An Essay On “Addiction”

Date : 11-01-01

A statistic about high school seniors show that fifty-three percent of them are
getting drunk at least once a month, forty-three percent are smoking marijuana and thirty-
six percent are smoking cigarettes. Alcohol abuse costs the country “a staggering” one
hundred and eighty five billion dollars and forty billion dollars are spent every year on
drug war. Addiction is certainly an epidemic that is plaguing our society today. But
addicts are people who are among every one of us, living in a society or as a nation to
deal with social problems such as addiction. However, each one of us as individuals can
make positive difference – addict or not – by attempting to take responsibility for our
own personal transformations. It is individuals who make a society or a nation. Hence,
perhaps our attempt to see an addiction-free society could be achieved by each one of us
first experiencing it in our individual lives.

There are several reasons such as physical, psychological or sociological,

attributed to the problem of addiction but addiction “has to do something fundamental in
human beings, and touches on the search for meaning that tends to define what it is to be
human in the first place” says Francis Seeburger, author of “Addiction and
Responsibility”. While many of us apparently struggle to find a meaning for our lives in a
materialistic society, “it is addicts among us who are most in rebellion against the
materialism in our society” mentions Seeburger. In the movie, “Traffic” the sixteen year
old Caroline seems to struggle to find for herself a place in the society as she says, “I am
angry” and don’t know why! Perhaps this helplessness has come from a false sense of
self that we gain from the culture that has achieved externally so much from the industrial
and technological revolutions. It is perhaps to fulfill this sense of despair that a large
number of people among us seek substances that give a “surge of energy”, atleast
temporarily fulfilling us.

While several methods – from criminalization and prohibitions of substance use

to medication and treatment through counseling and therapies – have been adopted to
handle the problem of addiction, Steven Duke – author of “America’s longest war :
rethinking our crusade against drugs” – insists that “a dollar spent on drug treatment is
seven times as effective as a dollar spent on interdiction.” This is the tendency that is
catching up in schools too points out Karen Springer in her article, “Rethinking Zero
Tolerance”. She says, schools are moving “toward a two-track system of discipline and
treatment as the students are not expelled in a few schools but that they receive
counseling and support while they are suspended”.

“When people are unable to experience the feeling of connection and community
in healing ways, they will often find ways that are dark and destructive” says not the
scripture but science. Dean Ornish, scientist and author of “Love and Survival” provides
the scientific evidences that love and intimacy are essential for our health as well as for
our very survival as human-beings. This aspect of life-experience belongs to each one of
us. We were left with hope for Caroline in “Traffic” only when her parents significantly
attempted to connect with her. It was essential that the parents themselves undergo a
transformation in order to save their daughter’s life. When the channels inside us begin to
open for “improving relationships with people, places and things”, we begin to discover
the reasons to find a place in our society and thereby help others find themselves
similarly.

In order to avoid giving up ourselves tragically to addictions, it is necessary that

we have a fundamental outlook on life at every stage in our lives. Geoffrey Cowley
writes, in his article, “Fighting addiction” the story of Colin Martinez who stayed “free of
drugs” after using it for several years. What Colin Martinez says about him and his life is
this: “I have friends and a job, and I like who I am”. Perhaps it takes a tragic phase in our
lives to be experienced, such as through addiction. But the sense of fulfillment or the
sense of self or whatever we might choose to express its essence, is what is required in all
of us. We have to learn to give ourselves permission to choose the most positive
experience in each moment as Gary Zukav says in his book, “The Seat of the Soul”. It is
an attempt that each one of us should make in our lives if we are to prevent the problems
such as addiction from controlling our society.

To have a fulfilling experience, we have to create access around us to see the way
others experience their lives. Therapy, counseling and treatments like ‘Alcoholic
Anonymous’ create a positive experience for the addicted people among us. But
connecting with our families and friends, neighbors and communities, is one of the
primary experiences that we have to bring to our daily lives. What therapies and
counseling offer are what we need in our everyday life. It is said that people get addicted
or relapse into addiction for a primary reason such as stress, loneliness and isolation. So
we have to create opportunities for ourselves to reach out to others and allow ourselves
experience life its fullest.

While the developments of attitudes to experience love and connection is an

effective way that we handle addiction, the challenge lies in balancing our experiences.
Dean Ornish says that we have seen our society swing its “pendulum” to the farthest
extent of “mechanism”, “determinism” and “physicalism” and now there is evidence that
there is hunger for nourishment and spirituality in all aspects of our lives. As he says, we
have to create a balance to carefully avoid swinging the “pendulum” to its other extreme,
by valuing “reason and intellect” as much as “intuition and spirituality”. It is apparent
that “reason and intellect” plays a crucial role in treating the problem of addiction as we
see effective treatments coming on the rise mainly through analysis and intellectual
experimentation.

As we take responsibility as a society and nation to overcome the problem of

addiction, changes such as in “social activities, roles and beliefs” is certainly bringing
down the rate of substance abuse according to the book, “The Decline of Substance Use
in Young Adulthood”. While this fact leaves us with hope, Colin Martinez’s realization on
the nature of life after his recovery, is a journey that is reserved for all of us and not just
recovering addicts. This is the change that is required to reverse the phenomenal issue of
addiction as well as the other social crisis that may be existing in our society and culture.