News
Editorial Comment 6/2/2020: The ways we treat one another
Kelly Corredor, ASAM’s Chief Advocacy Officer, rightly put before me the actions of several other professional groups in response to the nation's reactions to the arrest-related death of George Floyd. I offer sincere condolences to the Floyd family, knowing that peace is a difficult quality to find just now. My hope is that they will find some solace in changes that these events may catalyze. There are attitudes and beliefs illuminated by his death which affect the treatment of our patient population, as well.
In almost three millennia of historical record-keeping, humanity continues to vacillate between two poles: claims of special entitlements for one group over another; and imprecations to treat one another with equal regard. We seem to be an uncommonly stupid species, who cannot in all that time come to understand how central to universal happiness is the principle of universal respect. Despite having reduced the formula for such respect to one simple Golden Rule, we appear incapable of complying with it. I see some of this in myself, in relatives, and in friends; it’s dismaying. Of course, I am lightning-swift to see it in others who are not even acquaintances.
Our illness population, those living with active addiction, may be unique in how profoundly it is disliked. It certainly finds itself a frequent target for social disapproval and for punishment; even, as has been the case in the Philippines and previously in Thailand, for execution at the hands of civil authority. Such treatment has as commonly been for having the illness, as for bad conduct or crimes committed in addiction’s course. Low levels of sympathy and support in the community reflect widespread prejudices, beliefs that those with addiction are defective, corrupt, or immoral. We recognize those perceptions as components of bigotry, so we will be unsurprised that addictions are frequently mistakenly associated with cultural groups, and are added to the trumped-up bases for discrimination. Assertions of these associations do not go away easily: alcohol and Irish; cocaine and Latinos; heroin and African-Americans; alcohol – again - and First Nations. Add to the list methamphetamine and MDMA with those who are LGBTQ, because we really have no reliable demographic, identifying data for this population. And yet, as data collection improves, and the level of understanding shifts from belief to actual knowledge, these associations are progressively seen to be distortions, even falsehoods. Worse, they subtly subtract from therapeutic effort, by encouraging a nihilistic view of the minority patient’s prospects.
In interpreting the events of the past week, please consider the following commentaries from these professional societies:
AMA: https://www.ama-assn.org/about/leadership/police-brutality-must-stop
APA (Psychology): https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2020/05/racism-pandemic
National Council Behavioral Health: https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/press-releases/statement-from-executive-leadership-team-of-the-national-council-for-behavioral-health-on-the-death-of-george-floyd/
… and lay press, The Hill: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/500336-michigan-sheriff-joins-protestors-marching-over-george-floyd-death
- W. Haning, MD