DRUG ADDICTION A PROBLEM OF THE SPIRIT

How about the local church if Victoria needs a needle exchange
service? That would be the most obvious choice if Canadians were to
deal with the base of addiction instead of medicalizing
spirituality.

All the so-called treatment that goes on in the case of drug addiction
boils down to soul doctoring when looked at under the microscope. None
of that is the business of medicine.

There have always been people who rejected the values of the
mainstream. That is what the so-called drug addict is. Addiction is a
chosen lifestyle, not a disease that could strike anybody at any moment.

People who abstain from drug use never become addicts.

The care of everyman's soul belongs to himself, said Thomas Jefferson.
Truer words were never spoken.

Drug addiction is all about malefactors and benefactors. Those people
have a way of finding each other in life without any interference from
the state. In short, some people are passed out in the gutter looking
to be saved and some are patrolling the gutters looking for someone to
save. None of that ought to be of concern to the state.

Repealing drug prohibition is the only way to get rid of the social
construct that medicalizes drug taking. There has always been a
ceremonial and ritual aspect to drug taking. It's long past due
Canadians consider the fact that we have become a therapeutic state.
Seeking medical/therapeutic answers to social/moral problems has led
the so-called addict to the hospital when they ought to be taken to
the confession booth.

Chris Buors

Winnipeg, Man.