I think that this topic has been on my mind a lot lately for several reasons both obvious and private. I am currently doing my practicum (internship) as a counselor at a methadone maintenance clinic in Salt Lake City. I perform all of the duties that a licensed substance abuse counselor would in this setting under the supervision of a Mental Health Therapist. I see patients for both individual and group counseling, assess, help create specific treatment plans for patients, I case manage, educate clients, keep records and notes, and consult etc. I have been enjoying this field but I am also in my infancy. As many of you may know I have been working full time in a few different youth residential treatment centers for a few years now and I am familiar with the process of treatment and feel confident and comfortable in such settings and in my role in said settings.
Many of you may also know that I have dealt with substance use, abuse, and dependence on many different levels. I have dealt with substance abuse personally, as a friend of abusers, a family member of abuser, a counselor of abusers, a mentor of abusers, on several professional treatment teams, I am studying the processes and functions on psychological, physical, and genetic levels. This being said I am not nor do I consider myself a professional as I lack accreditation and experience. I do however consider myself versed on the topic of drugs and alcohol.
Now when I, or anyone else for that matter, say the word "drugs" what usually comes to the minds of most of the general public in America is a negative association or relation to illicit drug usage, addicts, pills, needles, pipes, cigarettes, alcohol, crime, addicts, discomfort, and unease etc. That of course is an assumption, there may possibly be some of you who would first think about prescription or over-the-counter drugs, but I think it is fair to say that most people tend to automatically think about the former.
I ask you why? Why do we associate drugs with this extremely negative connotation? Are we taught to associate them or has the media invoked this association? Who is it that has taught us to carry such a negative attitude and belief about drugs? Was it God himself? Was it some prophet or professor?
Drugs date back to very ancient times. There are records and indications that drugs have been used for millennia dating back to thousands of years B.C. Drugs have been used on several facets and for several purposes through out time and continue to be used for many different purposes today. With advancement in time and technology we continue to find more and more products that have medicinal or other uses. We have been able to produce drugs that are hundreds and thousands of times more potent than is found in nature in it's original form. We have found drugs that some claim provide sacred spiritual experiences, some medicinal, some used as currency, some save lives, some take them. It seems as though man has become both dependent and afraid of drugs simultaneously.
Through out time there have been men and rulers, leaders of nations who have both condoned and condemned the use of drugs. The debate over the moral grounds of drug usage has not ceased as long as it has been recognized, with both parties strongly advocating they are either evil or a blessing. Some and possibly would say that they are both, good and evil, depending on how they are used.
I grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints who have a very strict code regarding drugs and alcohol in advocating strict abstinence from drugs and alcohol as cited in the LDS church's book of Doctrine and Covenants section 89 we are to understand that the use of coffee, tobacco, and strong alcohol are not in compliance with God's law. This selfsame section also states in verse 17 that "barely and grains used for mild drinks are useful," to me I understand this section where it says "mild drinks" made from "barely and other oats" to be in reference to what we now call beer. Beer is a distilled alcoholic beverage that is mild in comparison to the previously mentioned verses 5-7 "strong drinks' namely wine and hard alcohol i.e. whiskey, vodka, gin, rum, etc. yet the LDS church now condemns drinking even the mild drink beer despite this section of doctrine coming from God Himself implying such is okay for man to use.
Now before everyone gets up in arms about this I will admit I am a practicing mormon and try to follow the word of wisdom, but I do see this potential error in either the words of the scripture or the translation of such by modern leaders within the church. I am in NO WAY suggesting that the LDS church is false or mislead, I only intend to point out a discrepancy in it's practices and proclamations. So here we learn that alcohol and other drugs such as tobacco or caffeine (coffee) are not permitted and in fact condemned by God on moral grounds. Now this section it does not discuss specific illicit drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, or heroine etc. but according to the modern LDS church there has been a law or commandment given to it's members from it's inspired leaders that such illicit drugs are prohibited from use by it's members. Members who use such drugs are considered unworthy to practice in the gospel's fulness and are not in good standing with the church.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints has made, to my knowledge, no official statement on the use of prescription psychotropic or narcotic drugs. It is then assumed and common practice within the general population of the church that the recommended use of such drugs is appropriate under the direction of a medical professional. Many members of the church also use many over-the-counter drugs such as ibuprofen, aspirin, NyQuil, sleeping meds, dextromethorphan (benadryl), and many other drugs that can be used at an adults discrepancy. Drugs that are prescribed such as lortab, percocet, oxycodone, oxycontin, adderall, ritalin, other various amphetamines as well as anti-depressants are commonly found being used by the LDS church's members.
Now for a second I would like to talk about some of the drugs I just mentioned; the drugs prescribed by doctors that have moderate to fairly extreme reactions and effects on those who use them, namely; lortab, percocet, oxycodone, oxycontin, adderall, ritalin, and other various amphetamines. It is common knowledge that in the state of Utah, the state with the highest percentage of LDS members per capita, is found the number one highest amount of prescription drug abuse. The number one!!! Why is that you might ask? Well research has shown that LDS members are more likely to develop prescription drug addiction and abuse because of the justification that it is "morally sound". We have housewives popping amphetamines to keep up with the hustle and bustle of their daily lives. Adolescents abusing narcotics because they are a prescription legally obtained and common. Many people do not understand that taking these drugs above the recommended dosage or taking a family member's prescription for a headache or body ailment is both illegal and according to the church immoral. Many people simply deny this to themselves or avoid the thought process so they can justify getting desired results.
In my work which as I stated is a methadone maintenance clinic I think that the majority of people in the LDS church would be shocked by the amount of good active LDS church members come to be treated simply because they developed an addiction to opiates because they used, misused, abused, or grew dependent on a legal prescription such as lortab or oxycontin. SOme used their spouses prescription for pain or other desired affect and become dependent on it to the point that they faced very serious and painful withdrawal. I hope it is clear to those who are reading this if there be any that this is a problem in Utah and in LDS culture. Drugs have desirable and pleasurable effects, when the opportunity comes for many people to use them "legally" they dive at the chance often using them even after the pain is gone if they have remaining doses. I think the definition of abuse in prescription drugs is something to the effect of; using a prescribed drug in ANY WAY other than it's intended prescribed purpose. Drugs that are commonly abused are never prescribed by moral doctors for any reason other than to relieve extreme pain and discomfort, or mental health disorders that are diagnosed by professionals who were given honest and accurate answers to the questions asked in order to diagnose such disorders in the first place. Therefore it is not okay to look up what the DSM-IV states as ADHD and feed that information to your doctor such as racing thoughts, difficulty focusing, twitching etc. in effort to legally obtain a prescription like adderall or ritalin which to a person who doesn't suffer from ADHD has a similar effect to speed or crank. If a person lies to a Dr. about symptoms of pain or mental health in effort to obtain a prescription for a psychotropic, narcotic, or stimulant drug THEY ARE ABUSING IT!!!
So the question then arrises what makes a "good drug" good and a "bad drug" bad? Meaning, if a patient is prescribed oxycontin by a medical doctor for pain why is it then bad for that same patient, or any other patient in legitimate pain, to use heroine a drug derived from opium similar to that of the former? Some would argue that heroine is unsafe because we don't know everything that it was made or "cut" with, and that buying illicit drugs supports illegal activities and crime subsequently. I cannot argue with this statement, it is valid and understood. But lets say that this person is unable to afford seeing a doctor regularly to maintain a prescription for the narcotic and they likewise do not have insurance and cannot afford to pay for the prescription outright. Should this person then suffer because they don't have the same luxuries afforded to them that others have? Should this person just suffer incomprehensible pain because they can't use "the system"? There are hundreds and thousands maybe tens or hundreds of thousands of people in the world right now who live their lives in extreme pain because they either do not have the resources or the technology that would afford them relief.
Most citizens of the USA are able to take a few ibuprofen or aspirin when they get a headache or body ache. We diagnose the need for such a pain reliever ourselves, we feel a pain or an ache, we want to get rid of that pain so we go to our medicine cabinets and take 1-4 pills to alleviate the pain. It works, its reliable, its pretty easy and likewise cheap. We find that this system and convenience suits us in our daily lives and we appreciate it or take it for granted.
In the LDS church and most Christian denominations in general I believe it is considered appropriate for an individual to take this sort of action. Now, for many aches and pains a few hundred milligrams of ibuprofen will take care of the problem and allow us to go about our usual routines. However there are more severe aches and pains that no healthy amount of ibuprofen will alleviate. So we turn towards heavier, more effective, stronger drugs or substances that are more likely to work for us, only problem is we have to consult a doctor first and obtain a prescription for it, then go to the pharmacy fill the prescription and then take it. Now we knew for ourselves that ibuprofen was not sufficient to remedy the pain we were in so we did what our government tells us to do and we go through the steps previously mentioned to get what we need. A question I propose would be; if we know when to use ibuprofen for pain, and when we know it isn't enough for the amount of pain we are in, don't we then already know we need something more strong than that to take our pain away? What I mean is where is the line to be drawn between when we know what we need and when only the doctor knows what we need/what is best for us. As human beings I think we tend to be in harmony and in sync with our needs. We know when we need more and we know likewise when we don't need more and maybe we need less. The errors and mistakes doctors make everyday have to be just as often as those people make trying to medicate themselves. So why can I "prescribe" myself ibuprofen or dextromethorphan but not an opiate like lortab? I dare say both have high abuse potential (both the dextromethorphan and the lortabs anyway)
Now according to the Word of Wisdom I previously mentioned found in the LDS book entitled Doctrine and Covenants it talks about herbs and other substances being put on earth by a loving God specifically ordained for the use of man to help such similar annoyances like headaches and body pains. God created these substances to be used with "judgement and skill" as well as "prudence and thanksgiving". So essentially what this scripture says is that drugs like ibuprofen or dextromethorphan or opiates are given to us from God Himself for the purposes we have discovered them as being useful. I suppose one could argue that a doctor had judgement and skill, but then so do we in assessing when we could benefit from OTC medications. I am having a difficult time drawing the "line of morality" on this subject.
Well it has grown late and I think I have left you all enough food for thought. I am interested in your opinions and thoughts regarding what I have written so far. For my next post I will dive more into my own experiences with using drugs and alcohol, why I used them, and what I have learned. So stay tuned.
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