Pubdate: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2006 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n832/a09.html Author: Russell Barth Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) ROOT CAUSES OF ADDICTION MUST BE ADDRESSED Re: Been there, done that, June 25. Gerry White is described in this article as having "more often than not, a Cameo cigarette at his lips." Mr. White should be commended for quitting alcohol, but statements about addiction carry less weight when one has a cigarette in his or her mouth. Mr. White thinks that harm-reduction programs are akin to assisted suicide. Apparently his "encyclopedic knowledge" about substance-abuse programs doesn't include recent results from the NAOMI (North American Opiate Medication Initiative ) project, in which every participant was given free, clean heroin. Every participant gained weight, and every one of them stopped using street heroin and stopped committing crimes to get money. Mr. White would likely call this a "failure." Like many recovering addicts, Mr. White thinks that the cure that worked for him should be inflicted on everyone: "Those who claim that AA doesn't work simply aren't committed to following the program ... In my view, there's only one way to recover and that's to come clean." There is a lot to be said for that method, and AA works for a lot of people, so it should continue. But it is not for everyone. I have been to many AA meetings, and what I saw was a bunch of people who traded in their alcohol addiction for a cigarette, caffeine and group-hug addiction. The main problem was that the root causes of the addiction were seldom addressed. Like many other AA enthusiasts, Mr. White should follow a new maxim, which is: "OK, now shut up about it." Russell Barth, Ottawa - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman