Transcript Why are Drug Services like Lamp-posts?

“People use drug/alcohol
agencies in the same way they
might use a lamp-post;….”
John B.Davies
Centre for Applied Psychology
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow.
“…for support rather than
illumination.”
Source: Huff, D. “How to Lie with Statistics.” Pelican, 1954.
“People use statistics in the same way a drunk man uses a
lamp-post. For support rather than illumination”
Therapy….the search for a reason
that works for all concerned…
Part One.
Drugs and Identities.
Myths and media.
Gossop. “Living with Drugs”
(1982)
• Still a classic.
• Still fresh and new; and still somewhat
alarming for many people.
“The addict is often a fiction even to himself.”
(p 195)
Models of drug use 1:
The tortured genius.
• Gauguin; Van Goch; Turner etc
• Any jazz musician who was any good; plus
a lot of very bad ones.
• Freud
• Keats. Numerous authors.
A question for you: Who was it said
“Nothings a problem till the working
classes start doing it.”
Models of drug use 2.
‘The noble savage’.
• William Burroughs.
• Hunter S.Thompson. (“Naturally, one would
hesitate to recommend drugs, violence and insanity to
anyone…all I can say is, they’ve always worked for me.”)
• Charles Bukowski
• J.P. Dunleavy
Models of drug use 3.
The sick celebrity (aka the ‘good
for business’ model).
• Any number of ‘celebs’.
• Treatment as part of a business plan; as an
act of atonement; as an attempt to regain
former status…all posh/rich.
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KATE MOSS, MELANIE GRIFITHS, JENNIFER
CAPRIATI, MEL GIBSON….
Part Two.
Drugs and loss of identity.
The more mundane reality.
Models of drug use 5.
Unremarkable and sad.
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This is most common form.
It has no goal other than drug use itself.
Social-class related.
Solution: harm reduction.
WHY?
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The nature of audit.
The nature of the problem.
What other solution is there?
Why quit? If I quit, will the world get any
better?
Personal illumination is social; its
an action.
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Art Pepper
John Coltrane
Bill Evans
Jimmi Hendrix
Wynton Kelly
Miles Davis
Chet Baker
We need to ask the question,
“What are these people famous
for?”
They’re primarily famous for what they did;
not just for being drug users.
Note 1: YouTube Art Pepper. “You go to my head”
Note 2: Why are they all men?
You can think of your own drugusing high achievers.
• Hunter Thompson
• Julie Burchill (“…addiction is for wimps
who cant cope…”)
• Diego Maradonna
• George Best
• Gordon Cruickshank
We can’t all be world class at
something, but we can be
something.
But to me, just being a drug user or an exdrug user doesn’t seem to be a functional
social role. Surely there’s other things a
human being can aspire to?
Why do agencies so often
produce people whose own selfdefinition, and hence their
definition by others, is “addict”
or “ex-addict”; as if that was
their only defining feature?
What are the consequences?
• Sidelining people.
• Divorcing them from the roots of their own
behaviour.
• Containment
• Self-obsession?
Why do so many people never
leave it behind?
• Someone who has had pneumonia does not
become simply “an ex-pneumonia sufferer”.
Which proposition is most true?
“Once you quit you’re better or at least
recovering.”
OR
“Once you quit you’re back to square one.”
OK. So I’ve quit.
NOW WHAT, OH MIGHTY
COUNSELLOR?