I just finished reading Theodore Dalrymple’s Romancing Opiates: Pharmacological Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy. Dr. Dalrymple worked for fourteen years in a hospital in Britain where he dealt with over 20,000 patients. His thesis in this brief work is that opiates are non-addictive. It is the media and the pharmacological industry, for financial interest, that has caused the widespread belief that opiates are addictive.
The book is fascinating, relying on ken logic and anecdotal evidence. Dr. Dalrymple specifically takes issue with the Beat writer, William S. Burroughs and his writings about opiates, showing that Burroughs does contradict himself and present withdrawal as a minor issue with opiates.
The book is written for lay people, I would say, and he presents a strong argument. The one area of weakness is that this book is anecdotal. There is no presentation of scientific support for his thesis. (But then, one could argue it is not possible to provide proof for a negative...)
This is certainly a work to make one think as we minister to those who abuse drugs. It is also a work that should make us consider what action we ought take regarding our politicians and the pharmaceutical companies and their claims. There is talk of weakening the restrictions on prescriptions, for example. Do we want less proof and less regulation with our medications?
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