OUR DRUG CULTURE

Drugs have been part of our culture since the middle of the last century. Popularized in the 1960s by music and mass media, they invade all aspects of society.

An estimated 208 million people internationally consume illegal drugs. In the United States, results from the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that 19.9 million Americans (or 8% of the population aged 12 or older) used illegal drugs in the month prior to the survey.

You probably know someone who has been affected by drugs, directly or indirectly.

The most commonly used—and abused—drug in the US is alcohol. Alcohol-related motor accidents are the second leading cause of teen death in the United States.

The most commonly used illegal drug is marijuana. According to the United Nations 2008 World Drug Report, about 3.9% of the world’s population between the ages of 15 and 64 abuse marijuana.

Young people today are exposed earlier than ever to drugs. Based on a survey by the Centers for Disease Control in 2007, 45% of high school students nationwide drank alcohol and 19.7% smoked pot during a one-month period.

In Europe, recent studies among 15- and 16-year-olds suggest that use of marijuana varies from under 10% to over 40%, with the highest rates reported by teens in the Czech Republic (44%), followed by Ireland (39%), the UK (38%) and France (38%). In Spain and the United Kingdom, cocaine use among 15- to 16-year-olds is 4% to 6%. Cocaine use among young people has risen in Denmark, Italy, Spain, UK, Norway and France.

“My goal in life wasn’t living . . . it was getting high. Over the years, I turned to cocaine, marijuana and alcohol under a false belief it would allow me to escape my problems. It just made things worse. I kept saying to myself, I’m going to stop permanently after using one last time. It never happened.” —John

“It started with the weed, then the pills (Ecstasy) and acid, making cocktails of all sorts of drugs, even overdosing to make the rushes last longer. I had a bad trip one night . . . I prayed and cried for this feeling to go away, I had voices in my head, had the shakes and couldn’t leave home for six months. I thought everyone was watching me. I couldn’t walk in public places. Man! I couldn’t even drive.

“I ended up homeless and on the streets, living and sleeping in a cardboard box, begging and struggling to find ways to get my next meal.” —Ben4

People take drugs because they want to change something about their lives.

WHY DO PEOPLE TAKE DRUGS?

Here are some of the reasons young people have given for taking drugs:

-To fit in

-To escape or relax

-To relieve boredom

-To seem grown up

-To rebel

-To experiment

-They think drugs are a solution. But eventually, the drugs become the problem.

Difficult as it may be to face one’s problems, the consequences of drug use are always worse than the problem one is trying to solve with them. The real answer is to get the facts and not to take drugs in the first place.

How Do Drugs Work?

Drugs are essentially poisons. The amount taken determines the effect.

A small amount acts as a stimulant (speeds you up). A greater amount acts as a sedative (slows you down). An even larger amount poisons and can kill.

This is true of any drug. Only the amount needed to achieve the effect differs.

But many drugs have another liability: they directly affect the mind. They can distort the user’s perception of what is happening around him or her. As a result, the person’s actions may be odd, irrational, inappropriate and even destructive.

Drugs block off all sensations, the desirable ones with the unwanted. So, while providing short-term help in the relief of pain, they also wipe out ability and alertness and muddy one’s thinking.

Medicines are drugs that are intended to speed up or slow down or change something about the way your body is working, to try to make it work better. Sometimes they are necessary. But they are still drugs: they act as stimulants or sedatives, and too much can kill you. So if you do not use medicines as they are supposed to be used, they can be as dangerous as illegal drugs.

Normally, when a person remembers something, the mind is very fast and information comes to him quickly. But drugs blur memory, causing blank spots. When a person tries to get information through this cloudy mess, he can’t do it. Drugs make a person feel slow or stupid and cause him to have failures in life. And as he has more failures and life gets harder, he wants more drugs to help him deal with the problem.

Drugs Destroy Creativity

One lie told about drugs is that they help a person become more creative. The truth is quite different.

Someone who is sad might use drugs to get a feeling of happiness, but it does not work. Drugs can lift a person into a fake kind of cheerfulness, but when the drug wears off, he or she crashes even lower than before. And each time, the emotional plunge is lower and lower. Eventually, drugs will completely destroy all the creativity a person has.

“During the whole time I was on drugs I thought I had control over my life and that I had it great. But I destroyed everything I had built up and fought for in my life. I cut ties to all my drug-free friends and my family, so I hadn’t any friends but my drug mates. Every day revolved around one thing: my plan for getting the money I needed for drugs. I would do everything possible to get my amphetamine—it was the only thing in my life.” —Pat

“I felt that I was more fun when I was drunk. Soon after [I started drinking] I was introduced to marijuana . . . . Later, I was hanging out at a friend’s house smoking marijuana when someone pulled out a bag of cocaine. Snorting cocaine quickly became a daily habit. I was stealing money from my parents’ business and from my grandparents on a daily basis to support my alcohol, cocaine, marijuana and LSD habits. Then I was introduced to OxyContin and began using it on a regular basis. By the time I realized I was addicted, snorting OxyContin was part of my daily routine. I needed something stronger—and was introduced to heroin. I would stop at nothing to get high. My addiction was winning. And every time I tried to kick it, the physical craving would send me back for more.” —Edith

The human brain is a very complicated organ.

The human brain is the most complex organ in the body. This three-pound mass of gray and white matter sits at the center of all human activity. You need it for everything you do — from breathing and thinking to enjoying a meal and creating artwork. The brain regulates your body’s basic functions, enables you to interpret and respond to everything you experience, and shapes your behavior. In short, your brain is you — everything you think and feel, and who you are. 

The brain is often compared to an incredibly complex and intricate computer. Instead of electrical circuits on the silicon chips that control our electronic devices, the brain consists of billions of cells, called neurons, which are organized into circuits and networks, working together as a team. Each neuron acts as a switch controlling the flow of information. If a neuron receives enough signals from other neurons it “fires,” sending its own signal on to other neurons in the circuit.

Different brain circuits are responsible for coordinating and performing specific functions, such as sensing our environment, thinking and reasoning, language abilities, and movement. Networks of neurons send signals back and forth to each other and among different parts of the brain, the spinal cord, and nerves in the rest of the body (the peripheral nervous system).

To transmit a message, a neuron releases a chemical neurotransmitter via transporter molecules into the gap (or synapse) between it and the next cell. The neurotransmitter crosses the synapse and attaches to receptors on the receiving neuron, like a key into a lock. This causes changes in the receiving cell. Other molecules called transporters recycle neurotransmitters (that is, bring them back into the neuron that released them), which limits or shuts off the signal between neurons.

HOW DO DRUGS AFFECT THE BRAIN?

Drugs interfere with the way neurons send, receive, and process signals through these neurotransmitters. Some drugs, such as marijuana and heroin, can activate receptors because their chemical structure mimics that of a natural neurotransmitter in the body. This allows the drugs to attach onto and activate the receptors. Although these drugs mimic the brain’s own chemicals, they don’t activate receptors in the same way as a natural neurotransmitter. This can lead to abnormal messages being sent through the network.

Other drugs, such as amphetamines or cocaine, can cause neurons to release abnormally large amounts of natural neurotransmitters which prevent the normal recycling of these brain chemicals by interfering with transporters. This also amplifies or disrupts the normal communication between neurons.

WHAT PARTS OF THE BRAIN ARE MOST AFFECTED BY DRUG USE?

Drugs can alter important brain areas that are necessary for life-sustaining functions and can drive the compulsive drug use that marks progression to a substance use disorder (SUD) and addiction. Brain areas affected by drug use include:

• The basal ganglia plays an important role in positive forms of motivation, including the pleasurable effects of healthy activities like eating, socializing, or playing a game. They are also involved in forming habits and routines. These areas form a key node of what is sometimes called the brain’s “reward circuit.” Drugs over-activate this circuit, producing the euphoria of the drug high. But with repeated exposure, the circuit adapts to the presence of the drug, diminishing its sensitivity and making it hard to feel pleasure from anything besides the drug.

• The amygdala plays a role in stressful feelings like anxiety, irritability, and unease, which characterize withdrawal after the drug high This withdrawal motivates the person to seek the drug again. This circuit becomes increasingly sensitive with increased drug use, and over time, a person with an SUD might use drugs not to get high, but simply to get temporary relief from this discomfort.

• The prefrontal cortex powers the ability to think, plan, solve problems, make decisions, and exert self-control over This is also the last part of the brain to mature, making teens most vulnerable to the effects of drugs. Shifting balance between this circuit and the reward and stress circuits of the basal ganglia and amygdala reduce impulse control and make a person with an SUD seek the drug compulsively.
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Some drugs — like opioids — also affect other parts of the brain, such as the brain stem, which controls basic functions critical to life, including heart rate, breathing, and sleeping. This is why overdoses can cause slowed breathing and death. 

Why do people keep taking drugs when they know they’re bad for you?

Drugs change the brain in ways that make quitting hard, even when you want to. This is because when you take drugs, the neurotransmitter dopamine is released in the basal ganglia in large amounts. Dopamine signals in this brain area "teach" other parts of your brain to keep seeking out the drug so you can take it again and again. 

When people can’t stop using drugs even though they want to, and drug use is causing serious consequences, it is called addiction. Their brain has learned to crave the drug all the time.

What are the long-term effects of drug use?

Drug use can lead to serious changes in the brain that affect how a person thinks and acts. It can also cause other medical problems, even death. Some drugs can cause heart disease, cancer, lung problems, and mental health conditions, like depression. A few drugs can even kill cells in your brain and body and make it hard to walk and talk and understand what's happening around you.