I am an opiate addict. I have been since the day I tried heroin in San Francisco, back in 1969. I was in the U.S. Army, having the time of my life. I absolutely loved reefer and acid, and when I tried junk I loved that too. I just chipped while I was in the Army. But within two years after I got out of the Army, I had my first habit.
When you're young, kicking a habit is a piece of cake: Three days of feeling crappy, and you're a new man. I would use for a while, then stay straight for a year or two or three, then start over. By 1984 that three days of jonesing had turned into four or five, and it was no fun at all. After 1984 I stayed straight for 13 years. Then in 1997 I hit it hard again for three years. Man, all of a sudden I was sick. After two days, I couldn't stand it anymore. This time, the nightmarish anxiety alone was beyond description. I went and copped some dope, then got on a methadone program. I've been on methadone now for three and a half years. It doesn't get me high, but it does give me that satisfied feeling that an opiate gives you.
I did work the same job for 27 years, and I never had to steal. But I did sell all my possessions a couple of times and damn near lost my house. I retired with a good pension, but I sure do wish I had never tried heroin. If you have never tried it, don't.
Mike M.
St. Paul, MN
Jacob Sullum replies: The study by Charles Winick to which Stephen Hancox refers was based on addicts reported to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. As I noted, the study has been criticized, mainly because addicts who disappeared from the bureau's files had not necessarily given up heroin. But subsequent research, including the Vietnam veterans study I discussed in the article, has shown that heroin addicts frequently do stop using the drug on their own. The fact that some people continue using heroin into their 40s does not negate that point.
Hancox says "every example of a 'successful addict' (save one) in the article was 40 or older." If by addict he means user, that is not correct. The subjects in the Vietnam veterans study, Norman Zinberg's research, the 1973 Harvard study, and the 1983 British study (all mentioned in the article) included many opiate users in their 20s and 30s. More important, Hancox's failure to distinguish between users and addicts overlooks one of my main points: The vast majority of heroin users do not take the drug daily.
More generally, it is misleading to cite the most extreme examples of heroin use as if they were typical. Some drinkers die of acute alcohol poisoning, get killed in traffic accidents, ruin their lives through excessive consumption, or succumb to the cumulative effects of heavy drinking. (As Hancox might put it, the fact that alcohol kills is incontrovertible.) But these examples of abuse do not prove that alcohol cannot be used moderately and responsibly. Likewise, even if we ignore the various ways in which prohibition makes drug use more dangerous, the fact that some heroin users die of overdoses (or, more commonly, risky drug mixtures) or develop habits that disrupt their lives does not mean there is no such thing as an occasional or moderate heroin user. Indeed, the government's own data indicate that such users are far more common than addicts.
Quacks and Flacks
Chris Mooney ("Quacks and Flacks," June) captures very well some missteps in alternative medicine, some practitioners of which have done a disservice to their profession in not adhering to rigorous scientific standards.
What got left out of "Quacks and Flacks" are the reasons many people have turned to alternative medicine in the first place. Mooney would have us believe only "quacks" and dupes need apply, but many people turned to alternative medicine only after traditional remedies failed them. And many have found relief or cures thanks to those treatments.
I turned to alternative medicine after many unsuccessful attempts to cure my eczema with traditional treatments. At best I found temporary relief. At worst, the use of cortisone damaged my skin nearly beyond repair. It was only after exploring numerous alternative therapies that I was able to find a treatment that brought the condition mostly under control.
Mooney also suggests thousands of people are taking risks when they turn to alternative medicine. What, you mean, traditional medicine has found a cure for cancer? Or AIDS? People aren't as stupid as he thinks. They are seeking out other remedies because they are more aware of the chances of surviving such conditions under traditional treatments than he is.
Of course, like other professions, alternative medicine suffers from malpractice. The woods are full of charlatans and cranks, so it's necessary to be careful and discriminating when choosing treatments and doctors. More scientific rigor in the field should help that selection process. But let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater, as Mooney would have us do. That would give little relief to those whom traditional treatments have failed.
Mark Hershey
Taipei, Taiwan
Look Who's Rocking the Casbah
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