Socialism is Good for your Health

A new study from the Cato Institute finds that Portugal's policy on drug decriminalization is paying health dividends. Portugal decriminalized possession of all drugs on July 1, 2001, including heroin and cocaine. Trafficking in drugs is still a criminal offense. The study clearly indicates rehab is a major component of the success of the decriminalization policy, and that such rehab needs to be available to all. Successful rehab is thus only possible when health is a public service. Without a public health program, most users (who are poor) would be unable to afford rehab (which tends to be relatively expensive), thus removing any possibility of improved public health outcomes - users will remain as users with increasing incidence of STD & death. Unfortunately, the US would rather spend untold sums on the War on Drugs, and on the incarceration of users. Apparently it is still un-American (to some) to invest those sums in public health.

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The record of George W. Bush regarding AIDS

When asked what Bush accomplished during his eight years in office, many people point out that he was responsible for putting together a comprehensive AIDS program for Africa. In an article called, "An Unlikely Champion," found in the January 15, 2009 edition of Nature (available only to subscribers online), the authors discuss the good and the not so good about the Bush AIDS program. That program was called the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief ("PEPFAR"). First of all, the good. PEPFAR put more than 2 million HIV-positive people on anti-retroviral treatments since the beginning of the program (in 2003). By 2008, PEPFAR prevented infection of 240,000 babies born to HIV-infected mothers. It also provided healthcare for 9.7 million people. On the other hand, PEPFAR "has also been highly controversial because of stipulations on how its funds should be spent."

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Exercise works as well as drugs to combat depression

A good friend of mine once told me to "lead with the body" when you are struggling with anxiety or depression.  Talking things out has it's limits, he said, as do drugs.  It was my friend's belief that exercising the body will often allow the mind to clear itself up. …

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Bizarre handcuff treatment for mental patients in the 1950’s

Back in the 1970s, when I was an undergrad student at the University of Missouri, I took a psychology course that required me to interview someone who worked in the mental health field.  A nurse working at the Missouri State Mental Hospital (on Arsenal Street in the City of St.…

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Why don’t conservative Christians protest the use of legal mind-altering drugs?

I spent some time over at Focus on the Family, a site that teaches God's own version of morality, to see what they had to say about drug use.  As it turned out, the advice depended on whether the drug was illegal, as though God defers to the U.S. Congress…

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