Dear Ann Landers:

I am writing in response to comments on illegal drug use which appeared in your column supporting the notion that: “Long term prevention, education and treatment programs are the way to combat our drug problem in this country” and “…we need to help our kids resist the temptation of these deadly substances.” I disagree that these ideas can ever work.

We advertise the use of certain drugs, called medication, and then simultaneously advertise the slogan, “Just say no to drugs.” This is a mixed message and why I believe all drug education programs have either failed or are destined to fail! We push deadly over-the-counter and prescription drugs to every age group in our nation primarily to help them feel better or to help them cope. This is the same reason that our children utilize illegal drugs. It is this reason I believe that studies show illegal drug use is on the rise, and published pharmaceutical records report that legal drug sales are also on the rise.

Having given this matter a great deal of thought, I see the source of the problem in our habit of judging how healthy we are by how “good” we “feel.” We mistakenly believe that should the drug make us feel how we either want to feel or have been trained to believe we should feel, we are healthy. This misconception rationalizes and even encourages drug use, whether legal or otherwise. This false premise fails to acknowledge the body’s inherent ability to strive for balance.

I agree that education is a must, however it is false to teach our children that if a drug is FDA approved and medically prescribed it is good. All drugs alter body chemistry, alter performance, and alter perception of reality. Both legal and illegal, no exceptions! The manufacturers of legal drugs downplay the dangerous effect of every drug by calling them ’side effects’.

Whether a drug is prescribed or not, recommended or not, the facts verify that we have institutionalized drug dependency as an acceptable way of life. We refuse to take responsibility for why our kids can’t say no to drugs. Drug free America has unfortunately become an oxymoron.

In order to address the question, let me start by saying; yes, chiropractic care will benefit your body by allowing your body to function better. If your body functions better, your body will better handle whatever situation comes your way. Note, I said chiropractic will help your body. Your pains may go away and they may not. Either way, your body is better off under chiropractic care than not.

You must understand that chiropractic is based on the premise that the body is a self-striving entity that strives for balance. In other words, your body is always doing the best it can under the circumstances provided, whether you want it or understand it. It just makes sense to provide your body with better circumstances no matter what.

Regarding the pain; ask yourself, “Who put the pains there?” The correct answer is; “Your body put the pains there as a result of the circumstance you have provided, for example, carrying a tv up from the basement. Improving the circumstance makes more sense than addressing the pain. The pain is your body making you aware that something is happening. Chiropractic contributes to your circumstances by removing interferences in the nerve system called vertebral subluxations which will allow your body to heal better. Time will tell when the pain will go away.

Regarding drugs for the purpose of eliminating pain, since the chiropractic objective is to increase function and drugs are designed to alter function, drugs are outside the scope of chiropractic.

Understanding that all body parts are controlled by the brain, and the body is dependent on the brain’s messages reaching all the body parts without interference, it behooves us to keep our spines free from the interferences called subluxations. This allows our body to do what it already knows how to do; strive to express health. The body needs no help in healing, what it needs is no interference in that process.

I hope this open up a thought process for you to help make decisions about your health and healing as opposed to addressing only sickness.

Chiropractic is based on the premise that the body possesses an internal system that ’strives for balance.’ This internal system is called your ‘innate intelligence.’ Innate means ‘from within’ and ‘intelligence’ refers to organization. Therefore your body has an ‘innate intelligence’ whose purpose it is to keep the body organized.

As a result, the body is always doing the best it can to strive for balance under the circumstances provided. Therefore it makes good sense to provide the body with better circumstances to strive for balance.

The chiropractor checks your spine for vertebra that are positioned in such a way that it interferes with the nerve system. This is called a vertebral subluxation and if the body is subluxated it will not perform at its potential. The objective of chiropractic is to address this vertebra thus allowing the body a better circumstance to strive for balance.