some good info from Stanton Peele on the principle
of harm reduction as it relates to addiction.
latest celeb caught driving drunk is Richie Sambora.
Peele writes;
Like most current substance abusers, Sambora has been exposed to Alcoholics Anonymous and its abstinence uber alles philosophy. Last year, he entered rehab, and he has announced that he is continuing alcohol treatment.
As Sanbora's case illustrates, however, few people exposed to such treatment actually then abstain forever. George Vaillant, Harvard psychiatrist and AA board member, discovered when following up Cambridge Hospital patients he treated using the twelve steps, including mandatory AA attendance, that 95 percent relapsed.
(Nothing daunted, Dr. Vaillant continues to flack AA and the religiously-oriented steps. At a conference in Vancouver where we were both presented with lifetime achievement awards, I asked George publicly what he thought of harm reduction. He declined to answer.)
the article goes on to explain examples of harm reduction, such as the needle exchangeprogram, designated drivers and such.
just another example of the difficulty of maintaining sobriety after rehab
and AA, for anyone, regardless of social or economic status.
