Drugs – Old Problem – New Solutions
It is easier to understand why drugs are such a problem in the world today if you think about why it is that we call substance abuse and dependence – recreational drug use.
Drugs are an old problem in society – escapist drugs having been used traditionally to ease the pressures of life, yet destructive levels of addiction were rare. The Gin Lane conditions of the Hogarth cartoon – in which people could get themselves “drunk for a penny, and dead drunk for tuppence” is a spin off from the technological revolution.
The advent of technology in the world first displaced man from his roots and connection with nature, and the land. One man, a plough and a combine harvester could do the same work that had traditionally been the work of an entire rural village community. Traditions were lost as people migrated to the new industrial towns, to become “factors of production”, slave labor displaced from traditional community roots, support and values. People felt isolated, alienated and took refuge in Gin Lane.
Technology has forced a “split” as between mankind and nature in the western world that we have never quite reconciled, that has never been healed. We have been seduced by the promise of material wealth, at cost of spiritual connection. Competition has replaced community, and we call it progress.
Drug use has become a universal answer to the problem of social devaluation. Children are naturally non-competitive and community orientated. Social conditioning teaches us to try and be outstanding and individually competitive, to earn more money and be successful.
It is no accident of fate that the people of this world most likely to suicide, out of a sense of futility and low self esteem, are children aged from 12 to 14 of indigenous populations, followed by those aged 15-17 of the same populations. Youth suicide is the 3rd leading cause of teen death, after homicide and accidental death, usually associated with risk taking behavior.
Suicide is an extreme behavior. Many other children cope with emotional conflict by self harming behaviors of which drug use, cutting, anorexia and casual sex are typical examples.
Self harming behaviors appear to cause pain but in effect they are soothing – in much the same way that we will violently scratch at something that is itching us, and feel better for it.
In June of 1998, the United Nations convened a special meeting to address the issue of drug use, which even then was recognized as a major problem, by proposing measures to reduce demand and supply – by 2008. Then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said -
Drugs are tearing apart our societies, spawning crime, spreading diseases such as AIDS, and killing our youth and our future.
He went on to say that:
Today (1998) there are an estimated 190 million drug users in the world. No country is immune…..requires an international response.
The problem has been however, our focus upon the symptom, the drug use itself as being the cause of our malaise.
It is not “drugs” that is tearing apart our societies, spawning crime, and spreading disease, killing our youth and our future.
It is the problem of social devaluation of the individual, people reified as mere “factors of production“, our human worth being defined as being the equivalent of our socio-economic status.
People use drugs because they are unhappy, drug use is not the primary cause of their unhappiness. Life today causes people to feel immense depression, anxiety and tension, and disempowers them from obtaining resolution.
Drugs are not seen by users as a problem – drugs are seen by them as a solution to the unbearable pain of being. People will only eliminate drug demand, and thereby resolve the drug problem when they get down to the issue of what pressures exist that cause people to seek refuge in drug use and drug dealing.
While world leader’s come to terms with the fact that drug use is a rational response to inherent toxicity in the environment, there is a group that provides comprehensive assistance and support, at an international level to drug users, regardless of creed, or religion.
Narconon International provides drug free addiction recovery that has had over 40 years of successes, former addicts, completely healed, and recovered from their affliction.
Narconon programs eliminate drug use, build individual confidence and self esteem, enable former drug addicts to become effective, productive and happy members of the community.
People looking to reduce drug demand need to work with programs that enable people to gain self respect, a sense of value and worth.
Narconon drug prevention for schools, and comprehensive alcohol and addiction recovery programs show the way to a positive, drug free world.
When societies function in ways that are ethical, moral and biologically sustainable, when we value humanity and treat others with respect, communities are productive, people content and happy – eradicating worldwide demand for recreational, escapist drug use.
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