Did Puff, The Magic Dragon, Ever Slip Into His Cave?

We millennials are all familiar with the classic tune “Puff, The Magic Dragon,” made popular by Peter, Paul, and Mary, a musical trio that hailed from East State Street here in Ithaca, New York. While many of us have drifted off to sleep with the key of G lullabying us to a dreamland called Honnah Lee, an unfortunately large number of Americans have entered into a sleep from which there is no waking up -- “chasing the dragon” is a full-time job that ultimately leads to addiction, overdose, and death. Though Puff’s majestic tale was written in 1963 and has become a culturally classic anthem on drug use -- in particular, gateway drug use -- and its negative effects on the body, mind, and soul, we still find modern “noble kings and princes” bowing to the weight of addiction. Simply put, Puff is still alive and well. A dragon rage of addiction may well live forever, but not so little boys. Little boys and little girls are dying of the disease of addiction, and the United States is at a loss for ways in which to save those in the throes of addiction from death. Presented below are three solutions -- I assert none of these alone will ameliorate the crisis that is drug addiction; a combination is necessary.

The toll addiction takes on individuals, families, and communities can be overbearing. From 1999-2011, there was a 103% increase in deaths due to heroin overdoses. Alcohol-induced deaths in the United States are at a 35-year high with one million Americans losing their lives to booze in 2014 alone. Despite these devastating statistics, the American healthcare system only readily approves one method of treatment: “Anonymous” meetings. As Gabrielle Glaser points out in her essay The Irrationality of Alcoholics Anonymous, these daily groups boast a roughly 75% recovery rate for addicts who regularly attend meetings and apply the Twelve Steps, the Gospel of all Anonymous groups, to their daily lives. After all, one of the main mantras of these 12-step groups is “Meeting-makers make it.” However, as Glaser points out, the actual success rate of 12-Step groups is between five and eight percent. Why is it, then, that Native Americans have such higher rates of recovery from addiction than second-generation Americans when there are so many similarities in both cultural practices? The Twelfth Step of Alcoholics Anonymous states that

“Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all affairs,”

while the “Giving Back” to the community model in Native American cultures, described by Coyhis & Simonelli in their work The Native American Healing Experience, abides by the principle “In order to keep it, you have to give it away.” Are these two not the same?

At face value, these phrases may seem like synonyms, and rightly so. Native Americans have adopted their own version of the Twelve Steps that have been breaking them out of the throes of addiction tremendously: this practice, called “Wellbriety,” a blending of “Western” support groups and Native American spirituality, are working wonders at keeping individuals clean, sober, and living healthier lives. However, what if there was another step that could be taken, a step that would stop the desire to use altogether -- before the problem of addiction sets in? Naloxone and naltrexone, opioid antagonists that are to be taken before engaging in drug use, prevent the release of feel-good endorphins and dopamine, which completely block any high or buzz a person would reach after a few shots of tequila or a vein full of dope. The Hazelden Center in Finland provides exactly this type of treatment with an effectiveness rate of 75%... yet it has only just been approved in the United States.

Let's not even get started on using psychedelic drugs to help recovering addicts, as the Federal Government has been adamant in its decision to ban them for all purposes, including those that are palliative, until very recently. As Tom Schoder, author of Can Psychedelic Trips Cure PTSD and Other Maladies? illustrates, MDMA (or ecstasy), when combined with talk therapy, is incredibly helpful in halting addiction and helping patients lead healthier lives. But, of course, giving more drugs to an addict seems like the antithesis of the premise of rehabilitation therapy. Maybe we should suspend our judgements based on our own mental schemas and begin to see the new, effective ways healing of the mind and body is manifesting in our zeitgeist of overdoses and deaths.

I contend that a blending of each of the above approaches may prove beneficial in halting addiction and saving lives. Let's face it -- therapeutic drugs work. If naltrexone can block the reward centers of the brain and chemically train an addict to stop using; if attending a regular meeting in which an addict is surrounded by others who've made the same mistakes and are working together to build a better future; if a hit of ecstasy in a therapist's office can help an addict get to the root of their problem; if a greater spirituality and connection with many a higher power can lift one out of the bottom of a bottle, I say let's give it a try.

Soon enough, maybe Puff, that mighty dragon, will cease his fearless roar.

#addiction #newyork #newyorkcity #statenisland #heroin #alcohol #drinking #alcoholism #spirituality