HLTHAGE 2L03 Lecture 3: HLTHAGE 2L03 - Lecture 3.1 - McMaster University

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Health, Aging and Society
• Course: HLTHAGE 2L03
• Professor: All

Document Summary

Questions to ponder: different responses are beneficial to different people and not all treatments will work for all people. People use drugs because they benefit from them: when moralizing someone, it can push them away. Incorporates all drugs (legal/illegal) into single category- (cid:862)drug users(cid:863) rather tha(cid:374) addicts and drug abuse: humanity: users are human beings with rights to self-determination and input on how to reduce harms to themselves. Incorporate their goals, desires, hopes and wishes etc: very focused on the person, and it is a fundamentally explicit rejection of the vice model. In process, society as a whole will benefit (lower healthcare costs, lower policing costs, less inequality, etc. ) Barriers to public health and harm reduction: moral argu(cid:373)e(cid:374)ts, (cid:862)tough sell(cid:863) duri(cid:374)g electio(cid:374) cycles. Interests of enforcement industry: courts, lawyers, cops, etc. If addiction is adaptive, should we not be trying to change society more fundamentally: treatment: focuses on individual, aimed at reducing/eliminating behavior.