How decriminalizing drugs and connecting addicts with society could lower the rates of drug abuse - Part 3: Why do people become addicted?
In this series I analyze the results of two different drug restriction policies; the prohibition policy of the U.S., referred to as the “War on Drugs”, and the Portuguese decriminalization policy. I do this in the aim of testing the hypotheses that a system that does not punish addicts, but reconnects them with society is superior to the more widely used prohibition system.
This is the last part of the series, and I will in this part discuss the underlying reasons for addiction and present the conclusions of this series. If you have not yet read part 1: "The War on Drugs" or part 2: Portugal's decriminalization policy I suggest that you read them before continuing with part 3.
This series serves as a critical analysis of a collection of academic articles, studies and web pages on the matter of addiction and restriction policies.
Part 3: Why do people become addicted?
The War on Drugs, started not only without much supportive evidence for the prohibition system (Mitchell 2009:32:2), but also without thoroughly examining why people get addicted in the first place.
Researching addiction
In the 1960's researchers started studying addiction, by examining rats. They placed the rats in cages and allowed them to inject small amounts of morphine into themselves, by pressing a lever. The researchers repeatedly found the rats continuing to inject the morphine until they got addicted, and even overdosed. So they came to the conclusion that there are chemical hooks in drugs that makes the user addicted to the drug.
Rethinking the research
In the late 1970's, psychologist Bruce Alexander (1981 15(4):571-6) decided to remake the study, changing one important aspect of it; the cage.
Instead of keeping the rats in a solitary cages with nothing to do he built Rat Park, a heaven for rats, where they had plenty of space, food and friends. It turned out that, in Rat Park, the rats did not like the morphine, they hardly ever used it and not one overdosed.
So according to Alexander, the drug addiction noticed in the rats in earlier studies was not due to the drug itself but due to the isolation. Here is a link to his study.
but on the cages that the addicts feel like they are living in.
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmRpkvJqtv5YztFbnE8DFe66xU8YaaP7dSM9hRcvboRgng/image.png)
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmZnorKaqdWqK5LrsmVU2nSxT34DFjbDQLhvfEbLSbDFCR/image.png)
Conclusions: reasons for addiction
Addiction seems to occur when a person can no longer bare to be present in his or her own life, or is feeling like he or she has nothing to be present for. Humans are social beings with the need to bond with someone or something, and if we do not have healthy relationships to bond with then we will find something else. This could e.g. be cellphones, gambling, cigarettes or drugs.
So how could then this system, which builds on further punishing, isolating and cutting off the people who have already been beaten down by life, help control drug abuse?
When incarcerating low-level users, one does not only punish them for the things that have gone wrong in their life and the bad choices they have made but one also impairs their possibilities to make better choices in the future. When instead focusing on making the environment better, on creating new healthy relationships that the addicts feel like they want to be present for, one can help the addict to reconnect with society and find meaning in life.
Comparing decriminalization and prohibition - conclusions
All data in the analyzed articles, points to the fact that punitive measures alone do not reduce drug consumption. Even though the United States has made huge increases in budget since 1985, the accessibility and consumption of drugs has stayed at the same level.
In Portugal, the amount of addicts seeking treatment has increased significantly ever since decriminalization in 2001. The rate of new cases of HIV has been decreasing, as well as the rate of drug induced deaths. And even though the prevalence for having tried any kind of drugs once or more times during your life has showed an increase, a steady decrease in last month prevalence and continuation of drug use can be seen.
since English is not my mother tongue.
The article was written quite flawlessly and I like how you focused heavily on the mental health issues with drugs instead of the criminal issues like most people.
I'm social psychology researcher that likes to take the broad perspective and learn all I can about all the sub fields of psychology. Subsequently I'll be posting a lot of content at least a few times a week about new research in the field.
So I'm going to follow you if you like my content please![alt text](https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/https://i.imgur.com/BVF0YzA.gif)
Thank you! I am glad you enjoyed the series! It is always interesting to read about new research so I will follow you and upvote.
drogs like sex : one time u in u cant get out
I don't agree with you on that one, but thank you for commenting.
I have been around a lot of tragedy with young people and drugs and addiction and death in recent years. I think a lot of the current trouble is made worse by the huge new influx of heroin to the us - coming after the troops took over in Afghanistan. Now, people are dying as the drugs coming in are further tainted by various additives. The whole thing is a nightmare in the states and the death rates are skyrocketing.
I had heard of Portugal's success before reading your posts, but it is good to see more detail than I previously knew. I think we can pretty much count on things getting worse in America regarding heroin. I'm not familiar with any other of the substances since that is not where the problem affected me personally.
I followed and will look for more information from you. I am not researching this myself at the moment as I find it very discouraging. Good job on this series.
It makes me sad to hear that you have been affected by this problem. I hope other countries will start following Portugal's footsteps soon, I really do think that decriminalization and especially offering treatment instead of punishment is the best way to help people suffering from addiction. In so many countries now a day you get marked for life if you get caught with any drugs on you, even if it is just a small amount for personal use, which makes it much harder to get a job in the future. And this only enhances the risk for continuation of drug abuse.
I am glad that you enjoyed the series and thank you for taking the time to comment! It encourages me that other people see the importance of this matter.
Me too - it helped to read this. I feel good also to know someone else is thinking of this problem and trying to analyse it. Many many, people in the us cannot get work just for the reason you mention.
You have a really good series and you should take the time to punch it up in terms of seo. Take a look at @infobunny posts and other posts tagged with "formatting" or "format" and "seo".
You can make simple corrections now, even after posting, and you should, because this series will rank very well on google for years to come. There is nothing else this good and that is for sure. You are really close with this and it won't take much work to improve dramatically. Then you will have the formation and seo skills for future posts.
You are the kind of person who can succeed in drawing traffic here because your content is so good. And people truly need to read this since the problem is so vast. I hope you will do it so more people can find you :)
Thank you for the tip! I will definitely check it out :) I am quite new to steemit still so I have much to learn about making posts. And I am really glad that I could help you with my post! And thank you so much for those kind words!
You are welcome. It's wonderful to see such good writing on an important topic. You have a few days to make changes and I will be happy to look again if you like. I'm not too great on all the details yet myself as I am new here too.
Is there anything in particular that you think I could improve? :)
The are formatting guides to follow. A long article needs Headers to alert google to look for example. This is a pretty good post to help, but let me know if you have trouble understanding. It's not easy to learn - but once you do - it' second nature. https://steemit.com/writing/@minion/professional-tutorial-for-post-formatting-both-for-beginners-and-advanced-users
Okay, I think I understand what you mean. I will try toto make some improvements later today if I have the time! To bad that I can no longer change the name of the post to a shorter one so that it would be more easily recognized by google, but it's good to know for the next one! Thank you again for the tips :)
this is really a goood piece to read
Glad you enjoyed it!
Laws will never stop addicts. It is easy to become addicted too, so people who look down on addicts should seriously reconsider their position. For their sake I hope they never get prescribed opiates.
All the laws do is ruin the addict's life even more. It's a tragedy. The laws have a lot of negative consequences for the people, but it has a ton of advantages for police forces and the government. Those entities benefit greatly from drugs being illegal of course.
Doctors have a large role in this too. Go to any detox center, and they will tell you an alarming fact: half or more of the people there were addicted by a doctor's prescription! Doctors give out opiates as if they were candy, and doctors do not give a damn about you.
They benefit from making you an addict. You have follow up visits, and you have to have blood tests. It goes on forever unless you die or are lucky enough to break the habit on your own or through detox'ing.
I could not agree with you more! Medication is a business and it is really corrupted. I will write a post on the corruption within psychiatry one of these days. Thank you for reading my series and taking the time to write such a valuable comment!
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You seem to be really good at writing and the topics seem interesting, not only this one but in general.
It's a shame I can't give any more value through upvoting as it's already over 7 days, but that's why I'm leaving a comment :) Impressive writing
Thank you! I am glad that you enjoyed my post and thank you for taking the time to comment! :)