Drug Cessation Methods and Punishments of the Past
In ancient times the motivation for most addicts to stop using was the fear of significant punishments.
In some cases addicts and alcoholics - especially those that made spectacles of themselves - were imprisoned, forced to endure the stockades, publicly humiliated, tortured, mutilated and even killed.
Treatment as we know it did not exist throughout most of the thousands of years that humanity has struggled with addiction, so people in recovery today can be grateful for yet another blessing.
Banishment In some societies, banishment was the punishment or "cure" for problematic drug addicts or alcoholics.
In fact, this is a practice that is being revived today.
In an article for the New York Times by Sarah Kershaw and Monica Davey, the plight of the Lummi Nation is discussed.
The Lummi - an Indian Nation in Washington State - have begun to banish tribe members who are convicted of drug crimes, DUIs or other alcohol-related charges.
While controversial, the tribal leaders have repeatedly stressed that this type of punishment is an ancient yet formerly neglected practice.
(Kershaw, Sarah and Davey, Monica Plagued By Drugs, Tribes Revive Ancient Penalty The New York Times 01/18/2004) Corporal Punishment From whippings to beatings to quartering and limb-crushing, addicts have suffered through various types of corporal punishment for their misdoings.
This also includes tobacco users, who have been subjected to some of the worst of these punishments during the Middle Ages.
The 'Letric Law Library's, A History of Drug Use & Prohibition states that punishment for tobacco use under Sultan Murad IV of the Ottoman Empire included beheading, quartering and crushing of hands and feet - administered at the Sultan's whim when he caught soldiers smoking on the battlefield.
('Letric Law Library Stacks, A History of Drug Use and Prohibition) Imprisonment Imprisonment has been a punishment and motivator to cessation for addicts for hundreds of years.
In fact, it could be argued that as a detox method, temporary incarceration may actually provide some benefit, but only if the addict is unable to obtain drugs while imprisoned.
Fortunately modern prisons often offer treatment for substance abuse, whereas prisons of the past did not.
For those addicted to substances like alcohol, barbiturates or benzodiazepines, a lack of treatment in prison during detox could prove dangerous and even deadly in some cases.
Lobotomies A lobotomy is a surgical procedure where the frontal lobe of the brain is disabled via the severing of its nerve connections to the thalamus.
This was a common practice until the 1950's and left thousands of people radically changed to the point of being completely emotionless, rendering them into a vegetable state and in some cases resulting in death.
This practice was used for a wide variety of purposes; "Lobotomies were performed on patients suffering from severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia and clinical depression, although its use on people identified as having social disorders was not unknown.
" (Long, Tony You Should (Not) Have a Lobotomy 11/12/2008 in Wired) In the early part of the twentieth century until the early 1980's, social disorders included drug addiction and alcoholism, often in combination with other real or perceived conditions.
Electrocution The early days of psychotherapy - which sought to control illnesses like schizophrenia, depression, alcoholism and drug addiction, among others, sometimes used barbaric methods.
This was especially true in the early part of the last century, when lobotomies were as common as electroshock "therapy.
" This type of therapy involved the attachment of electrodes to a patient and the passing of sometimes dangerous amounts of electrical current into the body.
The theory was that changes in behavior could be effected this way, and to some degree this theory was true, except for the fact that in nearly all cases the changes were a dramatic worsening of symptoms as well as the appearance of new ones - especially severe and debilitating memory loss.
Unfortunately, this type of therapy is still in use by isolated practitioners today, according to an article in the Westend Weekly by Marlene Deschamps; "But ECT has made a comeback, mostly in the treatment of depression related symptoms.
In 1997 Ontario doctors billed OHIP for 12,400 treatments.
" (ECT is an acronym for Electric Convulsive Therapy) Treatment with Heroin or Cocaine While it's widely known that early psychotherapists like Sigmund Freud once recommended cocaine as a treatment for alcoholics and drug addicts, few people recall that heroin was developed partly as a method to help people overcome morphine addiction.
Unfortunately, heroin turned out to be even more addicting and has resulted in a significant public health issue that continues to this day.
Freud and his associates also found out the hard way that cocaine was as addicting or even more so than some of the substances their patients were already addicted to.
When it comes to the past, the horror stories of detox, withdrawal and punishments for drug-related crimes are often true.
Fortunately, powerful and safe treatment options are available today that have helped thousands of people achieve sobriety and live a life free from addiction or alcoholism.
So even for addicts who are currently struggling with the disease of addiction, there is hope, and especially when compared to the ways of the past, things for most people really might not be so bad after all.
In some cases addicts and alcoholics - especially those that made spectacles of themselves - were imprisoned, forced to endure the stockades, publicly humiliated, tortured, mutilated and even killed.
Treatment as we know it did not exist throughout most of the thousands of years that humanity has struggled with addiction, so people in recovery today can be grateful for yet another blessing.
Banishment In some societies, banishment was the punishment or "cure" for problematic drug addicts or alcoholics.
In fact, this is a practice that is being revived today.
In an article for the New York Times by Sarah Kershaw and Monica Davey, the plight of the Lummi Nation is discussed.
The Lummi - an Indian Nation in Washington State - have begun to banish tribe members who are convicted of drug crimes, DUIs or other alcohol-related charges.
While controversial, the tribal leaders have repeatedly stressed that this type of punishment is an ancient yet formerly neglected practice.
(Kershaw, Sarah and Davey, Monica Plagued By Drugs, Tribes Revive Ancient Penalty The New York Times 01/18/2004) Corporal Punishment From whippings to beatings to quartering and limb-crushing, addicts have suffered through various types of corporal punishment for their misdoings.
This also includes tobacco users, who have been subjected to some of the worst of these punishments during the Middle Ages.
The 'Letric Law Library's, A History of Drug Use & Prohibition states that punishment for tobacco use under Sultan Murad IV of the Ottoman Empire included beheading, quartering and crushing of hands and feet - administered at the Sultan's whim when he caught soldiers smoking on the battlefield.
('Letric Law Library Stacks, A History of Drug Use and Prohibition) Imprisonment Imprisonment has been a punishment and motivator to cessation for addicts for hundreds of years.
In fact, it could be argued that as a detox method, temporary incarceration may actually provide some benefit, but only if the addict is unable to obtain drugs while imprisoned.
Fortunately modern prisons often offer treatment for substance abuse, whereas prisons of the past did not.
For those addicted to substances like alcohol, barbiturates or benzodiazepines, a lack of treatment in prison during detox could prove dangerous and even deadly in some cases.
Lobotomies A lobotomy is a surgical procedure where the frontal lobe of the brain is disabled via the severing of its nerve connections to the thalamus.
This was a common practice until the 1950's and left thousands of people radically changed to the point of being completely emotionless, rendering them into a vegetable state and in some cases resulting in death.
This practice was used for a wide variety of purposes; "Lobotomies were performed on patients suffering from severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia and clinical depression, although its use on people identified as having social disorders was not unknown.
" (Long, Tony You Should (Not) Have a Lobotomy 11/12/2008 in Wired) In the early part of the twentieth century until the early 1980's, social disorders included drug addiction and alcoholism, often in combination with other real or perceived conditions.
Electrocution The early days of psychotherapy - which sought to control illnesses like schizophrenia, depression, alcoholism and drug addiction, among others, sometimes used barbaric methods.
This was especially true in the early part of the last century, when lobotomies were as common as electroshock "therapy.
" This type of therapy involved the attachment of electrodes to a patient and the passing of sometimes dangerous amounts of electrical current into the body.
The theory was that changes in behavior could be effected this way, and to some degree this theory was true, except for the fact that in nearly all cases the changes were a dramatic worsening of symptoms as well as the appearance of new ones - especially severe and debilitating memory loss.
Unfortunately, this type of therapy is still in use by isolated practitioners today, according to an article in the Westend Weekly by Marlene Deschamps; "But ECT has made a comeback, mostly in the treatment of depression related symptoms.
In 1997 Ontario doctors billed OHIP for 12,400 treatments.
" (ECT is an acronym for Electric Convulsive Therapy) Treatment with Heroin or Cocaine While it's widely known that early psychotherapists like Sigmund Freud once recommended cocaine as a treatment for alcoholics and drug addicts, few people recall that heroin was developed partly as a method to help people overcome morphine addiction.
Unfortunately, heroin turned out to be even more addicting and has resulted in a significant public health issue that continues to this day.
Freud and his associates also found out the hard way that cocaine was as addicting or even more so than some of the substances their patients were already addicted to.
When it comes to the past, the horror stories of detox, withdrawal and punishments for drug-related crimes are often true.
Fortunately, powerful and safe treatment options are available today that have helped thousands of people achieve sobriety and live a life free from addiction or alcoholism.
So even for addicts who are currently struggling with the disease of addiction, there is hope, and especially when compared to the ways of the past, things for most people really might not be so bad after all.
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