3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Why Can’t Johnny Just Quit? is an easy-to-read book that contains valuable information about drug dependence. The author, Dr. Kyle Oh clearly explains how opiate pain medicines, narcotics, and alcohol addiction are not a bad behavior as the society's overview express it, but actually, a disease that knock off man's spirit and ruins it. This realistic book has its origin in the doctor’s own experience and his case studies (true stories). His work is helpful for:
1. Addictive people who are fighting with this beast and find it very difficult to beat it or maybe they just have the feeling that there is no way out. Dr. Oh will prove you wrong; there is a chance, there is hope and most significantly, there is a treatment – Suboxone;
You will discover in his book, that a drug that is addictive to some it could not induce the same impact on the others and how we all react differently, based on our genetic susceptibility and more important when we honestly answer the question “How did that drug make you feel?” which it will make the big difference between abusing a drug, merely to cover a sorrow or truly being addicted to the drug. He is breaking out the myth of our perceptions regarding getting high on a drug, elucidating the conflict between being true high (euphoric, extremely happy, enthusiastic, a good trip, on the top of the world feeling) or intoxicated (sedated, dizzy, blurred feeling). Dr. Oh is informing us that getting high is not a general term (how most of us think) and it occurs with some deviations, from the type of drug, the familial predisposition and from how did it make you feel at first. He is describing these differences in a simple phrase: “Dopey is not high – Happy is!” and that artificial happiness will cause you craving and, in the end, become addicted.
With an extended experience as a pain and addiction specialist, the physician brings in discussion drugs like painkillers (OxyContin, Vicodin, Percocet, Demerol, Ultram, Dilaudid, Duragesic, Norco, OTC), narcotics (heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, Ecstasy), amphetamine, marijuana, LSD, psychedelic mushrooms and alcohol.
2. Family and friends of drug addicts – it will guide you through their point of view, so you could understand much better the behavior of your dear ones and why it is so hard for them to quit, why they endure such a battle to defeat their demons, why they just can’t give up on something that it’s destroying their life and why they keep going back to this wicked habit. It is more than their own will;
3. Medical community – “knowledge is the power” and through this book, Dr. Kyle Oh offers an opportunity to add recent data about pain management and the succeeding step to medication treatment. He proposes a fresh manner of medicinal use by informing patients on what addiction is, how we can prevent it and how we can treat it. Plus, physicians can improve their practice in acquiring information on how they can avoid scam patients that are suspected to divert their pain medication for money.
4. Parents, who want to educate their children about drug dependency; Why Can’t Johnny Just Quit? is an educational guide that shows us how misunderstood the concept of addiction is in our days. Through this book, we can re-educate ourselves in this matter, so we could provide to our kids valuable learning about how they can prevent addiction. It is important to raise the next generation with a doctrine that states more than “Just say no to drugs!”. In this way, we can hope for a more decent future where our children will have fewer chances to get hooked in this drug war.
5. Everyone - who thinks they know everything about drugs, opiate pain medications or alcohol, think again! Mass-media fed us with fictional news about what addiction means and labeled the people concerned as a wreck of the population. They have a strong influence on the public, but Dr. Oh speaks about how incomplete and illusory this aspect is, because in essence, addiction is a disease same as all the other diseases that society accepts it and it could be treated, instead of pointing them and throw them in jail, to build up the prison’s and bail bond industry.
I will rate Why Can't Johnny Just Quit? by Dr. Kyle Oh 3 out of 4 stars. Most of the chapters contain a repetition of the key issue and even if it could be understandable (cause of the strong message that he is transmitting), I think it might be improved if, the book would be restricted to fewer pages, by removing rehearsed phrases.
******
Why can't Johnny Just Quit?
View: on Bookshelves
Like InStoree's review? Post a comment saying so!
