The Use of Drugs as a Recreation Essay

Generally people associate raves(Underground Techno parties) with designer drugs like Ecstasy(MDMA), Speed(amphetamine) and other acids like LSD. These drugs are called the Techno Drugs for that reason and most of the time have uplifting and sensatory effects. To understand more clearly the relationship between the raves and these drugs, we first have to understand the philosophy behind the Techno era, and a little about the music. “Techno, can lift the spirit and become a new world of freedom and peace"(D'Vox Magazine The first electronic music Magazine). Most raves are covered with propaganda about freedom, peace, spirituality and the like. It is no surprise why teens use these specific drugs at raves. "The effects of E,

The United States has the world's highest incarceration rate. With five percent of the world's population, our country houses nearly twenty-five percent of the world's reported prisoners. Currently there are approximately two million people in American prisons or jails. Since 1984 the prison population for drug offenders has risen from ten percent to now over thirty percent of the total prison population. Federal prisons were estimated to hold 179,204 sentenced inmates in 2007; 95,446 for drug offenses. State prisons held a total of 1,296,700 inmates in 2005; 253,300 for drug offenses. Sixty percent of the drug offenders in prisons are nonviolent and were purely in prison because of drug offenses (Drug War Facts). The question then arises,

1b. List and describe briefly the major structures of the brain, as presented in your textbook, including the function of those elements that are most related to psychoactive drug reaction.

In order to understand drug and alcohol use, it is important to be clear about what we mean by the terms ‘drugs’ and ‘alcohol. Alcohol is a legal, sedative drug, which changes the way we think, feel and do. It can make you more relaxed or it can take away your judgment. For most countries, like Canada, it is legal for adults over 18 years to buy and drink. There are many different types of alcoholic drinks such as beer, wine and spirits (whiskey, vodka, gin etc.). Drugs are chemicals which, when taken into our bodies, alters normal bodily function, resulting any psychological and behavioral change. Some drugs are legal, such as caffeine, tobacco/nicotine and alcohol. Other drugs like cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and heroin are illegal. Legal drugs also include medicines that are available over the counter at a chemist or prescribed by a doctor. A person can misuse these drugs by taking them in a way, which they are not supposed to be used or in amounts not prescribed by their doctor.

Substance abuse is the habitual use of mind altering substances (Substances). Addicts have a false or altered look on reality; they need help seeing what is wrong with the life style they are living. Nikki Sixx once said,” Addiction- When you can give something up at any time, as long as it’s next Tuesday!” Recovery is teaching a person to break old habits. Substance abuse counselors are very important, not only in the mental health field, but in society as well.

Today in America a lot of young people experiment with illegal drugs. Some people try drugs for recreational purposes, others are addicted to drugs and can't survive without them. Usually it all starts from recreational purposes, and people who can not control their recreation become a drug addicts. There are many different types of drugs, but all drugs are similar in that they change one's understanding of the environment, feelings, senses and mood. Some drugs cause physical addiction, which means that after several tries of the particular drug, the body requires that chemical in order to function. Some drugs destroy lives; people use drugs so much that it changes their personality and acceptance of environment,

The concept of drug use was not always seen as problematic. Instead, students viewed substance use as a means of remedying negative emotions as a sign of addiction. Overall students were able to recognize and share how their peers and close relations had suffered from this type of use, rather than admit that they personally had used substances as a means of self-medicating negative emotions. The idea of using drugs to remedy negative emotions was also named use “as a source of happiness” or a “means of escape.” Despite these different descriptions all of these concepts have roots in dislocation causing addictive behaviors.

     Our society has found itself directly in the middle of a transcontinental drug surge. An estimated 23 million of the world’s population regularly take illicit drugs, and the Drug Enforcement Administration estimated that 13.6 million of those who habitually used illegal drugs in 1998 were Americans. Even in our current everyday motions of life and productivity, we have set the path for self-destruction. “We awake to the kick of caffeine, soothe our nerves with tobacco, ease our tension headaches with aspirin, wind down the day with alcohol, and swallow an antihistamine to help us sleep – all perfectly legal, respectable, and even expected (“Drug Abuse” 195).”

The use of drugs is a mixed blessing. On one hand, they could be used for medical reasons, such as lowering severe pain or depression. These drugs are often prescribed by a medical professional, and the patient is given the drug in moderate doses. However, the use of drugs is typically for recreational purposes, which has negative consequences. Drugs used for recreational purposes are used to alter physical sensations, consciousness, thoughts, mood, and behaviors and ways that users believe are desirable (Grison, S., Heatherton, T. F., & Gazzaniga, M. S. 2016). The continued use of drugs for recreational purposes often leads someone to become addicted. Drug addiction is a rising problem in the United States. With the increase of drug addiction, drug overdoses and deaths by overdose has increased. The rate of deaths due to overdoses has increased 137% since 2000 (Rudd, R. A., Aleshire, N., Zibbell, J. E., & Matthew Gladden, R. 2016). Even though drug overdoses are increasing and the effects of drugs are known to be negative, people still use drugs as a way to relax, and do not believe that they will become addicted.

The Language play I will thoroughly analyze is the modern day street slang for drugs. It’s interesting how we “address” a drug based on various side effects it causes rather than its pharmaceutical name. For example, the drug Cocaine is called “Base Crazies”. “Base Crazies” refers to the way it easily gets you hooked leaving you wanting more and making you search on your hands and knees for cocaine. (ONDCP, 2005) Using the Internet, books, and pamphlets based on drugs will help me in my research of finding different abstract terms for the common street drug.

All to often heroin users are misjudged, when assessing the core of a their drug use. It is easy to assume that a drug user is trying to escape a psychological or emotional situation, yet many times that is not the case at all. Drug users are looked at as being lazy, or as a junkie, and their drug use gives them the opportunity check out of society. However, there is a complex framework in which drug users work within, with complex norms, rules, and expectations. Similar to having a job, heroin users have to maintain busy, productive lives in order to reach their final goal. These lives are within the deviant narrative, yet similarities to the 9 to 5 careers of their non-heroin user counterparts is very similar.

The movie Trainspotting is an entertaining look into the dark world of drug and alcohol abuse. Heroin is the drug of choice for the protagonist, but other substances are also consumed throughout the film: heroin, prescription medication, opium, hash, amphetamines, and alcohol are a constant presence in the story. Repeated polysubstance abuse combined with a negative social environment and a weak support structure compounds the problems of Renton, a heroin addicted young adult man living in Scotland. When examining the actual diagnostic criteria, causes, and treatment of drug addiction from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, comparisons can be made between the portrayal of addiction in the film and reality. Familial and genetic influences, social and environmental issues, positive and negative reinforcement, the opponent process theory, models of chemical dependence and treatment methods are displayed throughout the film with high validity. Many different influences affect the main character, and an integrative approach is needed to assess the maladaptive behavior of Renton.

TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: DRUGS AND BEHAVIOR TODAY................................................................................ 1 Discussion questions and assignments 1 Lecture outline for Chapter 1 3 Video suggestions 7 Essay questions 8 True/false questions 9 Multiple choice questions 13 CHAPTER 2: DRUG-TAKING BEHAVIOR: THE PERSONAL AND SOCIAL CONCERNS.............. 27 Discussion questions and assignments 27 Lecture outline for Chapter 2 28 Video suggestions 32 Essay questions 33 True/false questions 34 Multiple choice questions 38 CHAPTER 3: HOW DRUGS WORK IN THE BODY AND ON

It is well known that any form of substance use can be fatal, but so can a lot of other things: choking, accidents, health issues, and sheer bad luck. However, there is something special about substance abuse - fatalities from substance use are considered preventable. Take deaths associated with driving under the influence of alcohol, lung cancer brought on by smoking, or heart attacks associated with cocaine use. A person could die in a car crash, from lung cancer, or a heart attack without ever touching alcohol, cigarettes, or cocaine respectively. However, there is an increase in death associated with these items. The most curious part of this is the legal versus illegal categorization of substances. According to the Center for Disease Control, tobacco is considered the leading cause of preventable death (CDC, 2016). Yet, not only is it legal, a person in the U.S. can purchase cigarettes as young as 18, which is three years earlier than the legal age to drink alcohol. This knowledge leads to questions about addiction and prevalence of substance use. Besides being readily available and highly addictive, are there other factors in the use and abuse of legal substances and are they good indicators of illicit drug use? There is clear evidence to support that children, adolescents, and adults learn and emulate what they see on television. The American Academy of Pediatrics has done research and come to the conclusion that “the causes of adolescent substance use are

Drug use in America is one of the major issues we face and the problem has skyrocketed over the past three decades. Heroin and painkiller addictions exceed all other countries. It is important that we address some of the causes that lead to the abuse, how to treat the abuse, and how to prevent the distribution of illegal prescription drugs.