AUTHOR: Romie DATE: 4/16/2007 10:18:00 AM ----- BODY:
A new documentary series on HBO that has been airing in recent weeks has been creating buzz about the use of medications in the treatment of drug abuse. As we announced a few months ago, this show is actually 9 short films by various directors and many are promoting the use of medications as a “cure” to handle addiction. Basically, it is stating that putting people on drugs to get them off drugs is the best course of action to take. Could this be just another way the pharmaceutical companies are seeking to increase profits? If this type of thinking becomes more accepted, unfortunately many drug abusers will remain trapped as addicts and continue to tear their lives apart. A quick fix like this for a problem that has taken time to develop can’t be effective and will prevent many people from getting effective treatment. What do you think? Should we be using drugs to get people off drugs or is this just another band-aid “cure”? Article by Eric Digg It | Reddit | Newsvine Seed Add to your bookmarks in: del.icio.us | Yahoo! | Google | Furl | ma.gnolia | Spurl

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-------- AUTHOR: Eric DATE: 2/09/2007 02:19:00 PM ----- BODY:
Three titans in the addiction treatment, prevention and recovery fields have teamed up to promote a new series called "Addiction" coming soon to HBO. Collectively, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA), Faces & Voices of Recovery and Join Together have formed a partnership to draw national attention to improve access to treatment and increase support for long-term recovery. HBO's project "Addiction" is a 14-part series that will begin March 15. Generally, this is a good thing, but one main part of their message is claiming that addiction is a brain disease, which has never been conclusively proven. While it's great that these organizations have come together to help support the overall efforts in communities nationwide, we fear that giving people the wrong impression could also have its drawbacks. One example of this is that by calling addiction a brain disease, this opens up the door for more chemical treatments, i.e., more drugs to treat a drug problem. There are hundreds of millions of dollars to be made in the pharmaceutical arm of addiction treatment, yet there has never been a drug that helps someone completely recovery. On the contrary, there are some drug-free programs that have been able to demonstrate that people can and do fully recover without relapse or any future symptoms. So which side of the fence do you sit on? That addiction is a treatable disease to be treated with more drugs, or that it is a serious problem that can be cured?

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