Embraced By The Needle Analysis

Gabor Maté, in his article “Embraced by the Needle,” encourages people to understand the addiction to drugs is a result of deep unhappiness that occurs in an individual early in life (273-75). Maté shows in a Portland non-profit harm-reduction facility that he works at, the methadone prescribed does not help the emotional suffering that the addicts endure. Although methadone may halt the effects of withdrawal, there is no “high” created, according to Maté. He also asserts that drugs alone are not the source of addiction and that statistics show that only 8 per cent to 15 per cent of individuals who use substances, such as marijuana, become addicted. This small percentile margin of addiction, Maté argues, supports the position that addiction