement, helping, helping people, million, money, policy, prevention, success rates, treatment, violence

Body image and medicalization: Socially relevant behavioral “addictions” beyond drug use

May 21st, 2011

We know that addiction can go beyond drug use, but are we becoming addicted to making our bodies perfect?

I put “addiction” in parentheses here because I think it’s important to distinguish substance-related addictions from behavioral ones. There’s no doubt that people’s behavior can become compulsive in the same way addicts become compulsive about using, but I’ve seen no evidence that behavioral addictions interfere with brain function in the way that cocaine, methamphetamine, and opiates alter actual brain mechanisms.

Still, this recent trend of obsessive plastic surgery is a dual-headed “addiction”, one that is both physical and social.  In many ways, people are now able to change aspects of their being that were once thought unalterable including their own physical appearances. To gain social acceptance, if you have money, you now have new tools!

This may also play a big role for those who are love addicted, at least if they have money… Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Education, Opinions, Prescription, Tips Tags: addiction, antisocial, behavioral addictions, body image, celebrity, death, drug use, hollywood, hormones, love addicted, love addiction, love addicts, medical procedures, medicalization, medication, michael jackson, michael jackson's death, my addiction, people, perfectionism, pill, plastic surgery, prescription, relationship addiction, sex addiction, social, society, surgery

Sometimes it just takes blind faith – Depression and drug use

April 19th, 2011

I don’t normally like sharing this kind of stuff, but I think that if the point of the blog is be truthful, I need to cover all bases. When it comes to depression and drug use, I have personal experience with the connection.

When depression hits – Drug use and self-medication

I don’t always wake up ready to take on the day.

I know that what I’m doing is important, and I know that if I keep going I’ll be successful. Still, sometimes I wake up and feel like there’s really no point; like getting out of bed is useless and that I’m doomed to be nothing. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Addiction Stories, For addicts, Opinions Tags: belief, depression, drink, drug, drug use, faith, feeling, help, help depression, hope, isolation, know, pain, weed

Alternatives to animal testing for drug safety come to the U.S.

March 15th, 2011

Here at A3 we’re not new to the animal research debate but we don’t feel as if we’re on the front lines either, especially after working along side researchers who get death threats, dangerous mailings, and Molotov cocktails thrown at their cars (see here for other article on animal research). Still, I know that my own personal experience and knowledge allow me to understand that at least for now, research using live animals is necessary in some contexts (like when we study actual behavior) but that technology might offer alternatives in others.

An article in the journal Nature Medicine chronicles recent efforts by governmental agencies, pharmaceutical companies, and advocacy groups are pushing forward with the idea of computer databases that will allow pharmaceutical companies to assess the toxicity of new products early in the development process. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Education, Opinions Tags: allow, alternatives, animal, Animal research, animals, pharmaceutical companies, safety testing

The forest and trees of addiction

March 8th, 2011

It’s unfortunate that some people look at substance abuse problems from their vantage point only – Everyone seems like them whether normal users, light abusers, abstainers, or hard-core alcoholics (recovered, recovering, or not).

The world is full of individuals arranged in loosely associated groups. Unless one can acknowledge that real, important, and consequential differences exist, all you’re seeing is a tiny little bit of the beauty.

Posted in:  Opinions Tags: addiction, differences, drug abuse, recovery, substance abuse

Busy, busy, busy – Nothing quiet on the All About Addiction front

January 20th, 2011

Okay, I feel like I’ve been slacking on the writing for A3 recently. After finally finishing my Doctorate at UCLA a little more than a month ago, things have been surprisingly hectic for me. In case you hadn’t read it here or on the Huffington Post, I’ve been getting a little more exposure recently, some of it unwanted, but I’m hoping that in the process we’ll get more attention for our work here on All About Addiction. In the end, it’s all about helping addicts get help.

We’ve also begun featuring articles by Dirk Hanson, the journalist behind Addiction Inbox, one of my favorite sites featuring addiction information. Dirk’s first post had to do with the patterns of addiction treatment entries in the U.S. using the TEDS data from SAMHSA. One of my goals for this next year is to begin featuring more articles from outside writers including international experts on addiction. Hopefully, we’ll be able to include a peer-review process similar to that of academic journal to bring the level of our writing even higher – if that’s possible!!!

Thank you everyone for your continued support – We’re 15,000 visitors strong every month now and from the feedback I’m getting, we’re helping at least some of our readers out there and that’s all I’ve ever wanted.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jaffe

Posted in:  Opinions Tags: about addiction, addiction, articles, Dr. Jaffe, Huffington Post