Don’t ignore 12-step groups
I was glad to see Anita Chabria shift the focus from punishing drug dealers to reducing the demand for fentanyl, but sorry she and The Times missed an opportunity to mention 12step programs such as Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous.
These programs are basically about one addict helping another. Meetings are not led by professionals; they’re just people who know the problem firsthand and have been able to stop, passing on the solution.
The cost is minimal and voluntary. Members are free to toss a few bucks into a basket at meetings to pay for room rental and the like.
The National Institutes of Health cites 12-step programs as an addiction recovery tool, as does the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Why not The Times?
Zan Dubin-Scott Santa Monica
The demand for fentanyl is high for many reasons.
Some users take drugs to self-medicate for a host of problems that afflict humanity. That’s going to be a continuing demand.
There are people without emotional problems who want the drug simply because it gives pleasure and humans are pleasure-seeking beings. That’s going to be a continuing demand.
You don’t deal with the latter group with therapy. You use the same type of educational program that was used successfully with cigarettes.
Everyone knows that drugs are bad, but we have to increase the level of understanding to that of the guy in Chabria’s column who works in the mortuary. He really understands.
There are people who will listen and quit, and there are people who won’t listen, and many of them will die. We have to cast off this fantasy that we can save everybody.
Bill Gravlin
Rancho Palos Verdes
The only way to prevent addiction is to prevent the brain’s contact with the addictive substance in the first place or to intervene before a drug or alcohol use disorder takes hold.
Addictive chemicals are generally illegal for people under 18 or 21 to use, or they are restricted for medical use only. Yet many people get hooked in school.
Secrecy and denial are key in establishing an addiction. So, let’s frequently and randomly drug screen all students in school, identifying drug abuse early before it morphs into the tragedies and headlines we are all too familiar with.
Failure to do so will only lead to more pain and death. Are our children not worth it?
James S. Kennedy
Smyrna, Tenn.