Opiate Addiction: A Disease Like Any Other
The other day we started this discussion about the misconceptions that people hold about drug addiction and especially opiate addiction as well as the people who are struggling with the disease. Today, I want to talk about the concept of addiction as a medical disease: one that is legitimate. One that can be treated.
Opiate Addiction is a Disease
Drug addicts are thought of as lawless, reckless, selfish criminals who don’t care for anyone other than themselves. This perception is sad, but even sadder is how common it is. Very few people recognize that drug addiction is really a disease, just like any other. It has a cause, it has symptoms, and it has a treatment if not a cure. But the treatment for drug addiction is very often kept from the hands of those who need it most due to public misconception and hastily constructed laws from the early 1900’s that are still on the books.
The Drug Laws that Bind
Back in 1973, President Nixon formed the Drug Enforcement Agency, the same year that the Methadone Control Act was introduced. Methadone, a synthetic opiate, had been used since 1963 to help those struggling with opiate addiction. Methadone had a unique property that meant it only had to be introduced into the system once every 24 hours, instead of once every four to six hours like heroin. In the minds of medical professionals, this helped patients stay off of heroin and stay away from crime, since they no longer needed to find ways to pay for an expensive heroin habit. Sadly, the Methadone Control Act completely changed how doctors could prescribe methadone, making it much more difficult for those who needed it for opiate addiction treatment as opposed to pain management to receive the drug. While it is still possible to get methadone, it is highly regulated and there are many rules and regulations that make it more difficult for some to receive the doses they need to stay clean.
What’s the Problem Here?
This is just one example of how drug addiction is misunderstood. With other diseases, like heart disease or diabetes, treatment options that work are not held under tight guard. Doctors are allowed to prescribe insulin to diabetes patients, but what if they weren’t? What if insulin prescriptions were as tightly controlled as methadone? Sadly, this type of scenario might have to take place in order to help the public understand the true nature of addiction, but it’s one that I dearly hope won’t have to happen. Drug addiction is just a disease, and like any other disease, treatments should be available on an as-needed basis without having to jump through hoops and stand in lines to make it happen.
There is a Solution
Thankfully, Suboxone and Subutex, both buprenorphine-based drugs FDA-approved for nothing but opiate addiction treatment, are available through a doctor’s office just like the prescriptions that most likely caused the addiction in the first place.
Have you ever thought about drug addiction in these terms? What do you think about the comparison of drug addiction to other diseases like diabetes?
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