News & Press

Community Wellness: How to use drugs

You may have heard the phrase, "Better Living Through Chemistry." According to Wikipedia, it is a variation of a DuPont advertising slogan from 1935, "Better Things for Better Living ... Through Chemistry." These days the phrase is thrown around to mean the practice of taking medications or drugs to make life more livable through the use of drugs.

 

By Robert Lathers, LMSWCEO, The Right Door for Hope, Recovery and Wellness

 

You may have heard the phrase, "Better Living Through Chemistry." According to Wikipedia, it is a variation of a DuPont advertising slogan from 1935, "Better Things for Better Living ... Through Chemistry." These days the phrase is thrown around to mean the practice of taking medications or drugs to make life more livable through the use of drugs.

There is no doubt that pharmaceuticals have been a wonderful and life-changing resource for many, many people. Advanced anti-psychotic, anti-anxiety and anti-depressant drugs are hugely responsible for the massive reduction of state hospitals throughout the country. People who were previously "sentenced" to long stays in those places, sometimes for an entire lifetime, are able to live productive meaningful lives in their own communities with the assistance of community mental health centers and the development of person-centered planning and programs to assist with housing and employment. Therein lies the solution. Not just drugs, but drugs combined with resources, counseling, and a concrete plan for a meaningful daily life of love and work that starts with the first pill.

There is a lot of debate right now about the utility and helpfulness of medical marijuana. Cumulative research is indicating that it has some benefits for diseases like glaucoma, chronic pain, nausea from chemotherapy and Crohn's disease. But if the marijuana prescription and its use is not combined with the holistic treatment of the individual, it is nothing more than recreational. It is in fact just a "legal" excuse to use marijuana. And it is without exception — "drug abuse."

Whenever we are using a drug, regardless of the drug, it should always be integrated with counseling, physical and diet plans, and other social supports. When any drug is used on its own, without counseling or a clear plan developed with a physician, it's most likely abuse. Prescribing Ritalin or any other drugs to manage a child's behavior is a bad idea, and yes abusive, unless that prescription is combined with counseling for the family. That is an indisputable fact even it makes some people upset and defensive.

Suboxone and Vivatrol and even narcan used to intervene and treat opioid dependence are drugs that shouldn't be taken without a recovery plan that includes counseling combined with family and employer support. Otherwise it's simply a continuation of the opioid abuse.

Prescribed medications can make all the difference in the world for those who need them to treat an illness. But prescriptions, including medical marijuana, are not a fix-all, particularly when it comes to emotional problems, behavioral problems or mental illness. A psychiatrist, whom I have a lot of respect for, recently told me that medications are generally only 20 percent of the solution and that recovery and health can only be obtained and maintained when combined with a whole-person approach that includes physical, spiritual and social changes. And that is how to use drugs most effectively.

 

Robert Lathers, LMSW, is the CEO of The Right Door for Hope, Recovery and Wellness, formerly Ionia County Community Mental Health. His email address is rlathers@rightdoor.org. He welcomes your comments and questions. If you have a mental health emergency, call 911 or our 24-hour crisis line at 1-888-527-1790. Visit The Right Door online at www.rightdoor.org and find us on Facebook. The Right Door in Ionia will be open every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.