Stigma Hinders Drug Users' Recovery, Report Finds

[bp]

Particularly interesting in light of the NTA now speaking about "Addicts" again. Oh for the golden days of service users
Slight exaggeration I know but I wonder what the lingo will be  months from now; language is such a powerful weapon.

B

Stigma Hinders Drug Users' Recovery, Report Finds
September 7, 2010
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Referring to problem drug users as “junkies” or “addicts” can interfere with their recovery, according to a review of research on stigma and drug use, the Guardian reported Aug. 24.

The report was the first in a series of four planned reports to be published by Britain’s UK Drugs Policy Commission (UKDPC).

“Some have argued that the stigma attached to problem drug users prevents others from taking drugs by example and that the shame of stigma pushes users into treatment. However, attempts to scare young people away from drug use have not proved effective,” wrote author Charlie Lloyd of the University of York in the report. “The evidence reviewed here suggests that stigma keeps users away from treatment.”

The Guardian noted that the report comes at a time when the British government is emphasizing abstinence. For example, the government recently proposed reducing the welfare benefits of individuals who do not seek treatment. 

The research review, “Sinning and Sinned Against: The Stigmatisation of Problem Drug Users,” (PDF) can be found on the UKDPC website.

[wastedyouth]

I have just read the report about how stigma hinders drugs users, they said these hostile attidudes only add to the stigma of the drug addiction and made it harder for users to give up, the sad thing i thought was that it had taken a six month report to come up with "the term Junkie and addict were distrustful and judgemental and led to feelings of low selfworth among drug users" they also said that the greatest stigma against addicts is to not believe they can recover, to not believe they can give up drugs.  This i would say has held me back in the past as i have thought to myself what is the point even if i do get myself stable no-one will believe me and that is not just from joe bloggs in the street mostly this type of stigma will come from family, in my expierience anyway.

The drugs minister, James Brokenshire acknowledged that the use of methadone treatment programms to stabilize problem drug users remains an important part of that process although in the pieces i read he didn't comment on how long these programms should last or how lond after someone has stabalized should they start to decrees, just that it played a important part, lets hope he was not talking about giving us methadone to stabilize us then take it away after that, then you will be in a vicious cycle of stability and addiction.


Another sad thing that i read while searching about was that the walking toward recovery report said that 2/3s of employers would refuse a job to a former heroin or crack addict, now how do they expect us to reintragrate into society with our heads held high if we cant get a job as we all know what a job gives someone, self estime, self worth basically all the opposite that the stigma lays on our sholders.  So if we can't get a job, why am i at college, im doing it for personnal gain, but obviously i thought that if i did manage to get high enough qualifications then of course a job should be the next obvious move, so what do i do lie, as if it is a dirty little secret.

[skunkworks]

I haven't read the report and I should know better than to comment upon it before I do but anyhoo ...

Myself and WY have, along with other folks here, had many a discussion around this very subject. I think on reflection it is like so many other facets of life in that the use of 'derogatory terms’  such as ‘drug addict’ & [esp.] ‘Junkie’ can mean to and be interpreted as offensive by different people, for different reasons.

As an example, I myself believe that any form of addiction is almost un-resolvable if the drug addict / junkie is unwilling or unable to come to terms with what / who they are irrespective of the way others choose to label it.
Personal experience with an alcoholic mother of 30 years taught me that nothing anyone can do will help the addict if the addict cannot accept they themselves have a serious problem. 30 years of denial and heartache tempers my opinion I know, but there was no helping my mother because she was always ‘tired’, ‘hand a touch of flu’ and the like – even when sober/straight she would simply ignore all reference to her problem.
Would she have accepted it and sought help if softer and more understanding semantics were used by her loved ones instead of the harsh and realistic ‘alcoholic’ & ‘drink problem’ etc?
No I absolutely think not. What helped her was waking up one morning hurting to hell and deciding she was an alcoholic and she better do something about it pretty damn fucking right there and then or she was dead.
She is still an ‘alcoholic’ and she still carries the prejudices and stigma that go along with that ‘label’

Myself after 20 years hard opiate abuse did the same. One day I started vomiting blood and ended up in the A&E with a close-call OD.
I walked out of the A&E after waiting 3 hours – never got any treatment as they were busier than a beaver in late autumn – went straight to [my local drug addiction clinic] and told them in no uncertain terms that I was a junkie and I needed help.
4 weeks later I was stable on 130mg/day Methadone and never looked back. Saved my life for sure though funnily enough nobody at the clinic uses terms like junkie either!
Of course we are all so different, WastedYouth hammered that home to me one feisty afternoon on this very board and I thank her for that.
I may be a firebrand gobshite with opinions strong enough to jumpstart a Boeing 747-400, I understand others may be less thick skinned . That doesn’t make them precious or unrealistic and I also respect that.
If I am in a pharmacy or medical treatment center and I notice the usual under-breath'd ‘bloody junkies’ crap I find it a very rewarding challenge and try to change their ingrained attitudes.
So for me -  got to say that the term junkie makes me a stronger person,  and has in the past and will in the future hopefully keep me straight[ish;)] …
I own that word, it is a perfect description of who I am, but it cannot do me harm because I have made the word and its connotations mine to do with as I please. I take it as the insult it was meant to be and turn it into something to give me inner strength. I still think ‘utter fcukwit’ to those who use it against me but I smile and just go about my day.
It oh so pisses the moral majority off when they see that their terms of abuse mean nothing to me.

Inside I hear Burroughs & de Quincey, Coleridge & Tennyson
and I don’t give a flying baboon’s fuck.
But that’s just me …

I’ll go read that report now, and if when reading it I realize that this post is way off the mark then panic-thee-not, for I shall already have my coat ready to get got, as it were

Peace y’all,
Skunketty SkunkWorks.

-   Sorry that this post went way leftfield off-topic and took a personal viewpoint to a generalized statement. I hope nobody takes it as offensive – it is just meant to represent my own feelings on this sometimes hot-potato of a topic