I WAS Addicted to Heroin...
But thankfully I'm taking the new Anti-Addiction pill! Oh yes, major pharmaceutical companies are feverishly working on a new anti-addiction pill after some recent scientific discoveries made regarding addictive people's brains. According to the article, "...they [scientists] tend to agree on what they see, although not necessarily on how to fix it: addiction — whether to alcohol, to drugs or even to behaviors like gambling — appears to be a complicated disorder affecting brain processes responsible for motivation, decision making, pleasure seeking, inhibitory control and the way we learn and consolidate information and experiences". And that's all the pharmacology industry needs. Long regarded as a sort of "holy grail" in medical research, the long sought after addiction "center" (as it were) can now be seen. Oh! Did you just hear that? It was a VP at GlaxoSmithKline creaming their jeans.
So check it. I don't have a problem with the idea of people using medication to kick their addiction. Whether through support programs, family or good 'ol Methadone, using an aid in kicking your habit can be a real help. I remember the bevy of chemical substances that I quit, the hardest (by faaaaar) being cigarettes. I was up to a pack a day, would smoke after every meal, during every break and of course lots after work. I had friends who tried the gum, the patch and whatever else to no avail and that's when it hit me: kicking you addiction in the ass cannot be accomplished by relying on something else to do all the hard work. Let me just say that any good drug counselor will tell someone this. It takes a lot of dedication to sobriety in order for one to really give up their addiction. For gamblers, that probably means not going into casinos or playing other games involving money. For smokers, it means breaking the Pavlovian response to smoke during breaks and after meals. For heroin addicts, it means, well basically it means finding a padded cell for some light-hearted detox. My point is, it's complicated, it's extremely difficult and I myself used a patch as an aid, not as a crutch.
Sure sure sure, we've all heard that before. Got it - aid not crutch. That's a hard line to walk, however. Convincing oneself that they have to take responsibility for their actions and not rely on a pill or patch or vibrator (wait, what?) isn't something the companies marketing their products want you to hear. Enter the anti-addiction pill. I can just see the advertisements now:
"Has shoving needles into your collapsed veins become passé? Do you find yourself running with a crowd that would suck out your blood if they thought they could get high? It's time you heard about the new the anti-addiction pill! With just two Antiadict pills a day, you'll never have to experience those terrible waking nightmares again! Just take one pill for breakfast, another at dinner and before you know it, you'll remember what life was like before you sucked dick for smack! Side effects may include dry mouth, dizziness, stomach cramps, headaches, ear infections and addiction to Antiadict."
The way this will be marketed, just as the patch, the pill and everything else pharmaceutical companies market, will be presented as the answer to your problem. Instead of hearing things like "along with other treatment", we will probably hear "BAM!! You'll be sober before you KNOW it!!" Oh wait, perhaps I'm being too harsh. After all, it's not a pharmaceutical company's job to doll out every bit of advice for what it takes to kick addiction. We cannot hold them responsible for giving a well-rounded message while also trying to sell their product, right? Air time = money, after all.
Yeah, that's bullshit. If they want to take on the responsibility of altering people's brain chemistry, they should also be held accountable for presenting all the information. Pharmaceutical companies have heaps of research on their side, I'm sure lots of which (like the article states), shows the complicated nature to addiction, one that relies on chemical processes but also learned behavior. How can they cram it into a 30-second commercial? Bottom line: their marketing campaigns won't be successful unless people think they're getting something that, by itself, will cure them. Who the hell wants hard work? Dedication? Yeah whatever, that stuff's for losers.
Look, I know medications really help people. Hell, there are people who would downright cease to function if it weren't for their meds. To each their own. But it just really gets to me how the Pharmies are going to sink their nasty fingers into a personal and social issue that has no simple solution. They're going to profit off of people's misplaced trust in their falsely-marketed product. I'm not surprised, I'm just pissed. (Wait. Patrick's pissed about something? Gosh, it must be opposite day.)
So check it. I don't have a problem with the idea of people using medication to kick their addiction. Whether through support programs, family or good 'ol Methadone, using an aid in kicking your habit can be a real help. I remember the bevy of chemical substances that I quit, the hardest (by faaaaar) being cigarettes. I was up to a pack a day, would smoke after every meal, during every break and of course lots after work. I had friends who tried the gum, the patch and whatever else to no avail and that's when it hit me: kicking you addiction in the ass cannot be accomplished by relying on something else to do all the hard work. Let me just say that any good drug counselor will tell someone this. It takes a lot of dedication to sobriety in order for one to really give up their addiction. For gamblers, that probably means not going into casinos or playing other games involving money. For smokers, it means breaking the Pavlovian response to smoke during breaks and after meals. For heroin addicts, it means, well basically it means finding a padded cell for some light-hearted detox. My point is, it's complicated, it's extremely difficult and I myself used a patch as an aid, not as a crutch.
Sure sure sure, we've all heard that before. Got it - aid not crutch. That's a hard line to walk, however. Convincing oneself that they have to take responsibility for their actions and not rely on a pill or patch or vibrator (wait, what?) isn't something the companies marketing their products want you to hear. Enter the anti-addiction pill. I can just see the advertisements now:
"Has shoving needles into your collapsed veins become passé? Do you find yourself running with a crowd that would suck out your blood if they thought they could get high? It's time you heard about the new the anti-addiction pill! With just two Antiadict pills a day, you'll never have to experience those terrible waking nightmares again! Just take one pill for breakfast, another at dinner and before you know it, you'll remember what life was like before you sucked dick for smack! Side effects may include dry mouth, dizziness, stomach cramps, headaches, ear infections and addiction to Antiadict."
The way this will be marketed, just as the patch, the pill and everything else pharmaceutical companies market, will be presented as the answer to your problem. Instead of hearing things like "along with other treatment", we will probably hear "BAM!! You'll be sober before you KNOW it!!" Oh wait, perhaps I'm being too harsh. After all, it's not a pharmaceutical company's job to doll out every bit of advice for what it takes to kick addiction. We cannot hold them responsible for giving a well-rounded message while also trying to sell their product, right? Air time = money, after all.
Yeah, that's bullshit. If they want to take on the responsibility of altering people's brain chemistry, they should also be held accountable for presenting all the information. Pharmaceutical companies have heaps of research on their side, I'm sure lots of which (like the article states), shows the complicated nature to addiction, one that relies on chemical processes but also learned behavior. How can they cram it into a 30-second commercial? Bottom line: their marketing campaigns won't be successful unless people think they're getting something that, by itself, will cure them. Who the hell wants hard work? Dedication? Yeah whatever, that stuff's for losers.
Look, I know medications really help people. Hell, there are people who would downright cease to function if it weren't for their meds. To each their own. But it just really gets to me how the Pharmies are going to sink their nasty fingers into a personal and social issue that has no simple solution. They're going to profit off of people's misplaced trust in their falsely-marketed product. I'm not surprised, I'm just pissed. (Wait. Patrick's pissed about something? Gosh, it must be opposite day.)
posted by Infused Confusion at
8:31 AM
1 Comments:
I see two sides to this issue. On one hand, I agree with you that we should stand on our own two feet and fight it out. Therapy and support will help, but don't replace one drug with another.
But on the other hand, I can see people who just don't have the strength to do it with therapy and support alone. people who either don't have the support base of a loving family, etc. For them, the chemical addiction is stronger than they are. They would probably benefit from an anti-addiction med.
Quite possibly, these people are the exception to the rule. I don't know, I haven't been a part of it.
It irritates me that big pharma like Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline have changed their research habits from, "This is a common medical problem, let's find a way to cure it," to, "What does this chemical compound do to the body, and what can we market it as?" And it irritates me that the FDA has gotten so lax and lazy over the last decade. Mostly, it irritates me that people are being conditioned to think we can/should solve any problem with a pill instead of with willpower, healthy habits and responsibility. Soma for the masses. Half a gram and you won't give a damn.
If you ask me, the option to use meds for things like these should be there - but it should be our last option when all others are exhausted.
By
Mr. Burns, At
3:04 PM
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