Close Encounters with Addiction
Vancouver’s Downtown East Side is rough and a catch-all for the city’s displaced. Here, in these few city blocks, lies the Portland Hotel where Dr. Gabor Mate treats the city’s forgotten and downtrodden for addiction. In this book, Dr. Mate aims to explain the psychosocial roots of addiction – whether it be alcohol, sex, gambling – in a way that has not been done before.
It is easy to take the conventional scientific cause-and-effect relationship when it comes to explaining addictions. This neat model absolves policymakers and the systems around us of any responsibility. You may notice a theme as this is in line with Dr. Mate’s experiences with treating chronic stress. The blame goes directly to the individual, whether from a genetic perspective or moral failing. But is addiction this simple?
Not only do we avert our eyes from the hardcore drug addict to avoid seeing ourselves; we do so to avoid facing our share of responsibility.
Dr. Gabor mate
A New Approach to Addiction is Needed
Treating a population that is heavily First Nation in identity, the experiences of Dr. Mate have been quite astonishing. There is an almost guaranteed pattern of childhood abuse and dysfunction that exists in his patients. As a Canadian, it was difficult to make it through to the end of this book as it forced me to acknowledge the abhorrent structures put in place to deal with our “Native problem”. A people who’s identities and lives have been stolen from them (quite literally) seek to deal with the pain through the easiest means available.
While tackling the traditional arguments of genetic predisposition, tougher laws, and moral uprightness, Dr. Mate sets forth a challenging viewpoint on addictions. Current legal and social policies tend to favor punishing the addict rather than working towards rehabilitation. And why not? Fixing the problem at its root, through improved foster care and social services, costs money. And that exactly is the root of the problem. Addiction is not an innate human desire. With the right mechanisms and support in place, addicts can also recover and rebuild their lives.
Recommendation: Read with Reflection
Dr. Mate writes through the experiences of his patients and his own personal addiction. The book, although lengthy, provides a much needed moment of reflection for who we are as a society and how we treat those that have been dealt an unfavorable hand in life.
