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A 2001 article by Reuters said the following:

In a petition to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the signatories said the US war on drugs was “not a war on plants and chemicals, but on citizens and other human beings who all too often are members of racial and ethnic minorities.”

Whites use as many drugs as Latinos and African Americans.

But among those incarcerated for drug offenses in the United States, 57 percent are black and 22 percent are Hispanic — partly because the drugs they use, such as “crack” cocaine carry tougher sentences, the letter said.

“The war on drugs is rooted in racial bias,” it charged.

I am very familiar with the line “partly because the drugs they use, such as “crack” cocaine carry tougher sentences.”  I read in a new edition of the Text book, Social Problems by D. Stanley Eitzen, Maxine Baca Zinn, and Kelly E. Eitzen Smith, the same line, almost verbatim.  This, however, is specious thinking.  Search for the words “crack laws” and you will get a litany of sites that read such things as:Crack Cocaine Sentencing Policy: Unjustified and Unreasonable, and Crack laws have been challenged on several levels as “cruel and unusual” and racially biased.

The point is missed.  If anything these laws are the polar opposite of racist.  Crack was destroying the inner cities in the mid 80’s to mid 90’s.

Between 1984 and 1994, the homicide rate for black males aged 14 to 17 more than doubled, and the homicide rate for black males aged 18 to 24 increased nearly as much. During this period, the black community also experienced an increase in fetal death rates, low birth-weight babies, weapons arrests, and the number of children in foster care.” ⁽source: How bad was Crack Cocaine? The Economics of an Illicit Drug Market. Researched by Steven D. Levitt and Kevin M. Murphy )

When lawmakers saw figures like those above they tried to stop it, the only way they could:stricter laws.  College professors will attempt to redirect the weak minds of students, but if you take two seconds to ask “why,” you will see the truth.  The problem is most people don’t ask “why.”  They see larger numbers of minorities in jail for drug offenses and claim racism…if only they took a second to think about why those laws were enacted (think again about the 50% increase in homicides,) they might think “it’s not racist to want people to stop killing each other.”

For more information about drug and alcohol recovery, contact Mark Houston Recovery today!

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*Note: This is a guest post written by one of our readers, Carl-Peters. For more information on how to submit a guest post, please send an email to Janelle [at] unlimitedwebsolutions [dot] com or see our guidelines for guest posting.

You’ve recognized that you or someone you care about needs help. So let’s look at the treatment options for drug addiction and alcoholism addiction treatment.

I believe that rehab or a professional in-patient treatment program should always be your first choice, where you will spend typically 3-6 weeks in treatment getting clean and sober (length of stay can vary depending on where you go). A focused in-patient treatment program that utilizes intensive therapy and counseling, etc. will not only help you detox; it will help you deal with a lot of the ‘baggage‘ that you carry, which causes you to drink or use drugs.

To get the level of intensive treatment and car you need is so much harder without going to a rehab or in-patient treatment program. How you stay clean and sober successfully after treatment is even more important. Therefore, a good rehab center will also prepare you for that while you’re there.

Don’t let thinking that rehab or treatment is unaffordable stop you. Yes, you hear the names of expensive rehab centers that the rich and famous go to -ones that you read about in magazines- but there are many different types. A lot of treatment centers are government subsidized; so whatever your financial position, make sure you do your research because I’m sure you will find an option that makes it possible for you to go.

Rehab would always be my first choice, but what other options have you got? You could look at Addiction and Alcoholism self-help methods. By working on yourself emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually, you have the ability to transform your life. I don’t have space for specifics here (feel free to visit my website for that), but I would still recommend proper treatment first because going it alone is just so much harder.

Alternative alcoholism treatment and addiction treatment options are becoming increasingly popular. I definitely think that there is a place for alternative alcoholism and addiction treatment, but I would recommend using these in conjunction with a more mainstream or traditional way, especially to begin with at least- because it is much harder doing it without the help of addiction treatment professionals.

So, as far as alcoholism addiction treatment and treatment for drug addiction goes, try to get yourself into a rehab or treatment center first and foremost. Addiction and alcoholism self-help methods and things like alternative alcoholism treatments do have a role to play; but try too give yourself the best possible chance of recovery by going into an in-patient program first.

About Carl-Peters (C-P): Having spent years suffering from and trying to overcome his own addictions, C-P has dedicated himself to providing you with useful and easy to use information on alcoholism and drug addiction on his website - so that your journey is hopefully that much easier.

Download your FREE Book (Addiction Uncovered) by visiting Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Help - and for further addiction treatment info visit Alcoholism Addiction Treatment.

[photo credit: Todd Huffman]

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The following was sent in by one of our readers, written in response to Save Money by Decriminalizing Drugs

I am excited about the move forward to recognizing the fact that most addicts, once the addiction is removed would not be in the “system”. So it makes sense to be moving to working on getting them HELP rather than putting them in prison. A majority of the people sitting in jails now could be helped. The idea of drug court is a real win/win situation. The addict is getting the help they need and the community is gaining a productive, participating member. States were thinking that big sentences were the answer. What exactly does that accomplish? We need to do something because the current system IS NOT WORKING as evidenced by the fact that jails are full to overflowing and the majority of them are from drug offenses.

We need to start recognizing and educating our communities about addiction, what it REALLY takes to get out of it and that most of the programs that are in place will need to be advanced to accomodate the new drugs that are being used. The current programs are lacking in substance and their length of treatment time. When 90% of all the people who use Methamphetamine for the 1st time become addicted, we need to do something different. Research shows that it takes someone addicted to meth approximatley 24 months before the control centers in their brains are back to “normal”. This means that 30 and 60 day programs, while they are better than nothing are not really touching the problem. I have, unfortunately, seen this first hand with a family member and I can tell you that as much as he wanted to quit, the 30 and 60 day programs just didn’t give him all that he needed to make that happen. They are kind of left hanging. They walk out of the program saying O.K. where do I go from here and unless they have a great deal of support (which most don’t), they will have difficulty making it stick. It isn’t just a matter of saying I’m done. While that is extremely important, it is much more than that when it comes to meth. The “Just Say No” thinking is great BEFORE you get started using. Once you have left the Use and moved to the Abuse and then on to Addiction, the “just say no” is lost. With Meth 90% of the people who have used it once go from USE and go directly through the ABUSE stage into ADDICTION. we need a better answer.

I hope that we all start to see how much better things can be when we work to assist those addicted to these substances get help, bring their families back together and allow them to move forward in their lives clean and healthy. When we begin to understand that it does get to a point of them NOT being in control, then we can begin to see how very critical getting that assistance to them is. There will be some who will not stop no matter what, but the majority are often crying out for help at the same time they are trying to find their next hit. It doesn’t make logical sense and we have to stop putting that logic into it and just understand what is.

This is a great first step. The next one would be to get more Therapeutic Communities for Rehabilitation. They would be cheaper than jails and accomplish a whole lot more. These are set up to get a person really ready to face the world outside of addiction. The participants must work to stay in the program as that is how they pay to go. They are taught marketable skills and given opportunities to get set up to actually be able to function in the communities they are from. They receive counseling, behavior modification, group sessions, AA/NA meetings and other activities that put them in a good position to live thier lives without drugs. To be able to move forward and be the person they were truly meant to be.

-Tammy Forbes-

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I have been somewhat fascinated by the untimely death of Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley.  My first remembrance of him is actually my brother’s ex-girlfriend saying something to the effect of, “oh my God, he is so hot.”  Her position seems odd and ironic looking back on it.  At the time he was at the height of his musical career, but now, more then a decade later, he is simply dead.

Staley developed drug addictions that became worse over time.  He even became something of a recluse after his girlfriend died as a result of her own drug addictions.  Here is a man who at one moment is on the top of the music industry and the next moment on a suicide watch.  The man that my brother’s ex once described as “so hot” grew frail and spent his days alone.  By the time of his death he weighed less then 100 lbs. and had lost teeth.  MTV has excerpts from Staley’s final interview that read quite tragically:

“I know I’m dying,” he rasped through missing teeth. “I’m not doing well. Don’t try to talk about this to my sister Liz. She will know it sooner or later.”

“This f—ing drug use is like the insulin a diabetic needs to survive,” he said. “I’m not using drugs to get high like many people think. I know I made a big mistake when I started using this sh–. It’s a very difficult thing to explain. My liver is not functioning and I’m throwing up all the time and sh—ing my pants. The pain is more than you can handle. It’s the worst pain in the world. Dope sick hurts the entire body.”

People still go to see Staley’s band.  They have replaced him.  The man that had all the things every person wants as a kid: fame, money, talent, respect, threw it all away.  Perhaps the saddest part is that he knew it.  His final interview has the macabre lament:

“I know I’m near death.  I did crack and heroin for years. I never wanted to end my life this way. I know I have no chance. It’s too late. I never wanted [the public's] thumbs’ up about this f—ing drug use. Don’t try to contact any AIC (Alice in Chains) members. They are not my friends.”

If only he had sought treatment instead of shutting himself off from the world.

For more information about drug and alcohol recovery, contact Mark Houston Recovery today.

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How many newspapers do you think have Amy Winehouse’s obituary ready to go, and on tap at all times? Don’t try to answer, it’s a rhetorical question, I’m sure the answer is “all of them.” The question seems to be more, “when,” rather than “if.” My assertion comes on the heels of recent speculation that the British songstress may be suffering from brain damage from her frequent drug use.

The U.K.’s Daily Mail has even reported that Winehouse “displayed symptoms normally associated with schizophrenia,” and has been warned that if she overdoses one more time, it may be her last.” None of this comes as a big surprise, but rather we are left to wonder why someone with a great deal of talent, money, and fame would drive themselves to drug related brain damage. The sad fact is that Winehouse is one in a long line of singers that slowly killed themselves with drugs. Her story reminds me of the often quoted “those who forget the past are bound to repeat it.” She’s about to turn 25, and must know that Hendrix, Cobain, Morrison, and Janis Joplin only made it 2 more years.

The Boston Herald reported in a recent article that:

The “Rehab” soul siren has overdosed twice in the past 12 months and her excessive drug use may have caught up with her. In August 2007 she went to the hospital after a binge on crystal meth, heroin and cocaine. In July, Winehouse was hospitalized again after reportedly smoking marijuana for a straight 36 hours.

Where do we see this story ending. With any luck, and more likely, with a great deal of rehab, she won’t join the 27 club.

For more information about drug and alcohol recovery, contact Mark Houston Recovery today!

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Addiction has many faces. It’s most recent:Agent Mulder. Yes it’s true, like many celebrities before him, David Duchovny is struggling with addiction. The ironic twist is that Duchovny’s addiction doesn’t come in a bottle, a pill, or in a needle: Duchovny is a sex addict.

Apparently the actor has had a long history with sex addition, he has even hinted about it publicly in the past. The actor was interviewed months before his recent stint in rehab as saying: “Twelve years ago, I would have been hard-pressed to understand why I’d want to be involved sexually with one person this long.” He further declared: “There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging the panoply of life’s rich experience. You can’t control your mind. Why would you want to? You can’t feel guilty about being alive, about being a man, about feeling attracted. You can only control your actions.”

Apparently Duchovny has hit some sort of low point and finally decided to check himself in to a rehabilitation facility. A sex addiction seems almost too odd and funny to be true, but it just goes to show that pleasure in all forms can be addictive. If you have the tendencies of an addictive personality all things bear the possibility of becoming less a pleasure and more of a burden. The best medicine is always prevention, but if it is too late the next best thing seems to be support sought in the form of professional recovery programs.

For more information about drug and alcohol recovery, contact Mark Houston Recovery today!

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How many advertisements are you bombarded with on a daily basis for prescription drugs?  Certainly the onslaught of advertisements cannot be helping the prices of these drugs go down, but all that advertising must be helping people discover drugs that will change their life, right?  Well, it doesn’t appear that way.  According to a recent Reuters article, the $3 billion that was spent in 2005 to advertise drugs made little impact on the amount of prescriptions filled.

“A person needs to see an ad, get motivated by that ad, contact their doctor for an appointment, show up at the appointment, communicate both the condition and the drug to the doctor, convince the doctor that this drug is preferable to other alternatives, then actually go out and fill the prescription. This is a chain of events that can break at any point.”

This according to Stephen Soumerai of Harvard Medical School.  Though tv advertisement campaigns did result in sale spikes for some drugs, the overall effect in regard to sales seems to be minimal.  This begs the question; “why not save some of that advertisement money and use it to bring down the cost of drugs?”  This could also have the fringe benefit of drawing less people into the web of a drug they may not need.  That in turn would lead to less lawsuits brought by people who didn’t need to be on a drug in the first place.  Doctors are fallible, and patients can mis-self-diagnose.  Maybe less advertising could be a break in the chain.

For more information about drug and alcohol recovery, contact Mark Houston Recovery today!

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Normally, when you think of people who are suicidal, your mind will not immediately correlate such people with sore eyes and a runny nose.  Your views may soon change.  The FDA is currently reviewing certain prescription drugs because there is some reason to believe that their use will increase suicidal thoughts.  Some of the drugs in question are for ailments that one might not at first expect.  Singulair, for instance, has been linked to the suicide of an otherwise normal 15 year-old from upstate New York.  The boy, Cody Miller, started to develop severe mood swings after using Singulair, and eventually hung himself in a closet in his family’s home.

Miller’s death is only one in a string of suicides that might have roots in prescription drugs.  People within the medical community remain skeptical however.  A doctor for Merc, Dr. Alan Ezekowitz, reportedly said the following in regard to Miller’s death:

“Singulair is a really effective drug that has been on the market 10 years and has been taken by millions of patients.  In over 40 placebo-controlled trials, no reports of suicide in Singulair-treated groups have been found.”

Regardless of what the drug companies may be saying, the FDA has decided to step in and take a closer look at suicides which may have resulted from prescription drug use.  The initial results of a FDA probe showed only a slight increase in suicidal thoughts among a group of 1,000 patients.  Hopefully the FDA will sort out the problem and determine which drugs may not be safe.

For more information about drug and alcohol recovery, contact Mark Houston Recovery today!

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*Note: This is a guest post written by one of our readers, Carl-Peters. For more information on how to submit a guest post, please send an email to Janelle [at] unlimitedwebsolutions [dot] com or see our guidelines for guest posting.

Do you ask yourself the questions, ‘what is alcoholism or what is drug addiction really?’ because you really want to understand the nature of addiction?

If you are one of those people, hopefully, I can help. You need to understand that alcoholism and drug addiction can be quite complex to get a handle on. To really understand them in depth, you would need to know the causes of alcoholism and drug addiction, whether drug addiction and alcoholism is a disease, and whether or not drug addiction and alcoholism are hereditary and so on.

It helps to know all of that, but I want to take it all a step further back- deeper if you like, so that you really get it. Having an alcoholic or drug addict parent who has passed down the addiction gene to you may increase your chances of going the same way, or you may simply find the stresses of life getting you down- so alcohol or drugs have become your comfort; but there is still (fundamentally) a deeper reason at play.

An emptiness and lack of wholeness are what I believe are the underlying reasons you use drugs or alcohol. I know the feeling because I’ve been there. You wonder what your purpose is, you feel disconnected from people- from life.

MD, Andrew Weil, explains it excellently in his book called Natural Health, Natural Medicine. He says that addiction is NOT a pharmacological or psychological problem and cannot be solved by these methods. Rather, it is he says, a Spiritual concern at root because it represents a misdirected attempt to experience completeness, inner satisfaction and wholeness.

So if you really question, what is alcoholism and what is drug addiction? Know that they are, in essence, a Spiritual ‘problem’ first and foremost; and by keeping that in mind you will go a long way to overcoming them successfully.

About Carl-Peters (C-P): Having spent years suffering from and trying to overcome his own addictions, C-P has dedicated himself to providing you with useful and easy to use information on alcoholism and drug addiction on his website - so that your journey is hopefully that much easier.

For info and advice on overcoming your addictions, visit Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Help and to understand the nature of addiction, go to What is Alcoholism and What is Drug Addiction.

[photo credit]

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In 2007 Ryan O’Neal stared in the movie “Waste Land.”  Add an “d” to the end of that first word and you basically have the actors life summed up in a title.  On Wednesday the actor and his son were arrested from their Malibu home after a search of the home turned up methamphetamine in both Ryan and Redmond O’Neal’s rooms.  The search was part of a probation case involving Redmond O’Neal.  Reuters is reporting:

Redmond O’Neal pleaded guilty in June to driving under the influence and possession of heroin and methamphetamine, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office. He avoided time in prison in exchange for starting a drug treatment program and was sentenced to three years’ probation.

Both actor and son are currently out on $10,000 bail.  The O’Neal family has a checkered history with drug addiction.  If you remember back to June, Ryan’s daughter Tatum was arrested for buying cocaine.  When confronted by officers who found two bags of the drug on her, Tatum famously quipped “do you know who I am,” and my personal favorite “I’m doing research for a role.”  The sad truth is that the O’Neal clan suffers from an obvious addiction problem.  Ryan and Tatum have gone from her youngest ever Oscar winning performance in “Paper Moon” to being busted with cocaine and meth.  Tatum immediately talked the “I”m grateful I was busted” talk, as for Ryan it remains to be seen if gratitude, rehab, or a prison cell await him.

For more information about drug and alcohol recovery, contact Mark Houston Recovery today!

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