ACUPUNCTURE TREATMENT CONFERENCE
IV
April
9,1999
After storm and hail the previous
afternoon, Friday morning dawned with the promise of spring.
It was a good omen for a great conference. Behind the scenes,
shortly before the scheduled starting time, committee members
were still dressing up the round tables with green and white
table clothes and pink and white carnations. The effect
was stunningly beautiful. As the hundred some attendees
poured into the room, they were immediately engaged in a
"treasure hunt" to get acquainted and to get into
a safe and healthy frame of mind.
As Dan Bava, director of San Joaquin
County Office of Substance Abuse made his welcome remarks;
Vice Mayor Gloria Nomura presented the organizers and sponsors
of the conference with a Commendation from the Mayor and
City Council of Stockton. The Vice Mayor was followed by
representatives from Assemblyman Mike Machado’s office,
Senator Patrick Johnston’s office, and the County Board
of Supervisors presenting Certificates of Recognition.
The conference co-chairs were PCMC’s
medical director Dr. Yi-po Anthony Wu and San Joaquin County’s
alcohol and drug administrator George Feicht, who also assumed
the role of Master of Ceremonies for the day.
Acupuncture
in Addiction Treatment
Keynote speaker David Eisen, MSW, L.Ac., OMD brought to
us the Oregon experience, not only of PAAC (Portland Addiction
Acupuncture Center), but also of CCC (Central City Concern).
Eisen, Richard Harris, director of CCC, and many others
share the vision of rebuilding society through social healing.
They put housing, jobs, treatment, education, compassion
and spirituality on the plate of recovery. Acupuncture treatment
programs work with many aspects of life.
Twenty-one years ago, in the U.S.,
there was only one acupuncture treatment program. That was
Dr. Michael O. Smith’s program at Lincoln hospital
in the Bronx, New York. Today, there are over 1,000 programs
worldwide. Four years ago Stockton was without an acupuncture
treatment program. Today Stockton has four. Most programs
look at the structure of the care provider as a foundation
to include acupuncture. Years ago we thought that the complete
treatment was the acupuncture ear points. Today we know
that it was just the beginning of the path to recovery.
Acupuncture treatment programs work
well with other community programs to help recovering addicts
find work, counseling, childcare classes, housing and a
sense of self worth. Part of recovering is dealing with
your everyday life without the use of a substance. Besides
needing a lot of outside help and support, recovery means
learning to like oneself and to be in touch with one’s
own body and feelings.
Addiction is a public health concern.
Gambling is the fastest growing addiction across the country.
There are now treatment programs to help this addiction
just as other drug addiction programs. Sex addiction has
a great impact on a community because "sex without
love is a dangerous thing" and along with this addiction
may come HIV and prostitution. Nicotine is the "gateway"
drug and puts our young at risk for future problems. "How
many people know an alcoholic or heroine addict who doesn’t
smoke?" asked Eisen. Only two people raised their hands.
Sugar addiction was also brought up. Acupuncture offers
the same dynamics for these addictions when added to substance
abuse programs.
PAAC believes in "social healing"
and group treatment. Communities need to be aware and take
responsibility for its own support programs. We need to
"break down the isolation" and bring people together
in recovery.
Treatment Saves
Another concern is access to treatment. In a MediaOne program,
(Talking It Through with John Morearty), recorded the day
before the conference, Muin Daly, licensed acupuncturist
who co-founded ARTS (Acupuncture in Recovery Treatment Services),
and who works for the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department,
made the observation that, in California, "It is frightening
how many people have to get to jail to get treatment."
In Oregon, one does not have to be busted to get treatment.
It is "treatment on demand." The outpatient PAAC
program in Portland costs $3,200 a year as opposed to $24,000
a year to keep a drug addict in jail. To this cost ratio,
George Feicht quickly added that, if untreated, addiction
has much hidden cost. While "cocaine addicts don’t
have a primary care physician, they all have a primary care
connection." In other words, they show up in ER.
During the four-year period of San
Joaquin County Drug Court, 189 graduated. According to presiding
judge Rolleen McIlwrath, the number of bed days in the county
jail that have been permanently stayed totaled 89 years
and the number of bed days in state prison that have been
permanently stayed totaled 42 years.
The Role of Acupuncture in On-going
Recovery
The hard part about addiction is ongoing recovery. Everyday
life sometimes contributes to relapses. The stress of life,
family, bills, work, and relationships can lead a person
back to his/her addictions. Acupuncture combined with counseling,
NA, AA, three square meals a day and a place to sleep is
a powerful combination.
Muin Daly likened her "journey
back" to that of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz:
"It is always there within you."
"Are you in recovery?"
"Yes, and so are you."
Daly pointed out that "We are
living in a wounded culture on a wounded planet." We
are all on a journey of recovery and should never take that
for granted. Referring to her own experience with acupuncture
and recovery, she said that miracles are not necessarily
the apparition of an angel, nor that required of the canonization
of a saint. In acupuncture, disclosure happens to us before
disclosure takes the form of spoken words. She said she
went to it like fish to water. We may call it New Age consciousness.
We may put it in modern therapeutic terms, but it is old,
old stuff. It is the basic simple belief in every tribe.
Also, there is energetic exchange and group dynamics in
a healing circle.
Integrative Treatment Strategies
We look at addiction as a lifestyle problem. Some get an
adrenaline rush fighting and arguing with people. Others
get a rush with a candy bar. Carolyn Reuben, L.Ac. of Community
Acupuncture Recovery Associates (CARA) serving Sacramento
Drug Court suggested a paradigm shift. Her approach is "not
so much to stop what you are doing, rather, it is to start
what you should be doing." Sugar sensitivity is linked
to predisposition toward alcoholism, overweight, depression,
fatigue, frustration and irritation. Reuben believes addiction
is a biochemical problem, and that it should be dealt with
on a biochemical level. In Sacramento Drug Court, Reuben
combines acupuncture with a nutrition regimen.
Carolyn Reuben’s most recent
book, Cleansing the Body, Mind and Spirit (1998)
devoted a chapter to the role of acupuncture and nutrition
in alcohol and drug treatment.
Michael Nian-Peng Shi, L.Ac. from
Pacific Complementary Medicine Center maintained that acupuncture
detoxification is a part of the whole process of complementary
treatment for addiction. Shi maintained that traditional
Chinese medicine (TCM) is at once physical and spiritual
and that acupuncture and herbs (including nutrition), being
part of TCM, address all aspects of body, mind, and spirit.
Tai Chi exercise is also a part of
TCM. Tai Chi classes were initiated in Stockton’s treatment
programs to provide an additional tool for recovery. Used
with acupuncture, it helps with meditation, breathing, centering
and developing emotional literacy.
One crucial thing in addictions is
a loss of spiritual essence. We are spinning out of control.
Acupuncture allows us to feel good without getting high,
to get in touch with ourselves without having to engage
in verbal communication. It is safe and it is forgiving.
We don’t have to ’fess up.
Two local programs were showcased
at the conference: Family Ties and KADAP. Family Ties is
a perinatal care residential program while KADAP stands
for Kid’s Alternative Drug and Alcohol Program, a joint
project of Juvenile Drug Court, the Probation Department,
the Office of Substance Abuse, Pacific Complementary Medicine
Center and the Office of Education. Participants from these
programs were on the stage as well as in the audience. Yi-po
Anthony Wu, M.D., M.P.H. shared his perspectives from medicine
and Public Health. Dr. Wu explained the physiological needs
of those detoxifying from addictive chemical substance.
Counseling is an important part of
all of these programs. During the day Elaine Clark, substance
abuse counselor of the Acupuncture Treatment Center, Pamela
Smith of Family Ties, Anthony Lopez of KADAP, as well as
Melinda Meyer Niemi from the Alternative Programs of San
Joaquin County Office of Education, and Dr. Phyllis Wakefield
of Stockton Kaiser Permanente Chemical Dependency Services,
and Rebecca Blossom with San Joaquin County Drug Court were
featured. Family dynamics, healthy lifestyles, conflict
and anger management, and other cognitive-behavioral treatment
issues were emphasized.
Drug Court in
the Criminal Justice System
"The
disease of addiction is not a crime," concurred David
Eisen, Drug Court judges Tomar Mason and Rolleen McIlwrath,
and Stockton Police Department Chief Ed Chavez. The understanding
of addiction as a chronic relapsing disease is the basic
premise on which drug courts are founded. We do not put
people with diabetes or hypertension in jail, then why are
we putting people with the disease of addiction in jail
instead of giving them treatment? As San Joaquin County
Drug Court counselor Rebecca Blossom aptly put it, "Drug
addicts are not bad people. They are people who made bad
choices." There is a way out. Drug court is the diversion
program in the criminal justice system to provide a way
out.
Rebecca Blossoms is
a Substance Abuse Counselor working with
San Joaquin County
Drug Court
Ed Chavez, Honorary Chairman of the
Conference delivered his closing remarks saying that when
he started with the police force twenty-six years ago, "Hook’em
and book’em" was a cop’s mentality. If you
broke a law, jail was the answer. Today we know that jail
is not always the right answer. There are some offenders
who deserve to be isolated from the rest of society, but
sometimes a treatment program is much more effective.
Chavez applauded the juvenile drug
court efforts for not letting society toss away its youths
when addictions take over. He said, "Twenty-six years
ago the youths that participate in KADAP would probably
have been imprisoned. We have come a long way but there
is much left to be done to restore order to our communities
and families." People from different walks of life
have the same thing in common, they want productive families
and healthier communities. We are here to promote treatment
that works. "Use what works," Chavez urged, "acupuncture,
herbs, counseling, nutrition, spirituality, etc."
The organizers of the conference
would like to take this opportunity to confirm our commitment
to wellness for all. Creating a healthy community lies in
raising our awareness of what works and building partnerships
that offer treatment and recovery opportunities to all who
need it.
