CAN DRUG
(HARD DRUGS) CONSUMPTION BE RIGHTLY CLASSIFIED AS THE RESULTANT EFFECT OF
CIVILIZATION, INDUSTRIALIZATION AND MODERNITY ON THE SOCIETY?
Some people in our world today believe, and many more
are made to believe that consumption and use of hard drugs by the youths of our
generation is the resultant effect of civilization, industrialization and
modernity. Some steps will be taken in this discourse with the intention of bringing
the people of our generation to the truth.
STEP 1 HISTORY
AND ORIGIN OF THE EXISTENCE OF HARD DRUGS:
Drug use and abuse is as old as mankind
itself. Human beings have always had a desire to eat or drink substances that
make them feel relaxed, stimulated, or euphoric. The start of farming about
6000 B.C. and the later discovery of fermentation were closely followed by the
production of alcohol.
Humans have used drugs of one sort or another for
thousands of years. Wine was used at least from the time of the early
Egyptians; narcotics from 4000 B.C.; and medicinal use
of marijuana has been dated to 2737 B.C. in China
A
common belief is that psychotropic plant chemicals evolved recurrently
throughout evolutionary history. Roughly 13,000 years ago, the inhabitants of
Timor commonly used betel nut (Areca catechu), as did those in Thailand
At
the beginning of European colonialism, and perhaps for 40,000 years before
that, Australian aborigines used nicotine from two different indigenous
sources: pituri plant (Duboisia hopwoodii) and Nicotiana gossel.
But not until the 19th cent. A.D.
were the active substances in drugs extracted. There followed a time when some
of these newly discovered substances—morphine, laudanum, cocaine—were
completely unregulated and prescribed freely by physicians for a wide variety
of ailments. They were available in patent medicines and sold by traveling
tinkers, in drugstores, or through the mail.
During the American Civil War, morphine was used freely,
and wounded veterans returned home with their kits of morphine and hypodermic
needles. Opium dens flourished. By the early 1900s there were an estimated
250,000 addicts in the United
States
The problems of addiction were recognized gradually.
Legal measures against drug abuse in the United
States were first established in 1875, when opium dens
were outlawed in San Francisco
In 1914 the Harrison Narcotic Act forbade sale of
substantial doses of opiates or cocaine except by licensed doctors and
pharmacies. Later, heroin was totally banned.
Subsequent Supreme Court decisions made it illegal for
doctors to prescribe any narcotic to addicts; many doctors who prescribed
maintenance doses as part of an addiction treatment plan were jailed, and soon
all attempts at treatment were abandoned.
Use of narcotics and cocaine diminished by the 1920s.
The spirit of temperance led to the prohibition of alcohol by the Eighteenth
Amendment to the Constitution
in 1919, but Prohibition
was repealed in 1933.
In the 1930s most states required antidrug education
in the schools, but fears that knowledge would lead to experimentation caused
it to be abandoned in most places.
Soon after the repeal of Prohibition, the U.S. Federal
Bureau of Narcotics (now the Drug Enforcement Administration) began a campaign
to portray marijuana as a powerful, addicting substance that would lead users
into narcotics addiction. In the 1950s, use of marijuana increased again, along
with that of amphetamines and tranquilizers.
The social upheaval of the 1960s brought with it a
dramatic increase in drug use and some increased social acceptance; by the
early 1970s some states and localities had decriminalized marijuana and lowered
drinking ages.
The 1980s brought a decline in the use of most drugs,
but cocaine and crack use soared. The military became involved in border
patrols for the first time, and troops invaded Panama and brought its de facto
leader, Manuel Noriega, to
trial for drug trafficking.
Throughout the years, the public's perception of the
dangers of specific substances changed. The surgeon general's warning label on
tobacco packaging gradually made people aware of the addictive nature of
nicotine.
By 1995, the Food and Drug Administration was
considering its regulation. The recognition of fetal alcohol syndrome
brought warning labels to alcohol products. The addictive nature of
prescription drugs such as diazepam (Valium) became known, and caffeine came
under scrutiny as well.
Drug laws have tried to keep up with the changing
perceptions and real dangers of substance abuse. By 1970 over 55 federal drug
laws and countless state laws specified a variety of punitive measures,
including life imprisonment and even the death penalty.
To clarify the situation, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse
Prevention and Control Act of 1970 repealed, replaced, or updated all previous
federal laws concerned with narcotics and all other dangerous drugs.
While possession was made illegal, the severest
penalties were reserved for illicit distribution and manufacture of drugs. The
act dealt with prevention and treatment of drug abuse as well as control of
drug traffic.
The Anti-Drug Abuse Acts of 1986 and 1988 increased
funding for treatment and rehabilitation; the 1988 act created the Office of
National Drug Control Policy. Its director, often referred to as the drug
“czar,” is responsible for coordinating national drug control policy.
STEP 2 ORIGIN
OF THE USE OF HARD DRUGS:
As time went by, "home
remedies" were discovered and used to alleviate:
i.
aches,
ii.
pains and
iii.
other ailments.
Most of these preparations were herbs, roots,
mushrooms or fungi. They had to be eaten, drunk, rubbed on the skin, or inhaled
to achieve the desired effect.
These were all naturally occurring substances. No
refinement had occurred, and isolation of specific compounds (drugs) had not
taken place.
Religious rites
Certain
of these preparations were discovered to produce euphoria, exaltation, and
trance-like states. Many of these were used in religious rites. Drugs also were
used:
·
To see visions or
gain insights
·
To dull the pain
of ritual mutilation in initiation ceremonies
·
To enhance the
strength and pain resistance of warriors to prepare them for battle, or to
program them to kill
·
As pain or hunger
suppressants
·
To help cope with
thin air at high altitudes
·
To relax during
celebrations
By
current standards, the historical use of herbal preparations was not too
harmful. It became so only after mankind learned to increase the potency and
effects of these substances.
STEP 3 CLASSIFICATION
OF HARD DRUGS:
i.
Cocaine.
ii.
Marijuana.
iii.
Nicotine.
iv.
Opiates.
v.
Steroids
vi.
Ecstasy.
vii.
Mushrooms etc.
STEP 4 IS
HARD DRUG CONSUMPTION AND USE A RESULTANT EFFECT OF CIVILIZATION?
From all indications drug use is as old as humanity
which predates civilization. It will therefore be an overstatement to ascribe
the consumption of drug to civilization.
It may however, be argued that
civilization has led to the increase in its consumption, for many who would
have known nothing about hard drugs have been exposed to such drugs either by
industrialization, trafficking, sales and promotion.
STEP 5 WHY
DO PEOPLE USE OR CONSUME HARD DRUGS?
People take drugs for many reasons:
i.
peer pressure,
ii.
relief of stress,
iii.
increased energy,
iv.
to relax,
v.
to relieve pain,
vi.
to escape
reality,
vii.
to feel more
self-esteem,
viii.
for recreation.
They may take stimulants to keep alert, or cocaine for
the feeling of excitement it produces. Athletes and bodybuilders may take anabolic steroids to increase
muscle mass.
STEP 6 WHAT
DOES THE CONSUMPTION OF HARD DRUGS DO FOR THE USERS AND IN THEIR LIVES?
The effects of drug use and abuse can be felt on many
levels:
i.
on the individual,
ii.
on friends and
family,
iii.
on society.
On
the Individual
People who use drugs experience a wide array of
physical effects other than those expected. The excitement of cocaine high, for
instance, is followed by a “crash”:
i.
a period of
anxiety,
ii.
fatigue,
depression,
iii.
an acute desire
for more cocaine to alleviate the feelings of the crash.
Marijuana and alcohol interfere with motor control and
are factors in many automobile accidents. Users of marijuana and hallucinogenic
drugs may experience flashbacks, unwanted recurrences of the drug's effects
weeks or months after use. Sudden abstinence from certain drugs results in
withdrawal symptoms.
For example, heroin withdrawal can cause:
i.
vomiting,
ii.
muscle cramps,
iii.
convulsions,
iv.
delirium.
With the continued use of a physically addictive drug,
tolerance develops; i.e., constantly increasing amounts of the drug are needed
to duplicate the initial effect.
Sharing hypodermic needles used to inject some drugs
dramatically increases the risk of contracting AIDS and some types of hepatitis.
In addition, increased sexual activity among drug
users, both in prostitution and from the disinhibiting effect of some drugs,
also puts them at a higher risk of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Because the purity and dosage of illegal drugs are
uncontrolled, drug overdose is a constant risk. There are over 10,000 deaths
directly attributable to drug use in the United States
i.
cocaine,
ii.
heroin,
iii.
morphine, often
combined with alcohol or other drugs.
Many drug users engage in criminal activity, such as
burglary and prostitution, to raise the money to buy drugs, and some drugs,
especially alcohol, are associated with violent behavior.
Effects
on the Family
The user's preoccupation with the substance, plus its
effects on mood and performance, can lead to marital problems and poor work
performance or dismissal.
Drug use can disrupt family life and create
destructive patterns of codependency, that is, the spouse or whole family, out
of love or fear of consequences, inadvertently enables the user to continue
using drugs by covering up, supplying money, or denying there is a problem.
Pregnant drug users, because of the drugs themselves
or poor self-care in general, bear a much higher rate of low birth-weight
babies than the average.
Many drugs (e.g., crack and heroin) cross the
placental barrier, resulting in addicted babies who go through withdrawal soon
after birth, and fetal alcohol syndrome can
affect children of mothers who consume alcohol during pregnancy.
Pregnant women who acquire the AIDS virus through
intravenous drug use pass the virus to their infant.
Effects
on Society
Drug abuse affects society in many ways. In the
workplace it is costly in terms of lost work time and inefficiency. Drug users
are more likely than nonusers to have occupational accidents, endangering
themselves and those around them.
Over half of the highway deaths in the United States
i.
drug dealers,
ii.
threats to
residents,
iii.
the crimes of the
addicts themselves.
In some neighborhoods, younger children are recruited
as lookouts and helpers because of the lighter sentences given to juvenile
offenders, and guns have become commonplace among children and adolescents.
The great majority of homeless people have either a
drug or alcohol problem or a mental illness—many have all three.
The federal government of U.S budgeted $17.9 billion
on drug control in 1999 for:
i.
interdiction,
ii.
prosecution,
iii.
international law
enforcement,
iv.
prisons,
treatment,
v.
prevention,
vi.
related items.
In 1998, drug-related health care costs in the United States
STEP 7 ADDICTION
DEFINED:
Addiction is more often now defined by the continuing,
compulsive nature of the drug use despite physical and/or psychological harm to
the user and society and includes both licit and illicit drugs, and the term
“substance abuse” is now frequently used because of the broad range of
substances (including alcohol and inhalants) that can fit the addictive
profile.
Psychological dependence is the subjective feeling
that the user needs the drug to maintain a feeling of well-being; physical
dependence is characterized by tolerance (the need for increasingly larger
doses in order to achieve the initial effect) and withdrawal symptoms when the
user is abstinent.
Drug
addiction is thought of as an adjunctive behavior, or a subordinate behavior
catalyzed by deeper, more significant psychological and biological stimuli.
It
is not just a pharmacological reaction to a chemical but a mode of compensation
for a decrease in Darwinian fitness. There are three main components involved
in substance addiction:
i.
developmental
attachment,
ii.
pharmacological
mechanism, and
iii.
social phylogeny
including social inequality, dominance, and social dependence.
Drugs
and chemical addiction is a near impossible incurable mental disease.
STEP 8 REHABILITATION
AND RECOVERY OF DRUG ADDICTS:
Treatment of substance abusers depends upon the
severity and nature of the addiction, motivation, and the availability of
services. Some users may come into treatment voluntarily and have the support
of family, friends, and workplace.
Others may be sent to treatment by the courts against
their will and have virtually no support system. Most people in drug treatment
have a history of criminal behavior; approximately one third are sent by the
criminal justice system.
Both pharmacological and behavioral treatments are
used, often augmented by educational and vocational services. Treatment may
include:
i.
detoxification,
ii.
therapy,
iii.
support groups,
such as the 12-step groups Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and
Cocaine Anonymous.
Many people have a notion and believe that drug use
(consumption of hard drugs) is the bad habit cultivated, developed and imbibed
by people. In other words, addiction especially drug or chemical addiction
comes into someone’s life because of the bad habits developed, or imbibed by
the person in abusing drugs.
As true as the above statement is, as soon as the
drugs alter the behavioural pattern of the user, by altering the chemical
substance in the brain, leading to a change in chemical metabolism of the body,
addiction sets in which proves to be beyond the control of the victim –
resulting into an incurable mental disease.
NB: Since we have come to the understanding of why people give
themselves and lives over to hard drugs use and consumption, we owe our
generation and world an obligation of offering services that will take the
problems away from the general public before they seek their own ways or
solutions to problems bulldozing them in life.
We should therefore stop putting blames on civilization,
industrialization and modernity, for drugs and its consumption had been with us
right from the inception, and as old as the creation of the world.
Archbishop Prof. Mike D.D. JP., AP.
Consultant Addiction Counselor.
Tel: 08027724516; 08035092416; 08033072375.
