Theodore Dalrymple - Romancing Opiates - May 2006 (1 of 6)

On May 30, 2006, Theodore Dalrymple marked the release of his book "Romancing Opiates: Pharmacological Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy" with a speech at the Harvard Club in New York. The book was published by Encounter Books, and the event was hosted by the Manhattan Institute. To learn more about Theodore Dalrymple, visit www.skepticaldoctor.com, an unofficial website devoted to the man and his work.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• theodore
• dalrymple
• dr.
• anthony
• daniels
• romancing
• opiates
• skeptical
• doctor
• encounter
• books
• manhattan
• institute
• politics

[anglofiles87]

@anglofiles87 Dalrymple is doing an admirable thing by trying to make heroin users aware of the perversity of their thinking process that they use to convince themselves they are doing nothing wrong and that they cannot help themselves. An obvious theme in all his work is personal responsibility which is often absent in discussions about drug use and in the wider public today.

[anglofiles87]

@satanidomini just because a heroin addict laments about the horrible effects of withdrawal doesnt make their complaint medically relevant. Dalrymple is not the only doctor who has tried to reject the arguments of apologists that heroin withdrawal is a debilitating illness. Such claims by addicts are obvious because they are just the sort of people who cannot bare any unpleasantness and so turn to heroin in the first place.This notion is only an obstacle to a heroin addict's recovery.

[ilovedlife]

and yes, heroine is still quite dangerous

not because it's highly addictive and very unhealthy (a bit more than tobacco which is more addictive and harmful than most of class A drugs), but because you can simply get overdosed which is virtually never the case with other drugs

and it's criminalized so you can't really improve your social circle etc etc

[ilovedlife]

good example that one can't apply his political views on his own field of expertise i.e. facing straight facts

it seems palusible that all these jewish "right-wing intellectuals" are just marxists in denial missing some illusionary high snobiety 19th private gentlemen's club never admitting to themselves that the only thing they should miss in this case is a dirty jewish village on the outskirts of russian empire

[dodokwak1]

Прекрасное выступление! Очень жаль, что книги автора не переведены на русскийю

[crazymanstephen]

MARVELOUS sideburns!

[DrKendallMD]

Is he half ape or a 17th century reenactment of a congress session? Gez

[Xenostrobe]

As he says, obvious nonsense, i.e. it's not the official version.

[Xenostrobe]

I'd be most surprised if 06:40 this 'official' version was indeed correct. I may be wrong, but seems to me something of a cliche that 'soft drugs' and general rebellious behaviour often leads too 'hard' drugs.