I got the remedy.
I got the pulsating rhythmical remedy.
I got the poison.
I got the remedy.
I got the pulsating rhythmical remedy.
I got the poison.
I got the remedy.
I got the pulsating rhythmical remedy.
I got the poison.
I got the remedy.
I got the poison. I got the poison. I got the poison.
Yeah... Yeah... Yeah...
Yeah... (Boom...) Yeah... (Bah...
Are we better addicts? Do we deserve to live a better life? To be loved despite our self-medication? Their can be no doubt that suffering is a part of life, and our ability to adapt to this is what shapes us. Yet their can also be little doubt that "addiction" is a form of suffering, and that If we attach the tag "addict" because you have a beer or bottle of wine every night, does that increase the belief that you need the substance and that you're suffering an infliction? Addiction may not even exist, it may just be a biological response to some sort of suffering, a way to numb the pain, be it physical or emotional. Bang your knee and you'll self-medicate by rubbing it better. Starve yourself of food or a particular macronutrient under the guidance of any number of foodie/nutritionalists and you're likely to self-medicate with any number of "treats" when it all gets too much. You may label this an addiction, a cheat day, call it flexible dieting or even ignore it and promise to get back on the wagon tomorrow.
In the 1970's Dr. Bruce Alexander ran his now famous Rat Park experiments, tracking white laboratory rats housed in cages in close proximity to one another, separated by the steel sides, only engaging in contact when lab staff brought food, water etc, basically solitary confinement. At other times they suffered prolonged starvation and were confined to skinner boxes which allowed for punishments and rewards (limited feeding and electric shocks etc). Inside the skinner boxes the rats reward themselves with pellets by pushing a lever on the side of the box. The metal allowed for administration of electric shocks in order to punish rather than reward. Eventually they considered addiction, and the rats were allowed to inject drugs by pressing the lever, a process that involving being tethered, cathetered (to allow the drug to enter the bloodstream). The results showed that the rats continued to use the lever to self administer heroin, morphine, amphetamine, etc. Thus it came to pass that drugs were labelled addictive to rats and naturally to humans as well. And so began the War on Drugs, and with it, harsh retribution for anyone caught with anything not allowed by the authoritarian state.
Alexander however realised that rats are highly social, and that solitary confinement may drive them crazy which may increase the desire to self-medicate. He also realised that while isolated they had no real options, they couldn't escape the cage and pushing the lever if for no other reason than to stem the boredom seemed inevitable. Along with colleagues he undertook studies to compare the drug usage of rats in a fairly normal environment versus those in isolation. To do this he built a park environment filled with things to climb on, hide in, other rats (of both sexes) and adequate nutrition. Pretty much every experiment they ran showed that the isolated rats consumed more drugs no matter what variables they ran.
Despite the findings being replicated by other researchers it was largely ignored, and continues to be to this day. Addiction is an irresistible disease, something we're all susceptible to, something is claimed to have genetic risk factors. Is it too profitable to turn our backs on expensive long-term drug treatments and therapy, when it may be more useful to consider the socio-economic environment? Why do human become "addicted"? Do things make us feel caged or isolated?
Alexander went further, sadly he couldn't conduct Human Park studies due to ethical reasons, but he was to look back at historical data. Such as when our ancestors colonised various native tribes in Western Canada during the 18th and 19th century. The natives were broken, both economically and culturally, losing their homes and being forced to abandon their language. History shows us that alcoholism became rife, which was explained by the settlers as genetic vulnerability. In effect the natives were the rats, isolated, forced into a new culture and basically caged in an environment that they didn't wish to be in.
What causes your "addictions"? Do you need that wine to numb the pain of working in a job you detest? Is that drug addict that you look down on really just numbing the social and economic pain of being isolated in an environment that basically leaves them with no obvious way out. Are your food issues caused by the likes of Joe Wicks, Davina McCall, Weight Watchers or any other diet club or guru caging you in an environment that leaves you undernourished? Is Jamie Oliver freaking you out about sugar, causing you to create a cage in you restrain yourself from consuming an important fuel?
Are your addictions due to a cage that you have created for yourself? Or even one you have let someone create for you? It's time to escape your cages...
Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself.
Choose your future.
Choose life. - John Hodge
Alexander, B. (2010). The Globalization of Addiction: A study in poverty of the spirit. Oxford Univ. Press.