#8 Rat Park

The traditional and long standing theory of addiction maintains that most people who use drugs beyond a certain amount become addicted (alcohol is a drug).  No matter what proportion of drug users become addicted, this is caused by exposure to the drug. The solution then is to eliminate drugs, but the War on Drugs has been shown to escalate the illegal drug industry as the rates of addiction continue to rise. Has nothing has been learned from the Prohibition Era (1920-1933)?

Data supporting this prevalent theory of addiction came from numerous laboratory trials with rats and monkeys and observing how frequently caged animals would push levers to obtain drugs. Predictably, the caged animals would avoid normal eating and drinking leading to death without intervention. 

Dr. Bruce Alexander, author of The Globalization of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit challenged this belief in the late 70's with his experiments known as Rat Park.  He professed that the laboratory rats kept in cramped metal cages were distressed (dislocated) and like distressed people would relieve their distress pharmacologically. 

To test his hypothesis, he designed an alternative laboratory environment based on the needs of the rats rather than the researchers. Rat Park was 95 sq ft or 200 times larger than a standard laboratory cage. There were 20 rats of both sexes, an abundance of food, wheels for play, aromatic cedar shavings, woodland vistas painted on surrounding walls and enough space to socialize as well as for mating and raising litters. Given a choice of plain water or water laced with morphine they chose the plain water. Then rats that had been forced to consume morphine for 57 straight days were introduced to the colony and chose the tap water and went through withdrawal. This validated his theory that addiction is not directly caused by access to drugs but is a symptom of dislocation. (refer to blog post #7)

Major science journals at the time rejected his paper mainly because it challenged the current theories. Dr Alexander feels we over-individualize addiction, rather than look at the cultural / social / spiritual roots of his theory of dislocation. Although these experiments have been replicated they still have not influenced the mainstream of addiction theory. Rat Park measured not the addictiveness of opiates, but the cruelty of the stresses inflicted on rats in solitary confinement and dislocation from their natural environment. 

It is estimated that at least 80% of those incarcerated in North America are there for a drug related crime and very few jails and prisons offer treatment. It seems there is money to build prisons which have become a major industry often run by contractors.  I believe those who manufacture or sell drugs should be incarcerated, but we need to re-evaluate the process of incarcerating users of drugs when no other crime was committed. The answer is not legalizing drugs but discussing decriminalizing the possession of small amounts and providing treatment. Sadly, with budget cuts the former availability of treatment even 5 years ago is not available in the USA.

My next post will discuss the success of a long term treatment program in the Douglas County Jail in Roseburg OR. that integrated the theories of Proxemics and Dislocation.