Drug Abuse and its Consequences

In everyday life we use the word “abuse” in many ways and in different contexts. The etymological roots are in the Latin word “abusus” which has the sense of an improper or bad treatment. The variety of situations in which this concept can be found show how ample is this phenomenon in our society. At the evening news we hear about child abuse, sexual abuse, drug abuse, verbal abuse, power abuse or even food abuse. Such a vast concept is very difficult to approach if it isn’t divided into smaller parts, easier to describe. So, the purpose of my essay is to create a general view of a problem that concerned the world for centuries: drug abuse. This is a health and criminal justice problem that has implications in every aspect of social life, affecting all the communities, independent of the social class.

Drugs are, according to the dictionary definition, toxic substances which inhibit the nervous centers, producing short-time euphoria. Their use is probably as old as human kind. The ancients already knew the “benefits” of some plants. For example, opium poppy was cultivated by the Egyptians and used in producing sedatives, filters and also “νηπενθηζ”. This miraculous drink was mentioned even by Homer in his “Odyssey” for its extraordinary capacity of “making you forget about all the evil”. Also, opium was important in Greek medicine. Galen, the last great Greek physician, emphasized caution in the use of opium but also said that it could cure almost all the diseases. References about cannabis were also found in a pharmacy book written in 2737 BC by the Chinese emperor Shen Nung, calling this plant the “Liberator of sin”.

The migration and spreading of these plants around the Globe was slowly made, during centuries, towards the East, where, for many people, a frequent and permanent consumption was a normal habit. Today, no part of the world is isolated from the harmful effects of all the existing drugs. Most of the drugs in use 50 years ago originally came from plants. Even now, most of them either come from plants or are chemically derived from plant substances.

There are many classifications of drugs. A classical one is that of Lewin’s, who distinguish between: toxic sedatives of the spirit (opium and cocaine), toxically to the senses (mescaline), stimulants (caffeine, nicotine) and inebriating toxics (alcohol and ether).

More complete is the classification of the psychoactive drugs (Charles Ksir): Stimulants: cocaine, amphetamine, caffeine; Hallucinogens: mescaline, LSD, PCP; Marijuana; Depressants: alcohol, barbiturates, other sedatives, sleeping pills, inhalants; Opiates also morphine, codeine, heroin, methadone; Psychotherapeutics: Prozac, haldol, lithium; and Nicotine.

In order to understand better the effects of drug abuse it is important to know the characteristics of every class; so, a short presentation I think is more than welcomed. Anyway, aside from their characteristics, any individual drug may have various effects, depending on who has taken it, how much has been taken, and how it is taken.

First, the opiates are a group of analgesic drugs that produce a relaxed, dreamlike state. The raw opium is the thick juice taken from a special type of poppy, cultivated in Asia. In this form it was used for centuries, both medicinally and for pleasure. From the 42 derivates of opium, the most familiar are: morphine and codeine. Also, a variety of synthetic narcotics are now available along with the natural products of opium poppy. The major therapeutic recommendation for opium, morphine and other narcotics is the reduction of pain in diseases like cancer. This purpose is well served by opiates if there are used in appropriate doses, but in case of abuse, the effect could be fatal. The opiates create physical and psychological dependence. The narcotic overdose causes coma, depressed respiration, and pinpoint pupils. Death occurs quickly because of respiratory problems.

Opiate addicts have been offered a wide variety of treatments. Around 1878, Bentley said that cocaine could be a substitute of morphine. S. Freud tried this treatment in 1884 but he soon realized the dangerous effect of this drug. Until now, the most effective in treatment has been methadone maintenance. Also, a longer-acting synthetic opiate, LAAM, is now available for maintenance treatment.

Cocaine is a stimulant that is derived from the coca plant, “erythroxylon coca”. It produces both psychical and physical dependence and the excessive use can result in a paranoid psychotic reaction. Hopefully, the cocaine use has declined in the general population since 1985. Its place seems to be taken by another stimulant, amphetamine. This product it’s used in short term weight reduction and narcolepsy. However, abuse of this substance has been associated with violent behavior.

Another category is cannabis and its products: marijuana and hashish. This type of drug has a rich history relating both medicinal use and its recreational uses. For example, marijuana is useful in the treatment of glaucoma, for reducing nausea in patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy, and increasing appetite for the persons with AIDS. But most experts agree that abuse of smoking marijuana increases the risk of lung cancer. Also, it was demonstrated by experiments on animals that marijuana induces brain damage.