A reader who disagrees with my views recently posted a link and told me it was “required reading”. The link goes to a page titled “Drugs and the Brain” from the NIDA pamphlet (National Institute on Drug Abuse & Addiction) titled “Drugs, Brains, and Behavior – The Science of Addiction”. What follows is my critique… Continue reading Critique of Drugs, Brains, and Behavior or, How The NIDA Is Wasting Our Time And Money to Spread Harmful Lies
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Pharmaceutical Treatments For Addiction Contradict The Disease Theory
We’re told that addiction is a compulsion, that the addicted person essentially has no choice over their behavior, that they’re continuing to abuse substances involuntarily. This is how the experts characterize the “disease”, then they tell you that since it is a compulsion, the only hope for stopping is treatment – but then we find… Continue reading Pharmaceutical Treatments For Addiction Contradict The Disease Theory
Addiction Experts Keep Shaming Us Into Believing The Disease Theory
A few hours after making this post about the Argument From Intimidation, I found this story, A New Treatment For Narcotic Addiction by Lloyd I. Sederer MD, which was published the same day, on the Huffington Post, and served as a near perfect example of the fallacy in action. The article was pushing for public acceptance of buprenorphine as a treatment for opioid… Continue reading Addiction Experts Keep Shaming Us Into Believing The Disease Theory
The Disease Theory Argument From Intimidation
In “The Virtue of Selfishness” Ayn Rand brilliantly identified a logical fallacy in wide use today, which she called “The Argument from Intimidation”. If you don’t wholly support and endorse the disease theory of addiction, then you will undoubtedly be countered often with the Argument from Intimidation. If you’re aware that the argument isn’t really… Continue reading The Disease Theory Argument From Intimidation
News Flash: Medical Professionals Over-Think Addiction!
University of Maryland addiction researcher Clinton B McCracken PhD was arrested last year for growing marijuana plants in his home. Police found the plants while responding to a 911 call – McCracken’s fiancee and research partner died while injecting what they thought was an opiate that they’d bought online. They’d both been doing opiates for 3… Continue reading News Flash: Medical Professionals Over-Think Addiction!
Satel Reviews – ADDICTION: A DISORDER OF CHOICE
Sally Satel reviews Addiction: A Disorder of Choice by Gene M. Heyman I’ll be reading this and offering up my own review soon, but for now, here’s a few snippets of Sally’s review: In so-called contingency management experiments, subjects addicted to cocaine or heroin are rewarded with vouchers redeemable for cash, household goods, or clothes. Those… Continue reading Satel Reviews – ADDICTION: A DISORDER OF CHOICE
Is Hoarding a Disease? Parallels With Addiction
I love watching the show Hoarders as much as I love watching Intervention. But both are based on the idea that these types of behavior are the result of diseases – and by disseminating this view they may be causing more harm than good. Unfortunately, substance abusers are already doomed – the idea that their… Continue reading Is Hoarding a Disease? Parallels With Addiction