I do not understand western medicine's fascination with medication. It seems these days that everyone is searching for a pill that will be the answer to all of their ailments. Take this pill for that. Take that pill for this. Research which drug will cure this or aid with that. It simply goes on and on. We have become a medicated nation.

I am baffled by this when we see the consequences of drug addiction in our communities. We think our problems with addiction will be solved if only we can get a handle on the meth problem or the heroin problem or the marijuana problem. We can't see that many of the medications that are being handed by our doctors and pharmacies can be just has destructive as so-called street drugs. What's frightening to me is that we are trying to solve the drug addiction problem in our country by creating new drugs that these drug addicts can take to cure their drug addiction.

Does this faulty thinking make any sense? Are more drugs truly the only way to handle a drug addict's drug problem? Why can't we provide those suffering from addiction with a comprehensive drug free rehab program? Yes, I said it. Drug-free. This means skip the methadone clinic. Skip the Subaxone. Skip the anti-depressants. Skip the quick fix.

The cover story for the July 16, 2007 issue of Time Magazine delves into the nature of addiction and how "new brain research is helping us understand why we get hooked." The researchers involved use addicts' brains to "design new drugs that are showing promise in cutting off the craving that drives an addict irresistibly toward relapse." Great! Right? If an addict just didn't crave the drug, he would be fine.Partially, yes. But there is so much more to what causes an individual to get hooked on drugs. There are always underlying issues that the once sober individual is trying to escape. Giving an addict a drug to stop the craving only addresses a part of the problem. There must be drug free ways to reduce the cravings an addict experiences and provide a complete drug free rehab for the drug addict.

Holistic approaches to drug addiction have been developed and have been proven to work. One such program, the New Life Detoxification program offered at Narconon Vista Bay, truly addresses the cravings an addict experiences by cleansing the body of drug residues in a drug free setting, using vitamins and a sauna program at its base. The end result is that the cravings for drugs have disappeared. However, the program also addresses the underlying causes for the addiction in the first place. None of these wonder drugs for addiction deal with the root causes, which in all honesty, makes me question the motivation behind developing these types of drugs.

Who profits from these wonder drugs? Is it the drug addict who now has to support his new habit? What happens to this addict when he can't afford to get his medication? Will he return to using the bad street drugs and find himself caught in the trap of addiction all over again? These drugs to cure addiction are new. That means long term side effects are unknown. What will they be? What side effects will the addict have to deal with?

We have already seen what happens to those on methadone. We know that Subaxone is classified as a narcotic. We have seen that Ritalin, a methamphetamine, causes serious problems for our children. And yet, we keep pushing this idea that medication is the answer to addiction. When will see that drug free rehab is truly the only solution to our drug addiction problems?