GUEST: Elaine Trumpetto, Executive Director for The Council on Addiction Prevention and Education of Dutchess County, talks about drug and alcohol abuse and the options available for treatment.
It didn't take us long to get off the well worn track of drug addiction and how intervention helps. There were questions about whether the emphasis on addiction played a role in the arrest and incarceration of people of color. In Dutchess County, African Americans are three times more likely to end up in jail than whites, despite the fact that whites and blacks abuse drugs at very similar rates.
Then there were questions about why the state defines addictions in such a narrow range. Worrying about high schoolers smoking dope is pretty silly when we think nothing of sending graduates off to fight in the empire's endless wars. Why isn't there a death and dismemberment council in Dutchess County that would warn students not to listen to military recruiters?
In all, Elaine did very well in returning the discussion to education and intervention as a way to improve people's lives. We ended the interview with Eli's poem on the range of addictions that we know are self defeating. I will ask him for it and post it here.
Eli's Poem:
About Addiction
I do it - it's bad - I know it. I do it - can't stop - I know it.
I do it - I like it - Can't stop. I do it - I hate it - Can't stop.
Drinking, drugging, sexing, working. Shopping, betting, buying, eating. Smoking, stealing, starving, hoarding. Snorting, sniffing, bingeing, whoring.
I do it - it's bad - I know it. I do it - can't stop - I know it.
Eli's Poem:
About Addiction
I do it - it's bad - I know it. I do it - can't stop - I know it.
I do it - I like it - Can't stop. I do it - I hate it - Can't stop.
Drinking, drugging, sexing, working. Shopping, betting, buying, eating. Smoking, stealing, starving, hoarding. Snorting, sniffing, bingeing, whoring.
I do it - it's bad - I know it. I do it - can't stop - I know it.
