Intervening in the Use and Misuse of Drugs and Alcohol: Critical Issues — Specious Actions

Abstract

The first documented case of drug misuse is well known to most of us. Since it occurred a long time ago, the substance which was misused was an easily available natural product and not a synthetic one. The user had been forewarned not to use it, although the consequences of its use were unknown. Nevertheless the “temptation,” the “desire,” the “inquisitiveness,” the “challenge” — concepts well known to us — to satiate man’s complex appetites could not be resisted. A “slimy sociopath,” devious in his ways, was the apparent drug connection. The first reported drug user was a woman. She spread drug use to man. This is the earliest documented case of “drug contagion.” An endless epidemic was initiated. In this same documented case study, signs and symptoms of a drug experience and projected withdrawal are described. Paradise was lost by the ingestion of a natural chemical. Since that awesome event conferences have been held, books and articles have been written, and policies have been made which have resulted in the following rather peculiar scenario.