Drug addiction doesn’t work that way. Imagine if the only way to get housing was to quit smoking cold turkey. Very, very few people will succeed. Some of the homeless have tried to kick their habit and failed, so very few people would want to fail abstinence and go back on the streets.
Rehab is rarely successful, especially religious institutions, but that is no excuse for not trying to fix a very clear problem with ones self. Drug addictions work exactly like that. Either you want to change and you’re trying, or you don’t and you’re not.
I was curious what the difference was so I went searching for a study like this one and saw on Table 2 that voluntarily admitted treated individuals at the 6 month follow-up survey were only 50% abstinent for the prior 30 days compared to 24% of compulsorily admitted. However, it is true that the overdose rate for VA was much lower than CA’s 22%.
I’m not sure courts anywhere in the USA can force rehab for more than a year, some states do about 30-50 days. Even then, usually only for repeat offenders. With that in mind the number of people who complete treatment for compulsory admission is probably much much lower than for VA, but I didn’t bring stats to back that claim up.
I do also know for a fact, though, that the 2 year rate is even worse than those numbers, so rehab is more often unsuccessful regardless.
I’ve never done drugs before, but I’ve heard that once people experience being high, being sober is pretty damn depressing & unbearable, And they would rather live this miserable existence high than sober. At any cost, no matter the stakes.
I’ve literally never drank alcohol either. I mean people have asked me to try it so I’ve taken a sip and IMO it tastes disgusting like poison and I had no desire to go beyond a taste, so no I’ve never drank alcohol.
And you’re right, alcohol is not only a drug but it’s the worst drug. And it’s socially acceptable and it will never be illegal because everyone’s addicted to it.
Have you ever been given drugs at the doctor’s or dentist, like anesthesia or pain meds? It’s pretty rare that someone has never experienced an altered state of mind at some point.
The majority of people have been high before, and the majority of people are not drug addicts who find being sober horribly depressing. It’s the depression that causes the drug addiction, not the other way around - though it certainly does make it harder to recover.
Doing street drugs or abusing prescription drugs is completely different from being put under anesthesia or having a dentist numb your mouth. They’re two different animals.
Didn’t intend to suggest they were the same, only that people don’t find being sober depressing and unbearable after experiencing an altered state of consciousness once. People get “high” at the doctor’s or dentist all the time and the risk of addiction from that is all but non-existent, but if someone seeks out the same drug outside a hospital setting the risk of addiction is much higher. Why? Because drugs don’t make people addicted, they keep people addicted. People become addicted when they begin to use drugs as a maladaptive coping mechanism (typically for mental illness or environmental factors, i.e. poverty), and only then does the chemical component of addiction come into play.
I’m sorry I didn’t mean to sound argumentative.
You are making a lot of good points.
If I’m understanding you’re saying that people who have a higher risk for drug addiction could suffer from addiction after being exposed to it in a completely legal and legitimate setting (example dentist pulled your teeth and you got prescribed codeine, you liked how it numbed your emotional state, and now you want to use it to cope with your other non-related mental issues)?
No. The rehab is free.
Province is even putting people up in apartments.
Only rule is: no drugs in the apartment and you enroll in a free rehab program. 80% are turning it down willingly.
Drug addiction doesn’t work that way. Imagine if the only way to get housing was to quit smoking cold turkey. Very, very few people will succeed. Some of the homeless have tried to kick their habit and failed, so very few people would want to fail abstinence and go back on the streets.
Please don’t create straw man arguments.
I never said cold turkey or abstinence. I said “no drug use in the free apartment.”
Rehab is rarely successful, especially religious institutions, but that is no excuse for not trying to fix a very clear problem with ones self. Drug addictions work exactly like that. Either you want to change and you’re trying, or you don’t and you’re not.
Forced rehab is rarely successful. Voluntary rehab at the patient’s request is quite often successful.
I was curious what the difference was so I went searching for a study like this one and saw on Table 2 that voluntarily admitted treated individuals at the 6 month follow-up survey were only 50% abstinent for the prior 30 days compared to 24% of compulsorily admitted. However, it is true that the overdose rate for VA was much lower than CA’s 22%.
I’m not sure courts anywhere in the USA can force rehab for more than a year, some states do about 30-50 days. Even then, usually only for repeat offenders. With that in mind the number of people who complete treatment for compulsory admission is probably much much lower than for VA, but I didn’t bring stats to back that claim up.
I do also know for a fact, though, that the 2 year rate is even worse than those numbers, so rehab is more often unsuccessful regardless.
I’ve never done drugs before, but I’ve heard that once people experience being high, being sober is pretty damn depressing & unbearable, And they would rather live this miserable existence high than sober. At any cost, no matter the stakes.
Have you ever drunk alcohol? Then that means you have done drugs. Alcohol is a drug.
I’ve literally never drank alcohol either. I mean people have asked me to try it so I’ve taken a sip and IMO it tastes disgusting like poison and I had no desire to go beyond a taste, so no I’ve never drank alcohol.
And you’re right, alcohol is not only a drug but it’s the worst drug. And it’s socially acceptable and it will never be illegal because everyone’s addicted to it.
Have you ever been given drugs at the doctor’s or dentist, like anesthesia or pain meds? It’s pretty rare that someone has never experienced an altered state of mind at some point.
The majority of people have been high before, and the majority of people are not drug addicts who find being sober horribly depressing. It’s the depression that causes the drug addiction, not the other way around - though it certainly does make it harder to recover.
Doing street drugs or abusing prescription drugs is completely different from being put under anesthesia or having a dentist numb your mouth. They’re two different animals.
Didn’t intend to suggest they were the same, only that people don’t find being sober depressing and unbearable after experiencing an altered state of consciousness once. People get “high” at the doctor’s or dentist all the time and the risk of addiction from that is all but non-existent, but if someone seeks out the same drug outside a hospital setting the risk of addiction is much higher. Why? Because drugs don’t make people addicted, they keep people addicted. People become addicted when they begin to use drugs as a maladaptive coping mechanism (typically for mental illness or environmental factors, i.e. poverty), and only then does the chemical component of addiction come into play.
I’m sorry I didn’t mean to sound argumentative. You are making a lot of good points. If I’m understanding you’re saying that people who have a higher risk for drug addiction could suffer from addiction after being exposed to it in a completely legal and legitimate setting (example dentist pulled your teeth and you got prescribed codeine, you liked how it numbed your emotional state, and now you want to use it to cope with your other non-related mental issues)?
Yes, at the dentist they numbed my pain. When I was 14 I had general anesthesia for surgery. And when I gave birth I had an epidural.