Addiction

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swanlinnet

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If drug addiction is an illness, then is ‘society’ justified in sending to prison a person who is compelled to commit ‘crime’ by this ‘illness’.

A man, for instance, leaps from a tower block in flames. He is compelled to do so by fear. In doing so he lands upon a pedestrian and injures him. It is called by the courts a tragic accident. In other words, he is justified by the court in injuring the pedestrian.

Yet a drug addict compelled by the same impulse of fear from withdrawal goes out and breaks the law and is sent to prison .

Where does freedom of the will end and where does compulsion and, indeed, culpability begin ?

Thank you, Vince 🙂
 
swanlinnet said:
If drug addiction is an illness, then is ‘society’ justified in sending to prison a person who is compelled to commit ‘crime’ by this ‘illness’.

A man, for instance, leaps from a tower block in flames. He is compelled to do so by fear. In doing so he lands upon a pedestrian and injures him. It is called by the courts a tragic accident. In other words, he is justified by the court in injuring the pedestrian.

Yet a drug addict compelled by the same impulse of fear from withdrawal goes out and breaks the law and is sent to prison .

Where does freedom of the will end and where does compulsion and, indeed, culpability begin ?

Thank you, Vince 🙂
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It is a complicated issue and one that is not always fair to the person struggling with addiction. As a former substance abuse counselor, I have a few thoughts:
  1. In your example, the person jumping from a flaming building may not have any other choices to save his life. Withdrawal, while quite unpleasant, is not generally life threatening. Severe alcohol withdrawal is more lethal than most drugs and there are ways to reduce the discomfort and risks. Ironically, alcohol is the main legal drug in the US. Also, the people I’ve spoken to don’t generally talk about “fear” of withdrawal but more about craving the high.
  2. The person who has never been in treatment or even acknowledged a problem may be less culpable because they may not know of any alternatives to help them handle their craving.
  3. Drug addiction doesn’t usually occur in a vacuum. There are often family issues, abuse, co-occurring mental disorders and/or genetic predispositions.
  4. The choice in addictions comes in avoiding the triggers that start the use/ addiction cycle. Similar to a diabetic monitoring their diet and blood sugar levels or a person with same sex attraction avoiding acting on their impulse. Of course diabetics and ssa individuals likely won’t risk jail time if they relapse.
  5. Some states have drug court for this reason. For individuals who have no violent crimes on their record, they can opt to go through the multi-faceted program and have their record exponged if they successfully complete treatment.
I may have raised more questions than answers but that’s my $0.02.
 
Why; thank you for your answers. It was interesting reading. Thank you.

If I may add a word or two about withdrawal … first off some demonstrable syndromes emerging from a state of addiction are, as you say, ‘unpleasant’. I am sorry if I did not make a clear enough point about withdrawal for it is certain that some instances of withdrawal are fatal and excrutiating to the point of suicide. It is this experience of withdrawal…acute withdrawal…which most addicted people fear. It is like, for example, you and I who understand from our own experience we must avoid pain. For withdrawal is pain accompanied with terrible mental dread . And so to move away from pain…like the man leaping from the burning tower block…is a most rational choice.

The choice which addicted persons’ make is that long before the fatality of withdrawal visits them it is defferred through drug ingestion. In much the same way you and I would avoid the flu by protecting ourselves from developing it by using a drug, so too the addicted person avoids the terror of withdrawal by ingesting drugs. It is not euphoria they seek but, rather, a way to successfully defer the onset of withdrawal.
 
efj803 said:
It is a complicated issue and one that is not always fair to the person struggling with addiction. As a former substance abuse counselor, I have a few thoughts:
  1. In your example, the person jumping from a flaming building may not have any other choices to save his life. Withdrawal, while quite unpleasant, is not generally life threatening. Severe alcohol withdrawal is more lethal than most drugs and there are ways to reduce the discomfort and risks. Ironically, alcohol is the main legal drug in the US. Also, the people I’ve spoken to don’t generally talk about “fear” of withdrawal but more about craving the high.
  2. The person who has never been in treatment or even acknowledged a problem may be less culpable because they may not know of any alternatives to help them handle their craving.
  3. Drug addiction doesn’t usually occur in a vacuum. There are often family issues, abuse, co-occurring mental disorders and/or genetic predispositions.
  4. The choice in addictions comes in avoiding the triggers that start the use/ addiction cycle. Similar to a diabetic monitoring their diet and blood sugar levels or a person with same sex attraction avoiding acting on their impulse. Of course diabetics and ssa individuals likely won’t risk jail time if they relapse.
  5. Some states have drug court for this reason. For individuals who have no violent crimes on their record, they can opt to go through the multi-faceted program and have their record exponged if they successfully complete treatment.
I may have raised more questions than answers but that’s my $0.02.
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
You also need to take into account the fact that in legal systems, the barrier between compulsion and culpability is not generally set according to purely moral and philosophical reasoning. There is an economic driver, and someone will generally be culpable for punishment purposes when the perceived benefits of his likely punishment outweighs the perceived costs of whatever the likely punishment is.
 
swanlinnet said:
Why; thank you for your answers. It was interesting reading. Thank you.

If I may add a word or two about withdrawal … first off some demonstrable syndromes emerging from a state of addiction are, as you say, ‘unpleasant’. I am sorry if I did not make a clear enough point about withdrawal for it is certain that some instances of withdrawal are fatal and excrutiating to the point of suicide. It is this experience of withdrawal…acute withdrawal…which most addicted people fear. It is like, for example, you and I who understand from our own experience we must avoid pain. For withdrawal is pain accompanied with terrible mental dread . And so to move away from pain…like the man leaping from the burning tower block…is a most rational choice.

The choice which addicted persons’ make is that long before the fatality of withdrawal visits them it is deferred through drug ingestion. In much the same way you and I would avoid the flu by protecting ourselves from developing it by using a drug, so too the addicted person avoids the terror of withdrawal by ingesting drugs. It is not euphoria they seek but, rather, a way to successfully defer the onset of withdrawal.
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I understand the point you were making and agree to some extent. Avoiding pain and self-preservation is certainly a rational choice. I simply disagree with fear of death during withdrawal being the main motivator for drug use. The vast majority of my clients never mentioned ‘fear’ as the motivation for using. They might say they didn’t feel great but that generally wasn’t the biggest factor in their deciding to use. More often than not, it was a craving for the taste of the drug and/or the high it evokes. That is, I have never heard somebody say they used again because they were afraid the withdrawal would kill them. And, while it is true that withdrawal has the potential to be extremely difficult on a physical, mental and emotional level, it is rarely fatal for most drugs. Overdose is the bigger issue in terms of lethality. That said, maybe it’s different in certain populations like those who use heroin where the withdrawal is more intense (I primarily worked with people with methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana and alcohol addictions). For what it’s worth, the few heroin addicts I worked with never said they were afraid of dying during withdrawal. On a side note, in my experience, suicidality seems to be more prevalent in those with alcohol addiction because they are often self-medicating depression, alcohol is a depressant, and alcohol withdrawal is worse than most drug withdrawal.

Having said all of the above, culpability can still be a difficult thing to determine. As in most things, it really depends on the individual, the circumstances and the intent. People with addictions most definitely deserve our understanding, respect and prayers.
 
swanlinnet said:
Why; thank you for your answers. It was interesting reading. Thank you.

If I may add a word or two about withdrawal … first off some demonstrable syndromes emerging from a state of addiction are, as you say, ‘unpleasant’. I am sorry if I did not make a clear enough point about withdrawal for it is certain that some instances of withdrawal are fatal and excrutiating to the point of suicide. It is this experience of withdrawal…acute withdrawal…which most addicted people fear. It is like, for example, you and I who understand from our own experience we must avoid pain. For withdrawal is pain accompanied with terrible mental dread . And so to move away from pain…like the man leaping from the burning tower block…is a most rational choice.

The choice which addicted persons’ make is that long before the fatality of withdrawal visits them it is defferred through drug ingestion. In much the same way you and I would avoid the flu by protecting ourselves from developing it by using a drug, so too the addicted person avoids the terror of withdrawal by ingesting drugs. It is not euphoria they seek but, rather, a way to successfully defer the onset of withdrawal.
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As someone who went through withdrawal after 20 years of valium.

IF it is handled properly, there will be no fatality. ie a slow gradual cutting down. “cold turkey” can indeed by fatal. I knew I ran the risk of a clonic siezure. EVen with the care I took I rushed the last cuts and that resulted in excruciating episodes of atypical facial neuralgia that lasted over 15 years.

The will has to be there; the motivation and the sheer will power.

Took me a full year. The process was shades of hell. And I would find it hard, while doing all I could to help someone, to criticise them for not succeeding.

Added to which the pressure from dealers and “friends” etc is a prime cause of failure to get off drugs of any kind. People go through rehab, then come out into the same social environment they were addicted in and they fall again.

Has left me with a horror of tranx etc. I had them in the house for a thunder phobic dog at one time but never ever felt tempted.
 
Addiction is DEFINITELY a disease and needs to be recognized as such by our legal system, thankfully the medical community is starting to come around on this, but since our legal system is stuck in medieval times, they still prefer to punish.

I went thru 15+ yrs with opiate addiction, have been on suboxone for the last 2 years and have my life back thanks to this drug. I look back to decisions I made when in active use, that I would NEVER choose to do today, like taking advantage of a good friend, asking them to ‘borrow’ $100+. every other day or so, making up excuses why I needed this money, etc.

Addiction literally re-wires your mind.

The CDC really needs to take over this fight and let law enforcement get back to what they are trained to deal with, Need to change public mindset on this.
 
Mikekle …thank you for your comment. It is good to hear an empirical account rather than a theoretical one.

Some things are easier said than done and it is true how people no longer in withdrawal can so easily forget the struggle they had in addiction.

Really admire how you have overcome addiction. Suboxone must be a lifesaver.

God bless;

Sincerely,

Vince 🙂
 
Well done Rosebud. It is horrific benzodiazapine addiction.

Sincerely;

Vince 🙂
 
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