{"id":23346,"date":"2017-03-10T03:47:33","date_gmt":"2017-03-10T11:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=23346"},"modified":"2017-03-08T14:09:12","modified_gmt":"2017-03-08T22:09:12","slug":"how-best-to-treat-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2017\/03\/10\/how-best-to-treat-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"How best to treat addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Feb. 22 panel discussion at Congregation Schara Tzedeck featured, left to right, moderator Dr. Auby Axler and panelists Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt, Dr. Jenny Melamed, David Berner and Rebecca Denham. (photo by Zach Sagorin)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Approximately 5,000 Jews in the local Jewish community need support around addiction, according to Jewish Addiction Community Services Vancouver.<\/p>\n

JACS offers various support programs for those battling addiction, and their families and friends, and organizes events for community education and awareness. On the evening of Feb. 22, at Congregation Schara Tzedeck, the agency partnered with Schara Tzedeck and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver for a panel discussion on the fentanyl crisis and addiction in the Jewish community in general. Participating panelists were Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt, addiction medical specialist Dr. Jenny Melamed, addiction therapist David Berner and director of services at JACS, Rebecca Denham; the moderator was Dr. Auby Axler.<\/p>\n

\u201cJACS Vancouver is a new agency trying to tackle a taboo and shame-filled topic that can ignite passionate responses and strong resistance,\u201d explained Denham in an email. It is committed to supporting community needs relating to substance use, and values a diversity of perspectives on addiction treatment.<\/p>\n

At the panel discussion, Rosenblatt spoke about some of the community concerns and the internal conflicts that some people experience when trying to determine the best approaches to addiction support.<\/p>\n

Melamed, an addiction doctor who has been treating people with opioid addiction for 15 years, said, \u201cPeople have been dying from heroin, people have been dying from all drugs\u2026. There are many drugs out there that are as dangerous. Alcohol is one of the most dangerous drugs out there, 90% of the trauma seen in the [emergency room] after midnight is from alcohol. A heroin addict is a calm, sedated person who is nodding off in a corner, he\u2019s not violent; he\u2019s a danger to himself, and he\u2019s not a danger to anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n

She explained, \u201cAddiction is a … disease situated in the primitive part of the brain\u2026. The addiction goes and sits there and it says, \u2018if you do not use me, you will die, you need me.\u2019 This is where the team comes in\u2026. We\u2019ve got the ability to say, \u2018I\u2019m not going to listen to you anymore.\u2019 But the power to overcome that is what is needed and it is strong and it requires meetings, it requires therapy, it requires a team, it really is a village to keep somebody sober in the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 40 people attended the discussion and Melamed commented, \u201cWhen you look at how big the Jewish community is and how small the attendance is here tonight \u2026 we live with our heads in the sand and we don\u2019t realize how many of us have family members who are in addiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to remove the stigma related to addiction. When we tried to get somebody in recovery to talk tonight, we couldn\u2019t find anybody in the Jewish community who would come and stand up, because we put that big addiction sticker on people\u2019s forehead. But we all know that it can happen to anybody. Yes, there is an enormous genetic component, a 40% genetic component when it comes to addiction, but there is trauma. Sexual abuse happens in any religion. Everything happens across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Downtown Eastside is often considered the centre of addiction and drug use, Melamed said this is not the reality. \u201cThe people on the DTES make up maybe one to five percent of the drug-using population. Seventy-five percent of people using drugs are what we call functional \u2026 nobody knows what is going on out there. If you can afford your heroin habit, then you\u2019re OK until you overdose and it takes you over to the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berner, founder and executive director of a residential treatment centre for drug addicts and alcoholics, has conducted almost 11,000 therapy groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cAddictions are coping mechanisms…. I\u2019ve never met someone in addiction who hasn\u2019t had a terrible upbringing, who hasn\u2019t had severe trauma, serious trauma,\u201d Berner said. \u201cI\u2019ve rarely met anyone who has addiction who hasn\u2019t suffered physical or sexual abuse, or emotional-psychological abuse, or financial abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berner posed the rhetorical question, \u201cCan you change? No.\u201d But, he said, \u201cYou can change the things you do, including picking up [drugs or alcohol].\u201d<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cEvery week I give a lecture, every Tuesday morning, and then do group therapy. One of the things I say week in and week out is, I don\u2019t want to hear about your substance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berner also commented on the government\u2019s spending on addiction services in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got harm reduction, that\u2019s it!\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then prevention, treatment and the law are not only ignored officially \u2026 they are officially denigrated by the health department, by the ministry of health, and anyone that can make a decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to an audience question \u2013 \u201cHow does the word recreational fit in with the level of risk that\u2019s involved in drugs?\u201d \u2013 Melamed responded, \u201cI think you have to replace the word recreational now with Russian roulette because that\u2019s the word we\u2019re using. There is no safe use.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven with marijuana?\u201d asked another audience member.<\/p>\n

Melamed said she knows, based on urine samples she has taken, that \u201csome of the marijuana is laced with fentanyl.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, a man in the audience, identifying himself as a federal prosecutor who works with the police on narcotics, countered that assertion. \u201cMy understanding, after looking at various police files on where this has been reported, [is that] marijuana laced with fentanyl \u2026 is anecdotal. It is from people who have overdosed in a non-fatal manner and have reported it to hospital authorities, doctors, police officers, [saying] \u2018all I used was marijuana,\u2019 and this is to avoid, in my understanding, the stigma of being labeled a hard drug user\u2026. There has been no actual seizure by police in B.C. of marijuana laced with fentanyl.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the prosecutor added, \u201cWe see cocaine laced with fentanyl, we see a lot of heroin laced with fentanyl, we see methamphetamine laced with fentanyl.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Purim approaching, Rosenblatt noted, \u201cDrinking on Purim happens a lot, especially in the Orthodox Jewish community, because there is a statement in the Talmud \u2013 a person is obligated to drink on Purim until they don\u2019t know the difference between cursed be Haman, who is the villain of the story, and blessed by Mordechai, who is the hero.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cMaimonides says the way you should be happy on Purim is by spending most of your effort feeding the poor on Purim. Why? You would think that maybe Maimonides was democratic and would say something very nice like the poor deserve a holiday, too.\u2026 That\u2019s not what Maimonides says at all. Maimonides says that there is no greater joy in the world than helping another person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJACS was born out of a necessity and I think it is important to remind you that JACS is here to support you,\u201d said Denham in wrapping up the event. \u201cIf a question doesn\u2019t get answered tonight or if an issue gets triggered for you, reach out to us and we will support you just as the community has supported us. We wouldn\u2019t be here today without the kind accepting spirit that runs deep throughout this community. From the support of the rabbinical leaders, professionals, individuals, family foundations, the support of the Federation \u2026 all of whom continue to strengthen JACS services \u2026 we are bringing this much-needed discussion away from shame and into a supportive light.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about JACS Vancouver, Denham can be reached at rdenham@jacsvancouver.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zach Sagorin<\/strong> is a Vancouver freelance writer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Feb. 22 panel discussion at Congregation Schara Tzedeck featured, left to right, moderator Dr. Auby Axler and panelists Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt, Dr. Jenny Melamed, David Berner and Rebecca Denham. (photo by Zach Sagorin) Approximately 5,000 Jews in the local Jewish community need support around addiction, according to Jewish Addiction Community Services Vancouver. JACS offers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2551,6517,2864,4435,6820,6819],"class_list":["post-23346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-addiction","tag-fentanyl","tag-health","tag-jacs","tag-rebecca-denham","tag-substance-abuse"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}