Socialisation of addiction - reflections from Cambodia

Addiction Economy Thought For Today - thanks Joe for this small example of the social model of addiction in action and a reminder of the harms the ‘American Diet’ has brought.

Useful to reflect on how our own actions seem harmless enough, but have repercussions. And also how we got to our own thinking acceptance that supersized tubs of sugary fizzy drink is just a normal thing to consume also pause for thought.

Once you start to look for the addiction economy it’s totally everywhere and actually rather peculiar!

Joe’s post

These photos were taken near Siem Reap in Cambodia where the final stop of a tour took us to a remote rural village built around a rice farm.

When we arrived the children ran out to greet us, climbing all over our open top trailer and we ended up running through the fields, playing football and volleyball with them as the sun set. It was unforgettable

The one thing they kept on asking us for was one of our big plastic cups filled with some of the Coke we had brought, they were fixated on it. And as a treat when we left Sean, the local Cambodian who brought us there, gave them all one.

I came back to visit them 3 more times and I couldn’t help but notice, while I’m no dentist, that many of their teeth were in notably bad shape.

When I thought about this in the context the Addiction Economy project with Hilary Sutcliffe it completely changed the way I saw this ‘treat’ we were giving them.

The influence of Cokes marketing and global reach has manufactured the fixation that these children and millions of others have with that drink. And with an astounding sugar content of 10 grams per 100ml the sugar rush will only hook them in further and inevitably lead them to face the gruesome prospect of tooth removal and decay without anaesthesia and proper dental care.

I would have felt like a killjoy taking it away from them but facilitating what will probably end up being a pretty horrible experience also didn’t feel great.

Curious to hear what other people think about this?