THE EDUCATOR - Summer 2003

The 4 H's: Between Hell and Heaven
Recovering from Addiction

By Al Arsenault, President, Odd Squad Productions Society

An accepted methodology for tackling the drug problem involves the use of a multi-pronged approach. The pillars of prevention, treatment and law enforcement may not eliminate drug abuse in our society, but it will reduce it. Countries with the highest drug rates, or whose drug rates are climbing, include the fourth and contentious pillar of harm reduction. As the perception of harm from drugs decreases, the rates of drug use increases.

Every drug addict who, against all odds, has managed to claw his/her way out of Drug Hell will tell you that it is the drug and not the dirty needle and the crack pipe that is the source of their problems. Once their denial is acknowledged and personal responsibility accepted, the self-indulgency of the addict begins to wane and the long and difficult process of recovery can begin.

Here's the layman's (lawman's) view on what addicts need to achieve and maintain a successful recovery:

Health Promotion,
Habit Elimination,
Housing Programs, and
Hope Creation.

Each of the H's are like a ladder assisting the addict, step by step, in an upward direction, out of the sewage pit of addiction, from Hell to Heaven. Like the game of ‘Snakes and Ladders’, relapses are common and should be expected, but none of the ladders should be laid out flat in resignation or be used for descent because of inadequate service.
 

1) Habit Elimination

• keep drugs illegal with strong enforcement action taken against traffickers and stiff penalties for trafficking (reduce the supply)

• create drug courts with the requisite supportive agencies and more detox centers (create meaningful court sentencing)

• have detox and drug counseling on demand or as ordered by the courts (increase available options)

2) Health Promotion

• encourage and educate the public about the virtues of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health (promote total health programs)

• have treatment centers and mentoring services available to handle the follow-up needs of recovering addicts (getting off and staying off drugs)

• offer school courses that address drug abuse and related issues as proactive and protective measures (reduce the demand for drugs)

3) Housing Programs

• offer clean, safe and affordable housing in decent drug-free neighbourhoods to recovering addicts (positive living environment)

• make drug-free neighbourhoods the standard for all to live in (community empowerment)

• low income housing should not mean living in squalid conditions (take slum landlords and badly run recovery houses to task)

4) Hope Creation

• hope, help and happiness are needed to buoy up the spirits and increase the opportunities for recovering addicts (show them a better way)

• this includes tutoring, mentoring, job training and life skills training (create seamless continua of care)

• without someone helping to open the right doors, they may never be opened (re-integration into society)

The needle and crack pipe suck up empty academic rhetoric, under the false banner of compassion, and they eventually deliver a practical payload of death. We must stop trying to dignify drug addiction, and quit enabling and facilitating bad (unsafe) behaviour. Social policies that ultimately result in keeping addicts stuck in their addiction are not an act of compassion in my view, they are a form of harm promotion. For the addict, the fight for life in this kind of caring community, if you pardon the pun, is done in vain.

Addicts need the cure, not the poison. There is no magic bullet to deal with drug addiction, and this applies to the misguided intentions of those theorists embracing ‘harm reduction’ as a panacea for the drug problem. If the basic principles of the 4 H’s are adhered to, I believe that addicts will have a fighting chance of getting and staying clean.

These comments are my own and that of Odd Squad Productions Society. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Vancouver Police Department.

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