Dr. Gabor Mate to speak in LA (KPFK benefit)

UprisingRadio.org (Pacifica), Wisdom Quarterly

• Dr. Gabor Mate to speak in Los Angeles Nov. 30th
• Fostering Health in a Toxic Society: The Social Basis of Illness and Well-Being
• Click for tickets (All proceeds to benefit KPFK)

In the first of Uprising's Speaker Series, world famous Dr. Gabor Mate comes to Los Angeles for an all new talk on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 7:00-9:00 pm at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3300 Wilshire Blvd.

Addicts in recovery -- are cycling through the "Realm of Hungry Ghosts" (the Peta Loka in Buddhist cosmology) -- could find themselves racing against the clock to beat their addiction in Maine before health insurance coverage for their treatment ends.

• What is the Realm of Hungry Ghosts?

Treatment? Doctors say, "Let's give heroin addicts heroin" (madmikesamerica.com).

The Maine Morning Sentinel reported [on Oct. 15, 2011] that state officials for Medicaid and MaineCare programs have proposed capping prescription drug and counseling services at two years.

The move would save money but hit the state during an epidemic of addiction to painkillers. A Sentinel editorial opposing the cuts to treatment programs predicted the result “would be a self-defeating exercise that could end up costing much more than the short term budget savings.”

Drug use remains controversial in the US. Addicts are stigmatized and often considered unworthy of help.

Portion of scroll (thangka) depicting the plane of hungry ghosts (pretas) who suffer from intense craving with no store of profitable karma to alleviate their craving. A store of merit is a tremendous blessing human and superhuman beings often take for granted.

However, there is a growing movement for compassionate models of addiction treatment. The approach has a strong advocate in physician and bestselling author Dr. Gabor Mate.

Doctor Mate, What is the "Realm of Hungry Ghosts"?

After a career including 20 years as a family doctor, Dr. Gabor Mate spent 12 years as a physician in Vancouver Canada’s downtown Eastside, notorious for its highly addicted population of indigent and transient residents. His experience with this complex population is chronicled in his bestselling In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction.

Dr. Mate makes a convincing case that without abandoning medical treatment, the social and interpersonal basis of disease from addiction to attention deficit disorders must be examined and understood to effectively treat and prevent them.

Dr. Mate’s medical expertise combined with a rare kindness, humor, and intellect have made his books bestsellers. He is now a much sought after speaker on health. A, and he is coming to Los Angeles to give a talk tailored for the KPFK audience.

Dr. Gabor Mate is the bestselling author of four books, including When the Body Says No: Understanding the Stress Disease Connection. Based in Canada, Dr. Maté ran a popular family practice in East Vancouver for two decades. For seven years he also served as Medical Coordinator of the Palliative Care Unit at Vancouver Hospital, caring for the terminally ill. More recently he worked for twelve years in Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside neighborhood with patients suffering from hardcore drug addiction, mental illness and HIV. In 2009 Dr. Maté received an Outstanding Alumnus Award from Simon Fraser University, and has recently been appointed Adjunct Professor in SFU’s School of Criminology. In 2011 he will receive an Honorary Degree from the University of Northern British Columbia.

• Uprising Media presents Gabor Mate on Nov. 30
• All proceeds benefit KPFK
• Tickets are $12.50 each ($25 a pair) for general admission at 7:00 pm and $50 each ($100 a pair) for the pre-event reception plus preferred admission at 6:00 pm.
• Purchase tickets (brownpapertickets.com)
• NOTE: Metro red and purple lines have a stop (Wilshire/Vermont) just blocks from Immanuel Presbyterian.