Friday, September 24, 2004

Why do addicts lie?

I was having an interesting conversation with Jamie Irons over at Roger Simon's.

He said:

When I was a second year medical student I had an memorable encounter with a heroin addict. "Doc," he asked me, doing me the favor of pretending I was a real doctor already, "Do you know how to tell when an addict is lying?"

"No," I replied, honestly and innocently enough.

"His lips are moving."
Here is my reply:
Why do addicts have to lie in America?

Why did Jews have to lie in Germany?

The lying is not a function of the drugs. It is a function of the persecution. The above refrenced url goes into a study on the parallels of Jews in Germany and drug users in America.

Why do addicts lie? Because pain relief is more valuable to them than truth. Severe aversion to pain is not unknown. It is the basis of torture.

Now I do believe intervention may be able to cut months off the cycle by introducing drug reductions as the pain recedes. However, trying to get an "addict" to quit before the pain dies down is hopeless. It is in effect a form of torture. And in the places in medicine where pain is recognized, it is considered a form of malpractice to under treat pain.

Did you know that according to the latest DEA reports that it is impossible to tell those in "real pain" from the "addicts" just by their drug seeking behaviors? People in "real pain" will lie and doctor shop to get relief. Just like addicts.

The DEA pdf on pain relief.
or this faster loading review.

Stressed soldiers to be treated with cannabis

2 comments:

Jane said...

Very trenchant comment on the subject of "self-medication": severely restricting drug use for pain relief before the pain dies down is a form of torture, and, conversely, "intervention" (or, I think, self-wisdom and action) is important in order to reduce the use as the pain "dies down."

I have some personal experience with this; it is a struggle--so far ongoing, but I tend to discount all the positive things I am now doing, and have done, in life. That is good to recognize, but as yet still debilitating, in many aspects, to experience.

Unknown said...

Alcohol is legal but a drug addict makes the same excuses as an alcoholic. As someone who's seen addicts and alcoholic all his life without being one or judging them, I've seen them destroy their lives. They try their hardest to keep from getting cut off. If there is a legitimate need for the use of marijuana that's fine use marinol but anything burnt is a carcinogen. But ofcourse marinol doesn't feel as good, that's what it's about, escaping reality to keep from feeling the bumps and bruises life gives you. I've seen the paranoia the nightmares, the trouble controlling their emotions and the utter lack of will and that's true for anyone using anything that affects your brain chemistry in an uncotrolled manner. I've seen the people that go in and out of these marijuana dispensaries for hours at a time sad thing is the older they are the worse their life looks. It starts out with fresh faced kids in their mom's camry and ends up with older worn out couples fighting in their beat up hyundai over who gets more dope.The dope becomes a priority to them and anyone trying to get them clean becomes a threat to them even if it's family, a lover, or even their children leaving them alienated from their families. These people become persecuters in their mind, there in lies the real threat of addiction and why addicts lie.