
She spent more than $110k on drug rehab. Her son still died - laurex
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/3/20750587/rehab-drug-addiction-treatment-sean-blake-opioid-epidemic
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vkou
Anecdote:

A friend of mine's wife is addicted to pain medication.

She was prescribed it by a doctor for years (issues related to a condition she
needed serious brain surgery for.) She started getting concerned that she was
getting addicted to it, and went to her doctor to try to figure out a
solution.

As soon as he heard that she was having issues with it, he cut her off, cold
turkey, and marked her down as drug-seeking. Brilliant.

She's since been on black market oxy for years, managed to quit, and, most
recently, relapsed. They are no longer on speaking terms.

------
algaeontoast
Well, as horrible as it sounds, rehab programs don't come with customer
satisfaction guarantees.

I feel for the family, but unfortunately there's nothing you can "buy" that
can change someone's state of mind or being. Those who want to harm themselves
and don't want help will reach their own demise on their terms. Some will even
manipulate the feelings of those who love them in order to continue a damaging
and deadly habit.

I wouldn't be surprised if Vox published an article titled "She couldn't get
together $110k. Her son still died" or "Her son didn't want help. He died
because of $110k". These kinds of articles are journalistic hack jobs that
don't inform or help the issue of addiction and mental health.

~~~
vkou
> I feel for the family, but unfortunately there's nothing you can "buy" that
> can change someone's state of mind or being.

This is news to the medical profession. As it turns out, there _are_ things
that you can buy to change someone's state of mind. Methadone, for one. Of
course, because we don't treat drugs as a medical issue - and instead as a
moral issue, lots of people who would benefit from it can't get it.

> Those who want to harm themselves and don't want help will reach their own
> demise on their terms.

Ah, right, those degenerates _want_ to harm themselves. /s

Way to oversimplify addiction. This is the sort of thing that leads to toxic
ideas, like "Oh, getting people off street heroin, and onto prescription
methadone isn't any better - its just replacing one drug for another! Never
mind that one of them will kill you, and turns you into a junkie only worried
about the next fix, and the other lets you remain a productive member of
society..."

~~~
algaeontoast
I see your perspective, but doubt you've lived in a place where drug addicts
or mentally ill addicts are present enough to notice them or sympathize.

When speaking with addicts at my front door in Boston I've found that many of
them refuse food stamps or have explicitly told me they do not want help. This
is from conversation directly with those in need and struggling addicts.

If you have done the same, I warrant your criticism. Otherwise, you should
consider whether your perspective is really as valid as you believe it to be
:)

~~~
vkou
I am surrounded by functioning drug addicts, as is anyone who has ever lived
in a city is. >10% of Americans regularly use illegal drugs, and >60% of
Americans regularly use alcohol. There's also some non-trivial amount that are
addicted to prescription drugs.

The typical addict is not the hobo sleeping behind my dumpsters. The typical
addict is a middle-aged soccer mom. That soccer mom is the reason why all of a
sudden, America's in the middle of a drug panic - because people like her have
started overdosing.

------
dagnysdildo
Bruce K. Alexander's rat park experiments suggest that even when a person
isn't struggling with a diagnosible condition like bipolar disorder they can
still become "bonded" (or "addicted" if you insist) if they can't bond in a
satisfactory (for them) manner to anybody or anything else.

[http://www.brucekalexander.com/articles-speeches/rat-
park/14...](http://www.brucekalexander.com/articles-speeches/rat-
park/148-addiction-the-view-from-rat-park)

Maybe drugs aren't the problem. Maybe modern life isn't worth living for a
significant percentage of the population, and they're bonding with drugs for
want of a better coping mechanism?

How many lonely people do you know? How many of them cope using food, sex,
video games, work, etc? It isn't just drugs. We're all prisoners, we don't
know how to break free (or are afraid to do so) so we settle for copping a fix
of whatever will stop the screams inside our heads for a little while.

