Robert F. Kennedy Jr., independent challenger for president and anti-vaccine activist, has a cockamamie solution for drug addicts and people who use medication for depression or ADHD: strip people of their tech gadgets and send them to government-funded "wellness farms" to grow organic food. Doesn't that sound suspiciously... like a labor camp?! Kennedy extolled this […]
It kind of sounds like you are unfamiliar with the kinds of “options” people who get caught for drug related offenses are given. Even now it includes things like “optionally” being an informant, or else going to jail or prison. Or in other cases, “optionally” admit you are an addict and submit yourself to a court ordered rehabilitation program, or again, circle the incarceration drain. Should be noted that many of these “rehabilitation” programs in rural areas are faith based - as in, they care more about turning you into a Christian (of their particular denomination), than they do about rehabilitating your actual addiction.
I have a suspicion that this new program is going to coincide with an upsurge in the drug war. I think it would be wise to err on the side of caution and stay away from all federally illegal substances. Supposedly RFK wants to fund this with cannabis taxes, but that is still federally illegal. So they could just as easily institute a cannabis crackdown if they wanted.
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What do you mean? According to the article it’s what he said recently and is actively pursuing.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/07/rfk-jr-wants-to-send-people-on-antidepressants-to-government-wellness-farms/
afaik he mentioned this one on the campaign trail in 2024 on a remote interview
where he wanted to legalize cannabis and create wellness farms where instead of going to jail, drug offenders can go there to grow “organic food” and learn to be part of a community. he said that others could voluntarily go there if they want, such as people addicted to opiates and prescription drugs like benzos, SSRIs, benzos.
it made the news cycle last year and it was taken mostly of out ccontext and it’s making the news cycle again, I guess.
my personal opinion is the guy is a loon but this is a distraction from the realtime dismantling of the government we’re witnessing right before our eyes
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And you often have the “option” of going to AA meetings, which are almost always religious, or the “option” of being imprisoned. It’s literally the government enforcing religion.
Yup, although, while I do agree that a lot of AA programs are just trojan religion, AA itself can sometimes be a little misrepresented. Like the controversial ‘higher power’ thing. Maybe not the best language, but I observed similar patterns in my own addiction remediation efforts. At least the way I interpret it is, I’m in this poor state that appears to complete lack the necessary differences in thinking that it would take to get myself out of this; therefore I’m powerless to stop this on my own. I need to seek out a third factor to set things in a different direction.
It doesn’t need to be anything mystical. Could literally just be reading a book written by another addict, who happens to share an idea that catalyzes the right changes. Wisdom of an elder. But again, that might just be a misinterpretation on my part. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I hear this all the time, but I have to always point out that the only way to make Step 11 non-religious is to totally rewrite it:
There is just not a way to interpret that non-religiously without rewriting it. Which is not surprising, since AA formed out of a prayer group.
If AA helped you, I’m glad it did. But there’s no science behind it and AA’s success rate is between 5 and 10 percent. It does help some people mainly because it’s a form of group therapy.
There are better, more scientific methods. Including medication. Unfortunately, in a for-profit healthcare system, free AA may be your only option. And your local group will almost certainly be religious.
And rehab and treatment has an even lower success rate. Turns out we don’t really know how to fix addiction. It’s really a cultural thing and we can’t put a bandaid with a little bit of therapy.
From what I’ve seen AA / NA is at least as effective as other treatments, some research indicates it’s more effective, and considering the fact that it’s free compared to thousands of dollars minimum for any kind of treatment you’re looking at a massive price delta
NA helped me get clean from heroin and at no point did anybody push religion and everyone made it clear the language is like that cause it was written a long time ago in a different time. They encourage people to take what they can use and throw away the rest.
Yikes, I wasn’t aware the language was so direct like that. 🤣 Yeah, nevermind then.
I was never in AA, or any program for that matter. Just used to be a smoker, and have had pretty heavy drinking habits in the past.