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Abstinence Works Best
Pubdate: Thu, 15 Aug 2019
Source: Daily Courier, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2019 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
Contact: http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/531
Author: Joe Fries
ABSTINENCE WORKS BEST
More than half of all Canadians believe drug treatment should focus on
abstinence, rather than opioid replacement therapies, according to
poll results released this week.
Research Co. found 57% of those surveyed were in favour of programs
that aim to get people off drugs entirely, rather than programs that
supply people with free dope to help keep them healthy and out of trouble.
It's unclear from the results if people's attitudes towards drug
treatment are shifting, but it's clear that a majority of the
population supports an approach that doesn't enable addicts.
Such an approach was highlighted in the documentary "Seattle is
Dying," which was produced by KOMO News and had been viewed 4.7
million times on YouTube as of Thursday.
After showing how harm-reduction programs have run amok in Seattle,
the reporter takes viewers to Providence, Rhode Island, where a
groundbreaking program has real promise.
It begins in jails, where inmates with opioid addictions are given one
of three types of medication - one is methadone, the other two are not
opioids - plus access to counsellors, recovery coaches and other forms
of therapy to treat the problems underlying their drug use.
That dedicated help, which also includes job training, remains in
place when the offenders are back on the streets and most likely to
relapse.
The documentary also suggests a former prison on McNeil Island, near
Seattle, would provide an ideal setting for such a program that would
be more akin to a mental hospital than a jail.
It's an idea that merits consideration on this side of the border,
too.
As we reported today, the one million needles ordered into the
Okanagan by Interior Health in the past 18 months, if laid end to end,
would stretch from Kelowna to Panama and back again.
That's mind boggling.
What's easier to understand is that addiction is a disease. And you
don't treat a disease by feeding it.
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MAP posted-by: Matt