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The tragedy of drug
addiction CAN be solved.
Thousands of former
heroin addicts are
turning to a better
" high" - through a
new lifestyle.
by
Gary Alexander
"FORMER"
heroin addicts are still a
rarity today. Most who take
up the needle die by thc
nccdlc. Lifc expectancy for young her–
oin addicts is a mere 30 years.
But in the last five years, the nwnber
of successfully rehabilitated addicts has
dramatically increased. In dozens of
mini -societies and "communiversities"
across the United States, a dedicated
cadre of ex-addicts is in the business of
making other junkies into ex-addicts as
well. And they're
Jttcceeding
-
whcre
cstablishcd institutions have failed.
Attacking the Cause
Most citizens imagine that "if we just
stop those
p11Jhen,
then drug addiction
would stop." Tbat may temporarily stop
the supply but it will not change the
attitudes of the users - those who
demand
drugs. The
demand
must be
dirninated, not just drug
Jllpply.
The vast bulk of society wouldn't
dream of sticking a filthy needle filled
with 5% heroio and 95% junk filler
( including soap flakes, sugar, or instant
coffee!) directly into a major blood
vessel - sacrificing health, family, and
even
life
for that momentary feeling.
But perhaps 200,000 Americans (no
one knows the true numbcr of drug ad–
dicts) do stick filthy needlcs in their
arms. Why do they do it? How can they
be helped?
To attack the cause of addiction, we
must uoderstand
wh)•
an addict de–
mands his daily dope - instead of his
daily bread, work, family, !ove, respon–
sibility, money, aod all the other gen–
eral motivations of the rest of humanity.
The major causes of drug addiction
can conveniently be describcd from