One thing I would caution is that the use of sedatives in surgery does NOT count as a relapse, and putting your life in danger to preserve your sobriety defeats the point of recovery. You are not qualified to go against your doctors advice. The goal is not to avoid drugs and alcohol. That is simply the process by which the goal is achieved.

Response:

Hey, thanks so much for reaching out and for the words.

Regarding sedatives… let’s first define sedative. A quick internet search says:

adj.

• Having a soothing, calming, or tranquilizing effect; reducing or relieving anxiety, stress, irritability, or excitement.

  n.

  An agent or a drug having a soothing, calming, or tranquilizing effect.
• Tending to calm, tranquilize, or soothe; specifically, in medicine, having the power of allaying or assuaging irritation, irritability, or pain.

Why are mood-altering substances necessary for surgery? I had three surgeries and worked closely with the anesthesiologist to use localized anesthetics, nerve blocks and so forth. Why? Because it is that important. What example would I (or anybody else) be if I did not voluntarily decline sedatives? I don’t need sedatives. Sure it’s uncomfortable but that’s called being a human being on Earth. Regarding narcotics, there is no clinical need to use narcotics under any circumstance. Years ago I worked at a recovery high school for addicts and listened to teenagers whine about having a tooth pulled and how they absolutely HAD to take the entire bottle of Vicodin or Percocet. That is absolute nonsense, and yes, that is relapse. If you buy the idea that addicts have self-acquired an allergy to drugs and alcohol, then using sedatives or opiates et al under the guise of some clinical procedure can/will lead to the phenomenon of craving… and a nice little run will most likely ensue.

I will grant you that one’s intent and motive is important. We must dig deep and be completely honest with ourselves. Are we opting for sedatives or oxycodone because it is an opportunity to feel good? Often it is. And if that is the case then you have already relapsed. In America today, we have become coddled, overly medicated, highly emotional wimps. Human beings can endure an immense amount of physical pain. Quite frankly, I think a little pain over a pulled tooth is good for us addicts and alcoholics who have spent a lifetime selfishly avoiding discomfort like the plague.

Sadly, this new age worship of doctors and taking the so-called clinical advice (i.e bullying, shaming & manipulating) of faux scientists and bureaucrat puppets as scripture is the result of mass brainwashing. Most doctors are brainwashed themselves, blindly believing in science that has been funded by the pharmaceutical lobby or some other devious cabal to validate a predetermined (desired) result. Most doctors and “scientists” (if you can call them scientists) today are just whores for the pharmaceutical companies, government grants and political agendas. Real science and facts are now a “conspiracy theory.” Truth, experience and reality are censored, despised and demonized. Why is it that you have no recourse in the court of law against pharmaceutical companies for vaccine injury or death? Why are they so desperate to cancel anyone and anything that exposes the truth?

You don’t need any of the toxic crap you are told you must have, and this is especially true when it comes to addiction and the dual-diagnosis hoax. Study the psychotropics and the substitution drugs you are about to take to “recover”. Study the politics of medication in America. Study the hoax that is germ theory. Study immunity. Open your eyes. Most mainstream notions today are nothing more than political weapons, to be used against the people. Chances are most of what you have been led to believe your entire life is a lie. They do not care about you. They do not care about saving lives. And they definitely do not care about children.

Eat well, exercise outside, breathe oxygen, soak in the sun, hike, swim, pray, have fun… and take that ridiculous diaper off of your face.

Finally, the abysmal success rates are a direct result of the Nanny State and radical liberalism. Were addicts and alcoholics to earnestly engage in rigorous and non-stop spiritual action, widespread recovery would ensue. AA itself has been watered down by wimps and secular liberals to the point of oblivion. The Big Book prescribes a program of moral action and hard work. I have never seen any man or woman take Steps thoroughly and honestly in the way they are laid out in the Big Book and fail.

So part of the problem is that the solution is no longer presented to addicts and alcoholics anymore. And even when it is, God is often removed. There is no recovery for without humility. There is no recovery without letting go of self-will. There is no recovery without a brutally thorough exorcism of resentment, fear and sexual misconduct, followed by a life of service. Put down the suboxone and the seroquel (all just more poison) and engage in any action that is focused on helping others, becoming more honest or growing along spiritual lines, and the addict will be cured for life. Why? Because it gives them a purpose and it is more powerful than the addiction itself. If you replace addiction with something more powerful, you have solved the problem. If you come to want God and spiritual growth and service more the drugs, you have solved your problem.