Articles by M. Simon are printed with express permission of the author. To see an index of articles, click here. Heroin By M. Simon Heroin. The name itself strikes terror into the heart these days. But originally it was named by the Bayer people from the word heroine. Or female hero. Why? Because it was so effective in relieving pain and suffering. If it were legal it would still be one of the most effective pain relievers in the doctor's arsenal. It was also considered such a safe and effective medicine that it was available over the counter until 1914. The story these days with heroin is different. It not only is not available over the counter, its not available anywhere in America legally. So where does this leave us today? We have black markets and addicts. Black markets of course require police and addicts require treatment. An interesting study by Dr. Lonny Shavelson looks into the world of the addicts and their treatment. What do we know? What works? How can addicts be helped? First we start out with an unusual point of view. Most addicts are in pain. This is quite surprising. It surprised me. I thought they were just in it for the euphoria. Here is what Dr. Shavelson found in his study of 200 addicts: a high proportion of severely abused children (beatings, rapes, rapes of siblings). He questioned his study methodology. He thought there must have been a flaw in how his sample was selected or in how the questions he asked were framed. Then while he was doing his research, an article came out in the Journal of the American Medical Association that said that the addiction rate goes up for male sexually abused children. And it doesn't just double or triple. It is 25 to 50 times higher than the rest of the population. Approximately 70% of the women in drug rehab experienced sexual abuse before they started on drugs. In other words, those heroine addicts not in actual physical pain are suffering from severe post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. What is the preferred treatment in America today for these hurt and humiliated souls? We don't deal with the pain that made them liable for drug abuse. We ask that before they can be healed that they heal themselves by giving up drugs. And then we wonder why rehab for hard-core addicts does not work too well. But how could it when the treatment does not match the disease. So the next time the TV expose shows the junkie with the spike in his or her vein think of what torment that person must be in internally in order to put them in the place they are in. And all too often our response to those suffering is to jail them. Barbaric. Or treatment that deals with symptoms and not causes. Stupid. Dr. Shavelson has written a book called "Hooked" about his experiences with addicts. A recent transcript of an interview by NPR with the doctor is available here. Addiction or Self Medication? By M. Simon "Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize an undercover dictatorship. To restrict the art of healing to one class of men, and deny equal privilege to others, will be to constitute the Bastille of medical science. All such laws are un-American and despotic, and have no place in a Republic. The Constitution of this Republic should make special privilege for medical freedom as well as religious freedom." Abridged quote ----Benjamin Rush, M.D., a signer of the Declaration of Independence Let me start this little essay on the uses of marijuana with an idea. A very simple idea. An idea that strikes at the very heart of the drug war and it's moralistic foundation. The very idea that those who use unapproved drugs are the lawful subjects of religiously motivated government persecution. What we call addiction is in fact self treatment of undiagnosed pain. This is a truly revolutionary idea. If it is in fact true then the whole notion of a drug war to save the children is a lie from beginning to end. Those of you who have read my article on heroin have a window into this new idea. What I tried to show in that article was that medical research shows that victims of sexual abuse and severe physical abuse (PTSD) are many times more likely to get addicted to heroin than the general public. Let us next look at the case for marijuana. Natural molecules similar to an active ingredient in marijuana play a part in helping the brain clear fearful memories and keep them from being permanently debilitating. The British journal Nature has reported this discovery by scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, Germany. The scientists of the Institute say that this has implications for the treatment of post traumatic stress disorder and other fear based conditions. It turns out that anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problem in the United States. They are worth $46 billion a year to the pharmaceutical industry. You don't suppose this fact has any thing to do with the pharmaceutical industries being in the forefront of the Drug Free America campaign do you? Of course not. They are just trying to keep you from being addicted to natural products at the cost of 1/10th of a cent per dose when they are more than willing to sell you an FDA and doctor approved, pharmacy sold product that will do the job for a dollar a dose. They have only your best interests at heart. Just ask their accountants. All humans show fear reactions to dangerous situations. However, in the case of one out of ten people (surprisingly the same percentage of people who are susceptible to substance addiction) the fear does not die down in the absence of the dangerous situation. The fear stays at debilitating levels even in the absence of danger. These people have a definite, if ordinarily invisible problem. You cannot find this problem with x-rays. It is possible that this problem could be found with a many thousand dollar PET scan. Or you could take a few puffs of a joint and see if that helps. If the joint was legal. Which it is not. Pankaj Sah of Australian National University believes that chronic marijuana users are self medicating for anxiety problems. He goes on further to say that we self medicate for head aches with aspirin and this causes no social problems. He speculates that people experiencing emotional problems are taking cannabis for relief. Of course since this medicine is not doctor approved it is against the law. Especially it is against Federal Law, as a number of states have made medical use of marijuana legal. The Feds in California know how to stop this though. They put the sick, the dying and the pain wracked in jail to show their compassion. You don't suppose it has anything to do with maintaining at all costs the State and Federal $50 billion dollar drug war do you? Not a chance. They are the government and they have only your best interests at heart. Trust them. You can read a good review of the report here. Let me leave you with a final quote from a Supreme Court Judge: "Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." Justice Brandeis That quote and an impassioned speech for the right of self medication can be found here. Police and PTSD By M. Simon All too many police officers are victims of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD. This disorder is a response to traumatic stress. Seeing victims of violence. Having to kill some one in the line of duty. Being hurt in the line of duty. Seeing the death of a child. This disorder was first identified as "shell shock" and soldiers were it's first identified victims. As time has gone on and further work has been done in the field; we have learned more. In the aftermath of the Viet Nam War we learned more about "shell shock" and stated calling it PTSD. With more research we found that soldiers were not it's only victims. We found out that police and firemen also "got" PTSD. Then we found that victims of severe child abuse and childhood sexual assault also got PTSD. Now we know even more. The drunken cop who abuses his wife is a regular stereotype. Drinking alcohol to numb the pain and taking your pain out on those close to you are two recognized symptoms of PTSD. Alcoholism may not be a "disease" but a response to pain. In fact we now know even more. Police in some jurisdictions are being trained to look for signs of PTSD in the populace they police in order to better help keep the peace. Some markers that stand out in children are abuse of legal and illegal drugs. Cocaine. Alcohol. Heroin. Pot. The Western New York Rural Mental Health Partnership advises police that " 'self medication' with alcohol or illegal drugs is a common complication found in adolescents with mental health problems." The Massachusetts Department of Mental Health says "Youths who suffer from PTSD frequently use alcohol or other drugs to 'self-medicate' in an attempt to dull painful memories or psychological torment." Police in the above mentioned jurisdictions are given booklets with the above guidelines in them. The only thing left out of the guides is that what afflicts children can also afflict adults. In fact not even the police are immune. Just as we should have compassion for children with PTSD problems so we should also have compassion for the police and all other adults whose pain is still all too real. Running a steam roller over those already hit by a truck does not live up to the American ideal of justice or compassion. An online health guide to PTSD advises: "It is important to be gentle on yourself and to give yourself time to heal." Just as it is true of the individual so it also ought to be true of society in general. Once we see that what we have been doing for so long is inappropriate we will need to change our behavior at once. After changing our ways we are also going to need time to heal. Because hurting those who didn't deserve it is a stressor. And stress can lead to PTSD. The Pain Enforcement Administration By M. L. Simon America's Puritan heritage is described by H.L. Mencken as a person who is constantly worried that somewhere, sometime, someone might be having a good time. This is the fundamental nature of our government morality bureau: the Drug Enforcement Administration. As a morality bureau it does not enforce the taking of drugs, but merely the kind of drugs that can be taken, by whom, when, and in what amounts. If you have been following my previous columns you know that people take drugs to relieve pain. They take the kind of drug and amount that allows them to function given their level of pain. This is true of legal and illegal drugs. We know that opiate patients in hospitals have very little problem giving up opiates when their pain is gone. We know that given the chance to self regulate opiate delivery that people take no more than is necessary to relieve their pain. This is as true of illegal drugs as it is of legal drugs. Drugs do not cause drug taking. Pain causes drug taking. There are no addicts. Only people in pain. What we call addiction is self medication for undiagnosed pain such as PTSD or other severe emotional or physical trauma. Cure the pain and the desire for the drugs vanishes. This is true not only of drug addicts but also alcohol addicts and food addicts as well. In fact it is my belief that it is true of all so called addictions. This is made quite clear by the title of the popular book on food addictions called "It's Not What You Eat, But What's Eating You" by Jack Schwartz. What does all this have to do with the DEA? It is quite simple. The purpose of the DEA is the enforcement of pain. Or as they would prefer the prevention of the use of drugs to help people feel better. They make this quite clear in the recent series of prosecutions of doctors who treat patients with intractable pain. A case in point is Dr. Marlou Davis a pain management specialist in Missouri who was recently arrested for prescribing "excessive" doses of opiods to his patients despite the fact that the original case was dropped in October of 2000. Another case is that of Doctor William E. Hurwitz of Northern Virginia who had his clinic shut down by the DEA for prescribing "excessive" amounts of OxyContin. Dr. Hurwitz writes "While spokesmen for the DEA give lip service to the idea of a balanced enforcement policy that preserves the access of deserving patients to needed medications, these aggressive and ill informed prosecutions convey a message of intimidation to doctors and of indifference to the plight of patients in pain." You can read the rest of the Doctor's message to his patients. The Doctor also has given a talk on "The Police State of Medicine". America is a Judeo-Christian nation culturally, dedicated to the relief of suffering. We have direct proof of this in recent surveys about the acceptance of medical marijuana. Eighty percent of the American people believe that is OK to use marijuana for the relief of suffering in medical situations, despite the efforts of Federal and State law enforcement bodies to discourage this point of view. I think it is time to prevail on our law makers to put an end to the Pain Enforcement Administration other wise known as the DEA. It is time to stop making criminals out of people in pain and the doctors who treat them. Write your Senators and Congress persons and let them know how you feel. The pain you relieve may one day be your own. Try one of these Web Sites for contact information: U.S. House of Representatives Write Your Representative Service Senators of the 107th Congress Contacting Congress (& Other US Policymakers) The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Aftermath By M. Simon Recent reports from Israel in a Ma'ariv article (excerpts and further commentary can be read here) indicate that the Israeli Army has an ongoing problem in even its most elite units. In a war against guerilla operations, as in fact the Palestinian operations against Israeli civilians are, civilians take the brunt of the counter offensive. The guerillas depend on this counter reaction to maintain sympathy for their cause among the general population in which they hide. In fact the crack down on civilians is one of the desired results of guerilla operations from at least the time of the Spanish guerilla operations against the troops of Napoleon. This necessity for cracking down on the civilians has caused a lot of pain and suffering among even the elite of the Israeli soldiers. No doubt causing the opposing soldiers to lose their humanity is also one of the desired results of guerilla operations. As the opposing soldiers lose their humanity once they are removed from the battle situations they lose their self respect. On the other side of the coin, as chronicled by B.H.L.Hart in his book "Strategy", the countries where guerilla operations by outlaw segments of the population are extensive become ungovernable for long periods of time after the war. This is because guerrillas are under no command and are recruited mainly from outlaw segments of the population. In fact Spain is still suffering from the results of the fighting of the wars against Napoleon by guerilla operations. So the aftermath of the War in Israel is likely to be bad for all concerned for at least decades to come, no matter who wins. The Ma'ariv article, though, is concerned not with the long term aftermath but the immediate hurt of the Israeli soldiers. The hurt of "shell shock". The hurt of doing unspeakable things to fellow humans in order to fight a war. In America today we have a name for this condition. We call it PTSD and we know that it affects not only soldiers but victims of rape and severe child abuse among others. We also know that one of the symptoms of this problem is substance abuse. People will take anything to numb the pain. Heroin, alcohol, pot, MDMA, LSD. Any thing in the hope of relief. Israeli soldiers visiting Thailand often come back with severe cases of heroin abuse. Other soldiers take other drugs in an effort to clear their minds of distressing memories. So many have these problems that there is a village in Israel specifically designed to help those suffering from the effects of war. That Village is called Izun. Ma'ariv stated "Israeli army reserve lieutenant-colonel Omri Frish, a social worker by training, organized the village. ' We were staggered by the number of calls we got. We got more then 900 calls from parents with very painful stories of sons becoming drug addicts, trying to commit suicide and generally emotionally distressed.' " America has embarked on a war which I hope will free the suffering citizens of Iraq from the terror of Saddam Hussein. But, whatever happens, we know that we are going to get back a lot of soldiers wounded in the mind as well as the body. After every war we have the stereotypical stories of the returned soldiers becoming addicted to alcohol and/or illegal drugs. We need to look on these addictions as symptoms of deeper problems not their causes. We need to heal these men and women who fought in our name, not discard or persecute them because of their symptoms. In fact, we need to treat all so called "victims of addiction" as the victims of pain they actually are. If the current war teaches us nothing else it will have gone a very long way towards the healing of America and, in addition, the world. Then those who have died on either side of the battle will not have died in vain Genetic Discrimination In America we pride ourselves on the fact that we have eliminated almost all forms of arbitrary discrimination in our political and criminal justice systems. I think this is a good thing and in many ways makes America so much better than the rest of the world. For example it is very difficult no matter how long you or your ancestors have lived in Germany for a "non German" to become a citizen. The same is true in Japan and many other countries of the world. Adapting to the language and the laws of your adopted country is not enough if your heritage is not correct. It is attitudes like these that made the fascism of Germany and Japan so vicious. The fascism may be gone but many of the attitudes that spawned that fascism remain. Yet America, improving though it is, is far from perfect. There is one form of discrimination that is very popular among the majority of Americans. That discrimination is no different from racism which is in effect a genetic discrimination. This discrimination that is so popular is also a genetic discrimination but it's marker is not as obvious as skin color. It's marker is addiction. To sex, to food, to alcohol, to tobacco, to illegal drugs. When it comes to those marked by genetics for a possible illegal drug addiction we come down on them with the full weight of the law. We put them in jail, we steal their property, we make them subject to what can only be called gestapo raids at 3 AM in the morning. And like the good Germans we are, not only do we say nothing for fear of the gestapo coming to our doors, some of us actually applaud this effort to make the country safer from the Jews. I mean addicts. The horror of the effort to eliminate the Jews of Central Europe is not that it was a crime unique to Germany. The horror is that given the right propaganda it can be done by any government any where. Even in America. The genetics of addiction is a very interesting subject. There appears to be a number of genes involved depending on the addiction. In some cases there are not enough copies of a gene to protect the body from addiction. This seems to be the problem in the case of tobacco addiction and the TPH 779C alle. In addition a version of the dopamine transporter gene (SLC6A3-9) seems to protect people to some extent from tobacco addictions. Carriers of this gene who do start the tobacco habit find it easier to give up than those who have a different version. In addition those with the D 2 dopamine receptor (DRD2) in addition to the SLC6A3-9 gene had even fewer problems with tobacco. Another interesting finding in relation to the tobacco metabolizing protein that is controlled by the CYP2A6 alle is that there are different types of that gene in the body depending on whether one is Caucasian, Asian, or African American. So we see that for tobacco "addictions" there may actually be racial differences that align with genetic differences. Let us look at the mutation of another gene the FAAH 385. This gene helps produce an enzyme called fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH). This enzyme is responsible for neutralizing cannabinoids that naturally occur in the body. These naturally occurring body chemicals are the same as the psychoactive component of marijuana. So the body can produce it's own marijuana and destroy it. All without the intervention of drug dealers and the police. Roger Pertwee, professor of neuropharmacology at Aberdeen University says that if you have a mutated copy of the gene you may need more cannibinoids than the body produces to feel normal. He says that this may be one of the reasons that cannabis use is so popular among ten to twenty percent of the population. He also says that genetics accounts for about one half of the nature of addiction. Let us see if we can account for the other half. A study by the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich reported here: http://www.msnbc.com/news/788294.asp?cp1=1 shows that one of the functions of the cannibinoid system in the body is to help deal with painful memorizes. Now from an evolutionary stand point remembering painful memories can be very helpful if that memory keeps you out of further danger. It is also true though that remembering them for too long can paralyze the ability to act even when necessary. So it is good to remember the pain but generally it is also good, if the pain is not repeated, to gradually forget the memories so a person an "get over it" and get on with life. For some people without the cannibinoid receptor (in the study mice were used) or with out enough cannibinoid production or possibly a system that destroys the cannibinoids prematurely pain memories can be a problem. In dealing with the human condition we now have a name for those who have problems dealing with long term pain memories. We call them PTSD sufferers. We see them as victims of war, domestic violence, child abuse, and on the job trauma such as firemen and police officers. We know that not all of them have trouble even with very painful memories and now we know why. There is not only a trauma component but also a genetic component. v So in the end it comes down to this. We are making war on people based on their genetics and their suffering. I can think of nothing so unAmerican and unChristian. And yet, sadly, it is not the first such episode in America. I think it is incumbent on us all to make sure it is the last. These articles (c) M. Simon - All rights reserved. Permission granted for one time use in a single periodical. Concurrent publication on the periodical's www site is also granted. M. Simon is an industrial controls engineer for Space-Time Productions and a Free Market Green and political activist. Write to M. Simon: email. index