Is Abstinence Always the Right Goal for Addicts?
Addiction is a life-long process, shouldn’t treatment be as well?
Despite showering daily and brushing my teeth at least twice-a-day, I’m not clean. Nor do I aim to be. How I came to use Suboxone (buprenorphine) is a tale told by an idiot readers can find in greater detail here. The short version is that from a very early age I was given all sorts of meds—some heavy anti-psychotics, others controlled substances. Why will forever remain a mystery because my mother, who managed such things, passed away in ’74, and the prescribers are long since gone as well.
If I had to guess I showed signs of ADD, which along with me having been adopted, probably freaked my folks out, and they cast about for the right pill.
More on how my early years as an experimental lab rat led to reasonable contentment with Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) later.
Society views abstinence as the cure for many ills—unplanned pregnancy, STDs, AIDS, drug addiction, alcoholism, obesity, gambling, to name a few. Even if you’ve never tasted alcohol, you can take the Pledge; if you’re a virgin religious-based sex education urges you to remain so.
Abstinence is both the treatment and the goal of drug addiction and alcoholism. Temperance has deep roots in…
