Drug Use Ontario – Have We Lost the Plot?
CAMH the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, Canada has recently released the results of a 2009 survey, conducted about the population of Ontario, and found that people in Ontario are increasingly using alcohol and marijuana, with an increasing number of the population reporting that they have mental health problems.
Cannabis use, for both males and females of all age groups, has risen to 13.3% in 2009, from 8.7% in 1997, with cannabis use nearly doubling among Ontario youth. Figures show that 35.8% of young people in Ontario (aged between 18 and 29) now use cannabis – with a previous rate of 18.3%
It is not only Ontario youth that is turning to cannabis use. Between 1996 and 2009 people aged over 50 years started to use more marijuana - an increase from 1.4% to 4.7% – and now the golden oldies represent 13.9% of the marijuana using population of Ontario.
Dr Mann of CAMH is concerned – because of the strong association between extended marijuana use, and mental health conditions such as psychosis, schizophrenia and depression.
If someone has “lost the plot” it means that they are acting irrationally – in other words mad or crazy. Is it so crazy for people in Ontario, to turn to drug use as they do, as an antidote to the pervasive stress of the modern day world. Or is it a seemingly rational response to an increasingly crazy world.
The plot of a play or novel is the storyline, often a masterpiece of pure fiction, sometimes based on truth. “Lost the plot” means that a person has become overwhelmed and confused by the complexity of events in the story. Today, we live a life that is full of conflicts and complexity. We are quite literally suffering from an information overload, and much of the information that we are exposed to is anxiety provoking, and confronting.
Media today provide us with instant coverage of news events from around the world – mostly a cascade of disasters and misfortune designed to capture our interest. Media also provides a platform for people to advertise their products – we are bombarded with advertising into our workplace and our homes designed to get us to part with our money in the direction of the advertiser.
Advertising today is carefully planned to create an answer to our emotional needs, with a focus on spending money to better achieve physical and emotional security. People become stressed by the wealth of information that we have to process and deal with on a daily basis, against a background of issues that create feelings of tension and insecurity.
We are also faced today with increasing levels of illness, much of it related to our lifestyle, and fundamentally unhealthy ways of living. We all know that the body has certain basic needs for healthy survival – good nutrition, exercise and adequate sleep need to be given priority. Yet we increasingly stress ourselves out, ignoring our basic health needs. When our body finally reacts and we feel tense and oppressed – off to the doctor we go, to get some medication.
We tend to look for help that is instant and effective - there is a demand today for reassurance, for practical solutions, something that we can see. When people have high levels of anxiety and personal stress, they care less about the quality of the help that they get. When under stress and tension, the urgent need that people have is to be “doing something”, anything, that appears to provide relief.
Marijuana and other drugs are therefore attractive as they appear to provide a solution to pain, to anxiety and tension, and are instantly effective. When we don’t look for better solutions, start to use marijuana and medications habitually, eventually drug use itself can become part of our problem. Long term and regular use of drugs, including marijuana, creates its own form of stress on the body. We only add to our problems when we try to medicate them away.
People of Ontario can find help that provides a genuine solution to modern day stress and tension, and resultant drug abuse and addiction. Comprehensive cannabis and drug addiction recovery is possible for people who feel like they have lost the plot and don’t know what to do for the best.
Answers to drug addiction mean taking a step back, giving ourselves the time to slow down, sit back and take a deep breath. Anxiety and stress fuels drug addiction – and that is what we need to address. Taking potions, pills and supplements really does not help people looking for ways to restore themselves to good health. Dealing with symptoms of stress doesn’t get to the root of the problem.
Our attitude and approach to life is what determines good health. We cannot expect to enjoy contentment and relaxation when we are constantly reacting to stress. People who are using cannabis regularly to overcome feelings of stress and tension can find help to get free of it, by using natural drug free methods.
Comprehensive substance abuse recovery that is effective and lasting can be achieved by people in Ontario by using the Narconon helpline *** and addiction recovery program.
One Response to “Drug Use Ontario – Have We Lost the Plot?”
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What effect does weed have on sleep, how does it affect people’s sleep cycle?