A blog reader recently sent me a link to a very interesting website for a non profit organization called the Prevention Coalition. It contains a vast amount of resources for parents of high risk teens and an interesting article from the U.S. surgeon general about addiction.
Prevention is one of the four pillars that get's cast aside and overshadowed by the harm reduction obsession. Another relevant link is to a website known as Drug and Alcohol Treatment. Treatment is another one of the four pillars that gets overshadowed by harm promotion.
"With the legalization of marijuana in many U.S. states and the overall prevalence of drug use in many communities, it can seem as if substance abuse is becoming a national norm. At the Prevention Coalition, we’re fighting that sense of complacency. We believe that every child and young adult deserves the opportunity to make a fully educated decision on drug use."
The new report on addiction from the US surgeon general states: "More people use prescription opioids than use tobacco. There are more people with substance abuse disorders than people with cancer. One in five Americans binge drink. And substance abuse disorders cost the U.S. more than $420 billion a year." This ties into the pharmaceutical scam Macklemore sang about.
I wonder how the U.S.A. stacks up against E.U. countries or Japan and China in terms of these issues.
ReplyDeletePeople are willing to admit to cancer and we fund raise for it regularly. With substance abuse not so much. the stigma needs to disappear before much will change. Society has accepted many physical diseases, but mental not so much. It been a thing of pull yourself together, if they used some self control, its their choice, et.
C.B.C. news has an interesting article up about the high rates of suicide by men over 50 and they're trying to figure out why. I'd suggest first men try to deal with their issues via substance abuse and then suicide.
In a transient society frequently people having new friends every time they move, no one really ever remembers the "original" person. with less family contact, families don't see the problems either.
Simply society needs to educate people starting in elementary school and continue through out the years in school. schools teach computer literary, and all sorts of other subjects but they don't put much emphasis on substance abuse literary. Might be time society did.
Part of the issue maybe that the use of drugs is more acceptable, but opoids which come from doctors when they ought not to is a problem. part of that problem stems from the lack of education doctors receive on drugs while in medical school. They are then bombarded with drug company reps who do wonderful sell jobs. Doctors, frequently, not having the time to upgrade/date themselves on new drugs rely on the reps for information. Many occupations require regular re testing and upgrading courses, physicians, not so much.
For many, drugs are easier and less expensive than going to see a psychologist and or a psychiatrist. If you're in the U.S.A. both can be very expensive. In B.C. if your G.P. refers you to a psychiatrist its part of the medical plan. If you go to a psychologist, you're paying up to $200 an hr.
For teens at risk, it might be money saver, if the provincial government put more money into the school system so that school boards could hire shrinks of both kinds. There are programs available in the lower grades, but in high school I've always had the impression they aren't.
Families need to take the initiative, that if their parents or grandparents had substance abuse issues that they educate their children on the subject and let them know they maybe more susceptible to becoming addicted.
As the economy changes and work becomes less available, we as a society need to determine what success is and work out why people abuse substances and then try to provide children with a better road map for life.
https://www.castanet.net/news/Vernon/192778/Vernon-death-gang-related
ReplyDeleteWow thanks for the link.
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