A word from the Editor – Winter 2017 – ‘Addiction and Cravings’
Dear Readers,
Addiction to prescription and recreational drugs is on the rise globally. The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime concludes that “¼ of a billion of people” of the world population use drugs, and an estimate of 29,5 million of these are suffering of related problematic use or dependency [1]. These statistics do not include figures relating to the abuse of alcohol. Alone in the United States it is estimated that in 2014, 21.5 million of the population were abusing on drugs, either prescription or recreational, or alcohol [2]. The incidence, world-wide and that locally restricted, is however likely to be far from conclusive. Considering that the appraisal of such statistics is restricted to registered cases, the assumption seems likely that the dark figure, estimating unregistered cases, is multiplicative of this.
For individuals caught in such a vicious circle of needing drugs to manage their daily existence, coming off their medicines and highs is a rocky road only resilience and persistence can even out. A supportive environment, assistance from specifically trained personnel or, funds permitting, clinical admission for substance abuse are essential to aid someone intending and willing to come off drugs. Very often, exceedingly often, such frameworks fail and the individual drops back into his or her addictive routine.
Drug addiction is no longer just a problem of the ‘lower’ classes, and an image of addicts hanging around at street corners or under bridges [3, 4]. Addiction has risen into the middle and upper classes with cocaine and crystal meth being the lead ‘fashion’ drugs of business people, high profile managers and individuals engaged in stressful, fast paced work places [5, 6, 7].
Undoubtedly, not only for us as homeopaths, but as individuals living in this world, such figures are daunting. With the prevalence ever increasing it is likely that we, or for that matter our children will be, in one way or another, in indirect contact with addiction. Seeing patients in our homeopathic clinics being a way where we may be able to unfold the magic of homeopathy by assisting patients in their endeavor to come off their addiction. The other potential of homeopathy, is the assistance at the resolution of aspects that may make individuals want to resort to drug use. The Materia Medica of homeopathic remedies provide diverse remedies that may be useful for the treatment of addiction and drug abuse. There is a lot homeopathy can do for this and related problems.
The current issue of CLEVER H. contains articles looking at the topic of addiction. Please find some insights from great practitioners and authors reporting on cases they have treated in their clinics. Ronda Behnke reports a case of Chamomilla for Narcotic Withdrawal, Tracy Karkut-Law on an addiction case of Insomnia treated with homeopathy.
Furthermore, Genoveva Georgieva gives a detailed insight into her case taking using the Sensation method, Rebecca Liston shares more of her wisdom pertaining to issues of our daily business routine, and Lauren Trimble takes us along on her homeopathic humanitarian mission, introducing the work of the HTSF, the ‘Homéopathes de Terre Sans Frontières’ in Honduras.
I hope you find this issue of interest and enjoy reading about the fantastic insights, wisdom and experiences shared in the articles by our fabulous authors.
As the year is coming to an end, the holidays are near and the cooler times are upon us, at least in the northern hemisphere, I can take to wishing you a harmonious festive season and all the very best for the New Year ahead. The next issue will be published in February, until then…
Best wishes and happy times!
Clever H. - the Mag! 
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