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There's a perspective I feel is sorely missing in this otherwise great piece and the discussion around it: the larger social and even political perspective. We

There's a perspective I feel is sorely missing in this otherwise great piece and the discussion around it: the larger social and even political perspective. We treat it as an individual problem. What could Jack, as an individual, do? In truth, not much. What could the patents do? In truth, not much. But maybe we can change things on a larger level. Create a society where heroin isn't as appealing by comparison. Where there are spaces for socializing that aren't about social competition, or at least one where there are more distinct and equally good ways to "win". Maybe one where, if you fall, you don't have to carry the guilt that your family will be dragged down with you. I was lucky enough to grow up with the historical teetotaller community, since my grandfather was a leader of sorts in it. They used to be very adamant on seeing alcohol use (and of course drug use) as a social problem, not an individual one born out of "weakness of will" or genetic factors. They quite deliberately tried to create new social arenas without alcohol, and cultivate a sense of community and common purpose which could make it more than yet another arena for social competition. But they quite literally couldn't keep up with the times. The social venues they made were of types that were extremely popular in their day, but are exotic at best today (e.g. lodges). And along with the rest of society, they gradually embraced AA's medicalized, individualized understanding of alcoholism, turning the message from one of collective self-defense ("we're building this to defend ourselves as a community from the scourge of alcohol") to one of sympathy with the medicalized Other ("We're abstaining out of solidarity with those individuals who will become alcoholics if they touch alcohol").

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
>What could Jack, as an individual, do? In truth, not much. What could the patents do? In truth, not much. This is bullshit. People who want to beat their addiction and have the support from their immediate family are the demographic that most readily beats addiction. When it comes to beating addiction, losing weight and all sorts of other things that require a lot of willpower having some personal motivation to do whatever it is plus a support network who can help you and encourage you is just about the most effective strategy. People care a lot more about doing hard things if they feel their family has a stake in it.
- vintermann 5y ago
  I said not much, not "nothing". It's AFAIK true involving family is one of the most effective things you can do in rehab. But it can be very costly on a human level, and there's still depressing outcomes. It's not easy to run such family intervention initiatives. An old friend in my teetotaller org did it for a while, starting up family clubs after the design of a little known Yugoslav/Italian academic, Vladimir Hudolin. There are things you can do, but they're not very effective and at best they help you and the ones closest to you. I'm saying, I think we should see it as a social problem more than an individual problem, and try to address it at the social level first and foremost. We'll likely always need rehab in some form, for humane reasons, but it's not possible to use it to paper over the deeper problems surrounding drug use. That's like replacing traffic safety with emergency medicine.
hycaria 5y ago
What is this historical community? A cult?
- vintermann 5y ago
  What you would call an NGO today, or a civil society organization. It's still around as one of the many national teetotaller organizations today organized under Movendi international, but it's got a tiny fraction of its original membership numbers.
roenxi 5y ago
> What could Jack, as an individual, do? In truth, not much. Literally every step of the way he could have done something. This is an unusually clear cut case of someone's actions leading to the outcome that they experienced. There are attitudes that a community can express which will help or hinder, but there is no escaping that in this specific situation, to get a different outcome Jack had to make different choices. I'm relatively neutral on drug addictions as a character flaw, it is very easy for me to believe there are people out there who would be making a logical choice to turn to a few moments of reliable pleasure in an otherwise miserable existence. I wouldn't touch hard drugs myself for fear that I would enjoy them. But, nevertheless, the only person who was in control of the outcomes here is Jack.
- vintermann 5y ago
  You're doing what I wanted to warn against, individualizing something that is at heart a social problem. If there are all these better options to choose on every step of the way, why are there so many Jacks who don't choose them?
  - exolymph 5y ago
    But what's the alternative? Coerce Jack and his ilk into rehab, effectively institutionalizing them? That doesn't work either, in the long run, and restricting people's freedom is a heavy thing to do.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago

>What could Jack, as an individual, do? In truth, not much. What could the patents do? In truth, not much. This is bullshit. People who want to beat their addiction and have the support from their immediate family are the demographic that most readily beats addiction. When it comes to beating addiction, losing weight and all sorts of other things that require a lot of willpower having some personal motivation to do whatever it is plus a support network who can help you and encourage you is just about the most effective strategy. People care a lot more about doing hard things if they feel their family has a stake in it.

vintermann 5y ago
I said not much, not "nothing". It's AFAIK true involving family is one of the most effective things you can do in rehab. But it can be very costly on a human level, and there's still depressing outcomes. It's not easy to run such family intervention initiatives. An old friend in my teetotaller org did it for a while, starting up family clubs after the design of a little known Yugoslav/Italian academic, Vladimir Hudolin. There are things you can do, but they're not very effective and at best they help you and the ones closest to you. I'm saying, I think we should see it as a social problem more than an individual problem, and try to address it at the social level first and foremost. We'll likely always need rehab in some form, for humane reasons, but it's not possible to use it to paper over the deeper problems surrounding drug use. That's like replacing traffic safety with emergency medicine.

hycaria 5y ago

What is this historical community? A cult?

vintermann 5y ago
What you would call an NGO today, or a civil society organization. It's still around as one of the many national teetotaller organizations today organized under Movendi international, but it's got a tiny fraction of its original membership numbers.

roenxi 5y ago

> What could Jack, as an individual, do? In truth, not much. Literally every step of the way he could have done something. This is an unusually clear cut case of someone's actions leading to the outcome that they experienced. There are attitudes that a community can express which will help or hinder, but there is no escaping that in this specific situation, to get a different outcome Jack had to make different choices. I'm relatively neutral on drug addictions as a character flaw, it is very easy for me to believe there are people out there who would be making a logical choice to turn to a few moments of reliable pleasure in an otherwise miserable existence. I wouldn't touch hard drugs myself for fear that I would enjoy them. But, nevertheless, the only person who was in control of the outcomes here is Jack.

vintermann 5y ago
You're doing what I wanted to warn against, individualizing something that is at heart a social problem. If there are all these better options to choose on every step of the way, why are there so many Jacks who don't choose them?
- exolymph 5y ago
  But what's the alternative? Coerce Jack and his ilk into rehab, effectively institutionalizing them? That doesn't work either, in the long run, and restricting people's freedom is a heavy thing to do.