Thinking About the War on Drugs

The world is often looked at in terms of good or evil. When it comes to actions we don't like or approve of, it always ends up being a sin or a crime. And, of course, these behaviors need need to be prevented (read: "punished") in order to reduce or prevent their occurrence.

However, when we think of  something as a disease, then we don't want those infected to be punished, we want the disease prevented or cured. (Throughout the ages, however, there has been a link between disease and sin. Remember the blind man Jesus healed? The authorities of his day wanted to know if the blind man, or someone in his family, had sinned.)

Our nation's history is not much different when it comes to alcohol and other drugs. What is considered sin soon became an institutionalized crime. And, therefore, becomes the need to punish those who transgress. Only recently have we started to consider alcoholism as a disease rather than a sin. So, why not other addictions? When we take a measured look at the problem of addiction, we might be surprised that heredity is more in action here than a person's choice.

In his new book, Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America’s Greatest Tragedy, David Scheff delves into the problem of addiction. He comes out of the pain of being a parent with an addicted child that has died.

In Mick Sussman's review of Scheff's book in the New York Times (April 19, 2013), he writes: “Clean is intended as an objective, if still impassioned, examination of the research on prevention and treatment — a guide for those affected by addiction but also a manifesto aimed at clinical professionals and policy makers.

"Sheff’s premise is that 'addiction isn’t a criminal problem, but a health problem,' and that the rigor of medicine is the antidote to the irrational responses, familial and social, that addiction tends to set off... The war on drugs, he says bluntly, 'has failed.' After 40 years and an 'unconscionable' expense that he estimates at a trillion dollars, there are 20 million addicts in America (including alcoholics), and 'more drugs, more kinds of drugs, and more toxic drugs used at younger ages.'"

One must ask, why is this health and behavioral problem not the number one focus of our research and collective knowledge? Drug addiction is defined as that which causes alterations to the brain that result in cognitive deficits and other symptoms. (See American Society of Addiction Medicine.) Is it a choice, or not? We have other health problems that do not undergo such moral scrutiny. We have other health problems that involve some level of choice: obesity, heart disease, and diabetes, for example. Why not the addiction to alcohol and other drugs?

Sheff goes on to tell us that addiction has a substantial genetic component, and when mental illness and poverty come into the mix, the probability of addiction increases and becomes more behavioral in nature. Eighty percent of adolescents in our society try drugs but only about 10 percent of them become addicted. Neuroscience corroborates our intuition that impulsivity in adolescents develops faster than their inhibitions develop. This means that adolescent drug users may actually stunt their emotional growth and make them even more prone to lifelong addictions. And let's not forget about alcohol -- one of our society's "legal" drugs of choice and all the havoc that raises in our society. 

Addiction medicine, moreover, is a relatively new if not exact science. So far, most all treatment programs have very low rates of success -- even in the most expensive clinics. Even a claim of 30 percent effectiveness may actually be greatly inflated. Scheff reminds us, "The persistent possibility of relapse is the 'hallmark of addiction' resulting in addiction being a chronic disease requiring life-long vigilance."

As a smart people, shouldn't we be further along in how we go about treating addictions and have far better treatment outcomes? For reviewer Sussman, Scheff's "forbearance and clearheadedness could serve as an example for America as it confronts its drug problem... a subject for which sensible advice is in short supply."

I hope these findings will help us do more than "hate the sin, but love the sinner" approaches when it comes to addiction. Instead, we should direct the power of our faith tradition toward right thinking, research, healing and prevention.

As a father who has, like Scheef, experienced addiction in his family and suicide, I welcome a saner approach to addiction and an end to our "war on drugs." We deserve better.