Review of Why Can't Johnny Just Quit?

nerdychikka · Post by **nerdychikka** » 01 Mar 2022, 15:26

[Following is a volunteer review of "Why Can't Johnny Just Quit?" by Kyle Oh.]

4 out of 4 stars

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Why Can't Johnny Just Quit by Kyle Oh is a detailed medical book that addresses the aspects of addiction. An unfortunate encounter when he lost his patient to an overdose of Oxycontin prompted his journey of discovering as much knowledge as he could on addiction. In his book, Dr. Oh argues that much information regarding addiction is entirely wrong. The war on drugs has been fought by combating the supply chain rather than preventing it altogether. He states that the prevention techniques out there are mere scare tactics that have made no progress. Alternatively, most people have now been awakened to this addiction crisis, and guiding them through the right path of prevention will go a long way in fighting future addiction crises.

Kyle argues that there are many misconceptions out there and that most physicians are not fully equipped with the knowledge of treating patients with pain-related issues. Ethically, doctors must treat patients in pain; however, most fear losing their licenses. Other physicians are out there to make a quick buck and end up overprescribing these pain pills. Such behaviors enable the addicts and make fighting addiction far more complicated because drugs are readily available. The most critical question that physicians need to ask their patients is, "How did the drug make you feel?" Kyle argues that most addicts think they are addicted, but they are just abusing the drug.

What I enjoyed the most in this book was how knowledgeable and detailed it is. I discovered that genetic disposition is why some people are more susceptible to getting hooked on certain drugs than others. That is why you usually find a family where almost all members struggle with addiction, such as alcohol addiction. The genetic marker for Tobacco was discovered in 2004 and for alcohol in 2008. Thus people can get tested to find out genetically if they are susceptible to such addictions. Also, understanding that all addicts abuse drugs and not all people who abuse drugs are addicts was mind-blowing. Also, it is exceptionally edited because I did not find a single error.

However, I felt like the first few chapters were quite repetitious. Reading the same lines over and over got exhausting. The second part of this book picks up its pace, and we discover more captivating knowledge on this deadly issue. The book focuses more on opiate addiction than other forms of addiction, such as alcohol addiction. I would have loved the author to touch a bit on other forms of addiction, for example, sex and pornography addiction.

I would rate this book 4 out of 4 stars because it is impressive in how detailed and informative it is. I started reading it with the prejudice that addicts are mostly weak-willed individuals who need to try more to get clean. I am happy to stand corrected on my thinking. I would recommend this book to an adult audience and teenagers because, frankly, this is something everyone should know about.

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Why Can't Johnny Just Quit?
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Umesh Bhatt · Post by **Umesh Bhatt** » 05 Mar 2022, 00:19

As per the review this seems to be an excellent book. Getting rid of addictions is the biggest challenge in our lives and if some self help book or guide book can help us then it is to be welcome. Would check this one. Thanks for the nice review.