Drug Addiction
Overview
A close review of drug rehabilitation today shows that it is a field nearly monopolised by psychiatry.
What does the word “cure” mean to normal people?
First, let’s clearly define what is meant by “cure.” For the individual a cure means nothing less than complete and permanent absence of any overwhelming physical or mental desire, need or compulsion to take drugs. For the society it means the rehabilitation of the addict as a consistently honest, ethical, productive and successful member.
Psychiatry has no “cures”
In its place are words like disease, illness, chronic, management, maintenance, reduction and relapse. Addicts in rehab are taught to refer to themselves as “recovering,” never “cured.” Stated in different ways, the implicit consensus that has been created is that drug addiction is incurable and something an addict will have to learn to live with—or die with.
Is addiction a brain disease?
According to renowned Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus Thomas Szasz, “[T]here is not one iota of evidence” that addiction is a brain disease.”
But isn’t it linked with a chemical imbalance in the brain?
That is what psychiatry would like one to believe. However what they don’t want you to know is that the chemical imbalance in the brain theory is completely discredited. In 2005, when faced with national media pressure, Dr Steven Sharfstein, then president of the American Psychiatric Association, conceded, “We do not have a clear-cut lab test” to prove the existence of a chemical imbalance. Other experts agree. Ron Leifer, New York psychiatrist said: “There is no biological imbalance. When people come to me and they say, ‘Ihave a biochemical imbalance,’ I say, ‘Show me your lab tests.’ There are no lab tests.”
The Methadone Programme - A Clever Hoax
While celebrated as an exemplary success by psychiatrists, the truth is that their methadone program is no more than an unmitigated failure for the individual drug addict and for society.
According to Sam, a former heroin addict: “Methadone maintenance is institutionalized misery. It does not address the emotional and spiritual disease that drug addiction is. The heroin addict who finds his way to methadone treatment and does nothing else is only switching seats on the Titanic.”
Scott, a heroin addict who spent 2 years on methadone, said: “Methadone is probably the worst thing that can be given to somebody because you’re saying it’s okay to get high.”
J.J., a former heroin addict, states: “I was on methadone for five years and it was much harder to get off than heroin. You can’t skip a day going to the methadone clinic or you immediately get really sick. It’s totally a trap.”
“Calling it [methadone] a medication obscures the fact that it is an addictive drug; in fact, methadone is at least as addictive as heroin.” — Dr. Miriam Stoppard, National Drugs Helpline, United Kingdom.
How effective is psychiatric drug rehab treatment?
While drug addiction can be overwhelming, it is important to know that psychiatry, its diagnoses and its drugs, are not working. Their drugs and methods only chemically mask problems and symptoms; they cannot and never will be able to solve addiction. Most psychiatric drug rehab programmes have appalling success rates.
But I thought about 20% of people will recover from an addiction naturally if nothing is done?
That is true. So any psychiatric drug rehabilitation programme that has a success rate less than 20% is actually doing more harm than good.
What did Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac think of her psychiatric drug rehab programme?
Stevie Nicks, lead singer of Fleetwood Mac, went public about her 5-year absence from the music scene: she'd been addicted to a tranquilizer, Klonopin, prescribed to her by a psychiatrist for cocaine withdrawal: "I went to a psychiatrist. It was a bad decision. [He] put me on this medication that nearly destroyed my career, nearly destroyed me, nearly destroyed my parents because they just lost me for those years."Nicks spoke of the intense difficulty she had withdrawing from Klonopin: "[It] was killing me—I was in there [drug rehab] sick for 45 days, really, really sick.
Is psychiatric drug treatment an attempt to is it just interested in making money?
According to Dr Tara Dineen, author of Manufacturing Victims, Psychiatric addiction treatment “is identifiably a business that ignores its failures. In fact its failures lead to more business. Its technology, based on continued recovery, presumes relapses. Recidivism [Relapsing
again] is used as an argument for further funding.”
Do effective drug rehabilitation programmes exist?
Effective drug rehabilitation methods do exist, but outside of psychiatric ranks. Such programs should be gauged on how they improve and strengthen individuals, their responsibility, their spiritual well-being and thereby society.
Thankfully, not all rehabilitation programs are based on the psychiatrist’s fictitious chronic brain disease, or the idea that addiction is incurable. As one expert in this field stated, “Although some may feel that alcohol and drug addiction is primarily a medical problem, close examination does not support this view.” As such, non-drug alternatives were recommended. In Spain, an independent sociology group, the Tecnicos Asociados de Investigacion y Marketing, conducted a study of such a program, which is available in many countries, including Australia, Europe, South Africa and the United States. Prior to starting the rehab program, over 62% of the subjects had committed robberies and 73% had been selling drugs to support their habits. The success of the non-drug rehab program was significant: 78% of the graduates remained drug-free years after finishing the regimen, with no subsequent criminal activity. For more information - please click here.
What Can I Do?
- Take control of the situation oneself - don’t allow a psychiatrist to control your life.
- Read CCHR’s report on Rehab Fraud - please click here.

- Learn about the dangers of side effects from psychiatric drugs - please click here
- Use the resources listed in our Useful Links section - please click here
- Use the Solutions Page of this website for ideas - please click here.
- Report any instances of psychiatric treatment for drug addiction using our Online Abuse Report Form - please click here.
- Report any side effects from taking psychiatric drugs using our Online Drug Reporting Form - please click here.
- If you or someone you know has a drug problem, investigate and find an effective drug rehab programme which does not use psychiatric drugs or treatment. Such programmes do exist.
- Drug rehabilitation programmes should be based on proven, workable results that return the addict to society, drug-free and productive within the community. Don’t accept programmes that offer one drug, such as methadone, as a trade-off for another.
- Remove psychiatrists as advisors or counsellors from police forces, prisons, criminal and drug rehabilitation and parole services. Do not permit them to give opinions about or to treat drug addiction, criminal behaviour and delinquency.
- Ensure taxpayer funds are channeled only into proven, workable drug education and treatment practices that do not rely on psychiatric drugs and treatment.
- No person, with a drug problem or not, should ever be forced to undergo electric shock treatment, psychosurgery, coercive psychiatric treatment, or the enforced administration of mind-altering drugs. Governments should outlaw such abuses.
Disclaimer: Please note that the information on this website is for information purposes only.
None of it constitutes medical advice. In order to safely come off psychiatric drugs, we have provided relevant websites in on our Links page. However we provide this information on a buyer-beware basis and you must use your own judgement. No one should stop taking any psychiatric drug without the advice and assistance of a competent, non-psychiatric medical doctor.
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