Matthew Perry Debates Peter Hitchens on Drug Courts and Addiction

[@abigailhurley3370]

Peter is an idiot! 1) people who start having problems with alcohol and drugs don’t look into the future and think they will end up having to commit crime, so the justice system being tougher has no relevance here. 2) I work in custody and refer for treatment rather than imprisonment. There are so many people who have lived through horrendous trauma. 3) no one grows up and say “I want to be an addict” what a ham

[@marviwilson1853]

but Perry does admit he had a choice over the first drink. What follows is then his unforced wish. He had a choice. What happens next was up to him. Perry:- "I am in control of the first drink". So Mr Perry, take control. Use the will power you have of your self conscious being and win the fight. Find a way or die - your choice. As I am falling down a tall mountainous cliff in Norway I have no influence as to what will happen to me - there are no "allergies" to talk about but I do have the choice as to whether to jump or not!!

[@juniorsanchez24]

​@@marviwilson1853 Peter Hitchens didnt know or understand even a little what Perry is refering about when he says he cant control after a first drink and Peter said that he them has control of that first drink and is his decision and fault. Well its not simple as that cause for example if you are suffering from a constantly depression them alcohol and/or drugs are like a way to calm you down or give it a rest its like you are suffering from an awful physical pain and the only way to calm you down is something you know is not good you can try to avoid it but them you are probably not gonna resist and take it, and soul depression is even worse for some people (like Perry I am sure). So its not that simple for a guy like that Peter to say its your choice/fault like its that simple, its a horrible desease and its just cruel to say that in his position as he never faced something like that.

[@marviwilson1853]

@@juniorsanchez24 No one disagrees that drinking is a way that can calm you down. No one disagrees that drinking can be a way to combat depression and no one disagrees that it is nice to drink and get drunk. We must not get mixed up between these things and the choice not to have that first drink. The battle here is between the unconscious brain that wants the "pleasure" that ethanol gives it through the process of addiction and the conscious brain that knows full well that drinking will be no good for you. It's a battle between the conscious and unconscious for that first drink and comes down to a simple choice. That choice for the conscious self as we know and as you describe is extremely hard. It takes immense powers of will to make the right choice but nevertheless it always remains a choice. After the first drink off course we are in a world of chaos where the conscious has been nullified, (I don't remember what happened last night sort of think), and anything is possible including death.

[@marviwilson1853]

@@juniorsanchez24 and if I can add... there are two ways to fight alcoholism - work on the conscious brain or work on the unconscious brain. Working on the conscious brain is really hard as you have to install a sense of will power in the individual to do what is for the best and resist temptation. Places like alcoholics anonymous do this with constant meetings and reinforcement of the need for the personnel will. Therapy sessions and psychology meetings do the same. The easier way is to work on the unconscious brain and the way to do that is to trick the brain into "thinking" that alcohol is no longer "tasty", no longer a source of pleasure for it. If people take a special chemical before drinking that makes alcohol taste like shit then over a short time the brain is re conditioned to think that alcohol is no longer a source of pleasure. Alcoholism has gone. Just like that.

[@MarkSmith-tp6zc]

The act of will is necessary to get clean though. That will only comes from the sufferer. And it is the most glorious, liberating thing you can do for yourself. Hitchens is right on that but wrong on the state of addiction. Addiction is a real part of the process.