HJNO Mar/Apr 2022

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  MAR / APR 2022 25 Powerlessness. It is a concept healers have had to grapple with since time immemorial — the inefficacy of cures. One would think, or at least hope, that those who enter the healthcare profession have hopes of healing, serving, and/or helping others as it is an empowered position to hold, the ability to heal. One doesn’t walk into the healing arts from a sense of frailty or weakness, but boldly with empathy and compassion for the patient, their family, or caretakers. The concept of powerlessness, however is often associated with drug addiction. The term“addiction,” in fact, is derived from the latin, addictus, which, we are told in ancient Rome, means, among other things, one who has sold themselves as a debt slave. There is even a myth of Addictus, a slave whose master set him free. But the slave was so used to his chains and his pain that when his master allowed him to roam and be free, the slave wandered the land with his “chains” still intact. All the time he wandered, his chains were unlocked, and he could have simply taken them off, but being so used to and so in love with his chains and pains, he chose to keep themon.Addictive drugs, it seems, hold not only the user impotent to its power, but also those who love the person and those trying to help. An eternal optimist might scream that this concept — powerlessness to a drug — runs counter to every cell in our body. Why would someone voluntarily submit to being dominated by a substance with such destructive tendencies? Are we and those impacted really powerless over the drug? The more we explored this topic, the more questions we had: What is addiction? Why does it happen? What came first, the addict or the usage? Is it a disease or a compulsive behavior? Why is relapse so common? Is addiction a mental health issue? How is the brain impacted? Is there a way to stop the destruction? What are friends/families to do? How are we, as an industry, dealing with the patient? Are rehab centers working? Is it a spiritual issue? How is our society dealing with drug addiction from a public health issue to a law-enforcement issue? Is there a solution? Do the 12 steps work? Is there a cure? In delving into the topic, it was decided, due to the complexity, that a series might better serve the topic of drug addiction than a regular feature (and yes, for the purpose of this series, alcohol is included). In this first part, we begin at the beginning — a historical and cultural view of man’s relationship with addictive drugs. It is this Journal’s sincere hope that this series might bring some of the best minds together in the hope of giving hope to the hopeless and power to the powerless and new, purposeful, abundant life to all those affected by the plague of drug addiction. There has to be a light to those in darkness, right?