Why Is there no truely effective treatment for Crack misuser?!
Question:
Why Is there no truely effective treatment for Crack misuser?
I work with the addiction field and am forever angered by the lack of knowledge the so called experts have on crack misuse. There seems to be no initiatve on dealing with, and researching new treatments for Crack users. Similarly, I find the whole ethos regarding government support to give 'drugs' to drug users to help them get off drugs, bewildering to say the least. Stability from one drug, to another prescribed by the home office, is not freedom. More a change from one prison, to another with a nicer view.
Answers:
What seems not to be understood generally is that all addiction is a consequence of mental health issues, and it is those that need to be addressed. Substituting methadone for heroin is clearly crackers (a more addictive drug for one that can be relatively easily given up in terms of the physical addiction) - addiction can only be dealt with by working on the underlying issues in psychotherapy. It isn't simple even then, but it does at least make a possibility of true renunciation of addiction. Often one has to do a great deal of psychotherapeutic work before the person can give up and then the real work begins - if that isn't done, the person will just find another drug or revert to the same one again.
No-one gets addicted unless they are taking drugs to numb underlying pain. Certainly some people are more prone (for genetic/physical reasons) to addiction, but if they had been well-balanced psychologically, they wouldn't have got into drug misuse to start with.