When the life choices available to a person are such as the abject misery of poverty or the pain of failure in a competitive educational system, then a substance which offers relief can be seen as a logical choice. When a person decides to stop using the substance, or is at a place where they want to minimise the harm done, acupuncture can be very useful by itself or in conjunction with other therapies such as psychotherapy and homoeopathy. The acupuncture does not 'cure' the addiction. What it can do is enhance the person's resources and their ability to take control and be responsible for their own health. Most drug-using clients experience an immediate benefit from the insertion of needles in ear acupuncture points.
People report feeling calmer, more relaxed and experience positive mood changes.
The psychological and physical effects of withdrawal can be dramatically relieved with acupuncture treatment. We can not eradicate poverty from the world with acupuncture or change a system which wounds so many children by labelling them 'failures'. What we can do is to facilitate emotional healing, help the person to be and feel more competent to face the challenges presented, to be more fully present in the world and more able to make positive choices and changes. The emotional level of response to acupuncture treatment is a whole spectrum of potential and possibility. Cure and healing are not synonymous, when we relive the symptoms of arthritis or the psychological and physical effects of drug withdrawal and also facilitate a profound emotional shift of inexperienced grief, anger, fear or hurt, then true and lasting healing becomes possible.