Youth Suicide & Self-harm: Indigenous Voices, Part 1

June 4, 2021 by

This ‘Culture is Life’ Campaign video highlights the problem of youth suicide amongst Indigenous people of Australia. Youth suicide is a problem amongst Indigenous peoples of other colonised nations.

Below, are some quotes from The Elders Report into Preventing Self-harm & Youth Suicide. This is a seminal report that brings together the voices of Elders and community leaders from across affected communities that wished to speak publicly about the causes and solutions needed to address this issue. These quotes reflect what the Elders see happening on the ground:

Read More ➔

Filed Under: Healing Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Regulation and Control of Drugs

June 3, 2021 by

Throughout history there have been all sorts of attempts to regulate or control the use of certain drugs. It is generally assumed and rarely argued that it is all done for the greatest good, to help reduce the health and social problems caused by drugs. However, a closer look at the origins of prohibition reveals a more complicated picture. Ideological, political and economic interests play a major role.

The earliest form of prohibitionist thought can probably be accredited to an Egyptian Priest who in 2000 BC wrote, ‘I, thy superior, forbid thee to go the taverns. Thou art degraded like the beasts.’

Read More ➔

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Stolen Generations

June 2, 2021 by

When I came to live in Australia in December 2008, I knew little about the past government policy of removing Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. This policy was introduced by Federal and State government acts in order to assimilate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children into the white-dominated society of Australia. In essence, to help ‘make’ these children ’white’. Children taken from their families as a result of this policy are now known as the ‘Stolen Generations’.

I felt embarrassed that I did not know more about the Stolen Generations. However, I was soon to realise that I was just one of a vast majority of people outside Australia who knew nothing about Australia’s policy of removing Aboriginal children (in particular children of mixed race) from their families. In fact, I know few people outside of Australia who have heard of this policy. It is one of Australia’s best kept ‘secrets’.

Read More ➔

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , ,

Factors Facilitating Recovery: Gaining a Positive Identity

June 1, 2021 by

People with serious substance use problems lose a lot of the roles or personal characteristics that help define their normal identity (e.g. loving son, athlete, generosity, intelligence) as their dependence on their substance(s) increases, relationships wither and isolation increases. Eventually, their identity as viewed by others may become ‘a useless, dirty addict’. They will also have personal views of what they have become and these views can lead to lowered self-esteem or even intense hatred of oneself.

On the basis of qualitative research with over 100 heroin addicts who had recovered from their addiction without professional treatment, Patrick Biernacki argued that: ‘To change their lives successfully, addicts must fashion new identities, perspectives and social world involvements wherein the addict identity is excluded or dramatically depreciated.’ [1]

Read More ➔

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

‘Hope is the Word That Can Free Us From Addiction’ by o2b3

May 31, 2021 by

One of the things I will be doing over the coming months is to ‘bring back’ some of the classic blogs from our online community Wired In To Recovery, which ran from 2008 – 2012. People who know me will tell you that I always keep banging on about hope. Yes, hope is essential for recovery! Here’s a real powerful blog about hope which o2b3 submitted to Wired In To Recovery back in 2010.

‘I always thought that the word hope didnʼt apply to me! From where I come from I was never shown or given any hope. I was always put down and told, ‘Thereʼs no hope for you. You are no good. Youʼre bad, you are a liar. You are worthless and rotten to the core.’ When you keep hearing that said to you time and time again, you start to believe in what those people say. That this is you and thatʼs what you are. So I became the person that everyone said I was. I became all of the above, just to get back at those people that hurt me and put me down.

Read More ➔

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Hidden Heroin Users

May 30, 2021 by

Describes an important research study conducted by Roy Egginton and Professor Howard Parker at the end of the 1990s that illustrated the life experiences of a group of young heroin users, and offered a practice and policy framework for intervening in their drug journeys to social exclusion. (933 words)

The 1990s saw a large increase in the ‘recreational’ use of drugs such as cannabis, amphetamine and ecstasy amongst young people. Whilst the vast majority rejected use of heroin because of its addictive properties and association with ‘junkies’, the number of young people starting to use the drug increased significantly in the latter part of the 1990s.

A study by Roy Egginton and Howard Parker provided important insights into the life experiences of a group of young heroin users they termed ‘hidden heroin users’ [1]. The researchers pointed out that local officials often ignored local problems with heroin, due to the stigma associated with the drug. Failing to address heroin use amongst young people leads to difficulties at a later time when they present for treatment with a more serious problem.

The study involved interviews with 86 young heroin users (aged 15 – 20 years) from four different areas in England.

Whilst the participants’ childhoods were far from ideal, only a minority could be described as developmentally damaging. However, from age 13 years, the interviewees were routinely out and about with peers, unsupervised and doing things to which most parents would object. The parents did not know where they were.

They were early smokers and drinkers and entered a phase of ‘florid drugs experimentation’. On average, they started to take heroin aged 15 years.

The educational performance of most of the interviewees deteriorated during secondary school. They truanted regularly and many became disruptive at school, and were repeatedly temporarily or permanently excluded. A few obtained some educational qualifications but most were still under-qualified at the time of the interview. Few had been successfully employed. Most were receiving state benefits.

The first time a person tried heroin was usually with drug using peers and involved smoking (91%). Over a half described the experience as ‘good’. Re-trying followed rapidly (60% within a week) and most moved to weekly and then daily use.

Experimental injecting was widespread and 46% were injectors. A poly-drug repertoire became common with more regular heroin use, involving cannabis (80% tried in last month), tranquillisers (45%), methadone (45%) and crack cocaine (33%). Although interviewees had been early drinkers, current regular alcohol use was not high. Over 50% had not drunk in the past week.

Members of the sample gradually became stigmatised as smackheads. They were dislocated from parts of their family, ‘straighter’ friends and conventional activities. They gravitated into poly-drug using networks and cohabitations which provided support.

73% of interviewees said that their health had been affected by their drug/heroin use. Most showed clear signs of physical and psychological dependency on heroin and other drugs. This dependency and associated anxiety increased with the length of use and the switch to injecting.

Average drug bills were over £160 per week. Most interviewees utilised benefits and acquisitive crime (especially shoplifting) to pay for their drugs. Drug dealing, and to a lesser extent, begging and prostitution were also being used. Most interviewees had been convicted, but not imprisoned.

Approximately 50% had delinquent careers prior to heroin use, but their drug habit amplified their offending. For most others, heroin use led to offending.

The sample were initially very naïve and ill-informed about heroin. They did not understand its subtle potency and addictiveness, and had little idea where a heroin career might take them. They claimed to regret having ever taken heroin.

The drug knowledge of this sample was obtained by their own experiences and those in the local heroin networks, far more than from public health or drugs educational sources. They were basically too insecure and immature to visualise the benefits of ‘presenting’ to a treatment agency and simultaneously distrusted adult authority.

The researchers emphasised the need for early interventions to be developed, including provision of accurate targeted information: how dependency develops and its consequences; how to avoid and respond to accidents and overdosing; the dangers of injecting an sharing equipment; the additional ‘price’ of tackling crack cocaine, and the knowledge and skills required to detox/come off heroin.

They emphasised the need to specifically target heroin using networks (where there is trust) with information in order to maximise the potential for reduced harm. Parents who knew about their child’s heroin use were viewed as potential sources of influence if relationships were still intact or repairable.

Many of the interviewees had difficulties at school (truanting, exclusion) and may not have therefore benefited from drugs education in this environment.

The researchers pointed out that as young people’s drug services develop they must pay full attention to understanding and monitoring their local drugs situation, reaching out to hidden adolescents developing problematic drug use, and providing user-friendly, flexible services.

The professionals (e.g. police, teachers, youth and community workers) who come into contact with young heroin users must increase their knowledge about drug issues and experience of how to intervene and advocate help.

Egginton and Parker argued that a deterioration in the ‘heavy-end’ drugs scene was underway. Whilst problem drug use remained correlated with socio-economic deprivation and difficult family life, there were signs that new waves of young users will also contain young people from more conventional, adequate family backgrounds.

They also pointed out that:

‘In the current absence of effective routine monitoring systems, more immediate efforts should be made to better define what is happening in heavy-end drugs scenes across the UK.’

Endnote:

[1] Hidden Heroin Users: Young People’s Unchallenged Journeys to Problematic Drug Use, Roy Eggington and Howard Parker, London: Drugscope, 2000.

> pdf document

Filed Under: Background Briefings

The Normalisation of Recreational Drug Use, Part 2

May 30, 2021 by

Continues to look at British youth culture and the role of drugs and alcohol among adolescents during the 1990s. (952 words)

Parker and colleagues described four distinct drug pathways that young people in their study had taken during their adolescence.

Abstainers held anti-drug attitudes, had never taken a drug, and never intended to. Former triers held fairly negative attitudes to drug use and whilst they had tried or used illicit drugs, they had no intention of doing so again.

Those in transition held fairly positive drug attitudes, most had tried drugs, and all felt they might use drugs in the future. Current users held pro-drug attitudes, used one or more drugs regularly, and expected their drug careers to continue into the future.

By reflecting on and reviewing their attitudes to drugs, young people could switch pathways. As young people in the study moved into adulthood, there was an increase in the proportion who became current users and a reduction in the number of abstainers. Young people in transition were more likely to use the ‘softer’ drugs such as cannabis, whereas current users had a larger drug repertoire, including amphetamines and ecstasy.

However, the researchers noted that:

‘Whilst current users have the most florid, risk-taking antecedents, including early smoking, drinking and sexual experiences, they do not have strong delinquent tendencies nor fit into any typology of abnormal development.’

‘… today’s young drug takers are of both sexes, come from all social and educational backgrounds and are in most other respects conventional.’

Parker and colleagues used in-depth interviews to build on the pathway analysis, by providing a perspective of the actual experiential journeys their drug triers and users took during adolescence.

The vast majority of the drug users had gotten their drugs via friends or friends of friends. Direct contact with professional dealers was rare. In terms of drug initiation, interviewees stressed personal curiosity and the support, sometimes encouragement, occasionally ‘pressure’, of friendship networks.

Most first time experiences were with cannabis and were benign. LSD and amphetamines and, in late adolescence, ecstasy, were occasionally more problematic.

The researchers argued that most young people were drug wise and they differentiated between the range of drugs readily available on the youth market in terms of their effects, both positive and negative. 

Nearly all of the sample rejected heroin and cocaine out of hand, as drugs with dreadful reputations because of their addictive potential and the world of dealers. Cannabis was viewed as a fairly safe drug, whilst amphetamines, LSD and ecstasy were more equivocally defined.

The decision to take a drug involved assessing the balance between risk and possible costs against personal enjoyment from taking a particular drug. The risk assessed were in terms of stigma and risk societycensure by parents, partners, friends, teachers, criminal justice system. Personal relationships and career opportunities might be damaged. However, whilst immediate health risks were assessed, long-term health risks were rarely assessed.

In their excellent book Illegal Leisure: The Normalization of Adolescent Recreational Drug Use [1], Parker and colleagues argued that the nature of the experience of growing up had changed in the world of the 1990s. Rapid social changes in so many aspects of everyday life had resulted in growing up ‘feeling’ far less secure and more uncertain for far longer than had happened prior to this time. ‘To grow up today is to grow up in a risk society.’

‘The unprecedented increase in recreational drug use is deeply embedded in these other and social processes since such drug use is both about risk taking but also about ‘time out’ to self-medicate the impact of the stresses and strains of both success and failure in ‘modern’ times.’

The researchers emphasised that the UK drug strategy, being embedded in a ‘war on drugs’ discourse, missed the point. It was based on many misconceptions about young people and drugs.

The first misconception was that young drug takers would become addicted to or disinhibited by their drugs, and become young offenders spiralling out of control into a life of crime and disorder. However, only a small minority of persistent offenders committed crimes and took drugs. Many of these young people also drank too much alcohol, grew up in care, were excluded from school, and needed psychiatric help. What was the cause of the crime? Many also committed crimes before having problems with drugs.

The vast majority of young people who took drugs did not follow this path. Also, there were few signs of dependency in the recreational scene of this study.

Another government misconception was that young people were pressured into taking drugs. However, participants in this study insisted that they made their own drugs decisions for which they took responsibility. The notion of peer pressure was a source of resentment to many young people when expounded by adults delivering drug education.

Parker and colleagues also argued that young people’s drug use had become entangled in the wider moral panic about, and blaming of youth, for society problems. They emphasised that continuing the ‘war on drugs’ and ignoring the reality of young people’s drug taking was resulting in a neglect in dealing with reducing the harms and risks of drug use.

They pointed out the need to:

  • accept that drug use occurs and treat the user as a citizen
  • try and help assure that street drugs are quality tested
  • help young people share information and experiences about drugs, in particular bad experiences
  • create a situation where young people trust the information (including scientific) on drugs provided by older people
  • create a situation where young people feel that they can come forward and talk about their drug problem without censure.

Endnote:

[1] Illegal Leisure: The Normalization of Adolescent Recreational Drug Use by Howard Parker, Judith Aldridge and Fiona Measham: Routledge, 1998.

> pdf document

Filed Under: Background Briefings Tagged With: , , , ,

The Normalisation of Recreational Drug Use, Part 1

May 30, 2021 by

British youth culture and the role of drugs and alcohol among adolescents during the 1990s. (874 words)

Only a small minority of people who try an illicit drug develop a problem. Many people who try an illicit drug do so on one or a few occasions and decide the experience is not for them. Some may use one or more illicit drugs on a periodic basis, whilst others may use more regularly, but still their use is recreational and controlled.

The use of illicit drugs has increased greatly over the past forty years, in particular during the 1990s. As an example of this change, a large-scale annual survey by the University of Exeter’s Health Education Unit (involving 30,000 children from 150 schools in England and Scotland) revealed that the proportion of 15- and 16-year olds who reported ever having tried an illicit drug rose from 10% in 1989 to 40% in 1996.

In 1991, Professor Howard Parker and his colleagues initiated a unique piece of research which tracked a large sample of young people (14 – 18 years old) from the North West of England over a five-year period. The study confirmed the widespread recreational use of illicit drugs, and provided essential insights into British youth culture and the role of drugs and alcohol among adolescents.

This study took place against the backdrop of a ‘youth-drugs-crime-danger’ message both from media and politicians. When John Major, the then Prime Minister, announced his new drug strategy (Tackling Drugs Together) in a speech to the Social Market Foundation (9 September 1994), he chose ‘yob-culture’ as the soundbite he wanted the media to highlight.

Tackling Drugs Together was about offenders and crime, indeed ‘no single crime prevention measure would be more significant than success on the front against drugs.’ One premise of the strategy was that young people were ‘at risk of drug abuse’ and succumb because of peer pressure. The second premise was that drugs are dangerous and a menace. The third was that because drug use leads to crime, local communities are at risk from drug users.

The war-on-drugs rhetoric of the Tory Government, and the desire to link drugs and crime, was later hijacked by the Labour Party in opposition. It was continued once Labour came into power.

In their book Illegal Leisure: The Normalization of Adolescent Recreational Drug Use [1], Parker and colleagues emphasised that this political discourse has an:

‘… energy of its own. It promotes public fear and anxiety about crime, drugs and youth which in turn it then uses to interfere simplistically, and with apparent public consent, in drugs and criminal justice policy and practice. This process, because it can barely be challenged, thus spins along reinforcing itself.’

But this simplistic rhetoric ignored the question as to why the majority of young people try illicit drugs and a significant minority continue to use them regularly. In trying to understand this situation, Parker and colleagues emphasised that that the very nature of adolescence was changing—the context and the conditions in which young people were growing up was very different to generations before.

The research study involved a sample of over 700 14-year olds being tracked annually for up to five years. Each year, they were asked about their personal and family circumstances, their disposable income, use of leisure, and perspectives on personal and social relationships. They were asked in detail about their use of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use.

As they matured, more complex issues were pursued, including their attitudes towards drug use and drug users, their assessment of health education they received, and their experiences at parties and nightclubs.

Five annual self-report surveys were undertaken, and 86 interviews were conducted when respondents were 17 years old. Eight co-educational state secondary schools in the North West metropolitan area of the UK were used. The questionnaires were distributed in the classrooms with teachers absent.

The overall aim of the study was to assess how ‘ordinary’ young people growing up in England in the 1990s developed attitudes and behaviours in relation to the unprecedented ready availability of drugs, alongside other consumption options such as alcohol and tobacco.

The findings suggested that recreational drug use had become widespread amongst British youth. Over 36% of the sample had tried an illicit drug by age 14, and this increased to 51% by age 16, and 64% by age 18. Over 60% and 90% of the sample had received drug offers at age 14 and 18 years, respectively.

The most commonly tried drugs by age 18 were cannabis (59% tried), amyl nitrites or “poppers” (35%), amphetamines (33%), LSD (28%) and ecstasy (20%). Only 6% had tried cocaine and l0.6% had tried heroin.

Females were almost as likely as males to have tried an illicit drug by age 18, and there were no differences between youth from working and middle-class backgrounds. At age 18, nearly one-quarter of the sample had tried an illicit drug in the past week.

The study also revealed that young people reported many more positive experiences of drug use than negative outcomes.

By age 14 years, 90% of the sample had tried alcohol, with 30% claiming to drink on a weekly basis. This percentage rose to 80% in 18-year olds, with a mean consumption of ten units on the last drinking occasion. At age 18 years, just over a third of the sample were current smokers.

Endnote:

[1] Illegal Leisure: The Normalization of Adolescent Recreational Drug Use by Howard Parker, Judith Aldridge and Fiona Measham: Routledge, 1998.

> pdf document

 

Filed Under: Background Briefings Tagged With: ,

The Drug Experience and Beyond: Amphetamine

May 30, 2021 by

The experience of taking amphetamine, including the subjective pleasurable experiences of initial use, amphetamine-induced anxiety and psychosis, and withdrawal symptoms following long-term use. Also includes a brief consideration of the various factors that can influence the amphetamine experience. (964 words)

The ‘drug experience’ produced by a particular psychoactive substance depends on both drug and non-drug factors. Drug factors are the chemical properties or type of drug used, the dose, route of administration, and presence or absence of another drug. Non-drug factors include personal characteristics of the user (e.g. biological make-up, personality, previous experience), and the context or setting in which the drug is taken.

A person will first try a drug because of social or intrapersonal factors, such as curiosity about the effects of a drug, or the fact that their friends are taking it. They will probably have certain expectancies about the effects of the drug from conversations with experienced users and/or because of media exposure.

Once a person has taken a drug, the drug experience creates cognitive expectancies which become another factor that influences subsequent drug-taking. A person may continue to take the drug to increase his psychological comfort or change his level of consciousness.

Low doses of amphetamine produce a number of subjective effects: feelings of euphoria; heightened alertness; increased energy and excitement; increased feelings of well-being, confidence and power; increased ability to concentrate and stay awake; increased sociability and friendliness; a feeling of being less bored or tired; hyperactivity, talkativeness, and a rapid flow of ideas; a suppression of sexual inhibitions; lack of desire for food; nervousness and anxiety.

With higher drug doses, there are other effects. These are much more likely to occur when the drug has been taken repeatedly rather than on a single occasion. The user may experience repetitive (stereotyped) thought patterns and show repetitive behaviours, e.g. continually take apart and re-assemble some object, or pick continually at their skin. They may show restlessness, irritability, and various types of anxiety condition, including panic states.

The person may develop suspiciousness, paranoia (delusions of persecution), and experience visual and auditory hallucinations. This is known as amphetamine psychosis, which resembles paranoid schizophrenia.

Amphetamine psychosis is usually seen with chronic use of drug, but can be seen after an acute administration. The incidence of amphetamine psychosis increases greatly when the user switches to intravenous drug administration.The psychosis is transitory and usually terminates after drug use is terminated. Long-term amphetamine use can sometimes lead to sudden and intense acts of aggression and violence.

The subjective effects of amphetamine and similar-acting substances are not fixed. The amphetamine-like stimulant methylphenidate (Ritalin) is, paradoxically, used to treat hyperactivity in children. Some adults report the drug exerting a calming effect, allowing them to cope better.

In well-controlled laboratory conditions, under conditions where neither subject nor experimenter knew whether drug or placebo was administered, a fixed dose of amphetamine produced either euphoria or anxiety in different subjects.

Once a person has tried amphetamine, they may use the drug on a recreational basis, even over an extended period of time. They may keep a strict adherence to a particular pattern of drug use so that the drug is only used on certain occasions (e.g. weekends). The user retains control over drug use and there may be no medical or social complications—however, there is the possibility of legal sanction. Of course, a person may try amphetamine once and never do so again.

However, the pattern of drug-taking may intensify and a number of changes may occur. For example, a person may switch from oral or intranasal use to intravenous use. Drug effects will intensify when such a change occurs.

In another pattern of use, the person initiates repeated ‘runs’, taking amphetamine for hours and sometimes days. They may snort new lines of drug whenever they feel the drug effects wearing off. This pattern of drug-taking is more evident with cocaine, which is a much shorter–acting drug.

In yet another pattern of use, they may chronically abuse amphetamine in combination with depressant drugs. They may drink large amounts of alcohol whilst under the influence of amphetamine.

Users may use depressant drugs (benzodiazepines, alcohol, opiates) to take ‘the edge off’ the stimulant, and help them feel less anxious. Research suggests that users who abuse stimulants and depressants experience more psychological and physical problems than those who only abuse stimulants.

Tolerance develops to many of the psychological and physical effects of amphetamine, e.g. euphoria, anorexia, hyperthermia and hypertension. This tolerance may develop within hours to days. However, there appears to be little tolerance to the anxiogenic effects of the drug. In fact, repeated use of amphetamine may sensitise individuals to amphetamine psychosis.

The effects of a single dose of amphetamine lasts 2 – 4 hours and generally leaves the user feeling tired after the drug’s primary effects are over. It may take as long as a couple of days to feel normal again. With chronic drug use, feelings of tiredness, lethargy and irritability become stronger and may have a more dramatic onset following the wearing off of drug effects.

The user may want to keep taking drug to avoid these feelings. Tolerance develops with regular use and higher doses will be required. Eventually, ‘what goes up must come down’. The ‘withdrawal’ effects are even stronger when a user has completed repeated ‘runs’ over a period of days. Amphetamine produces a withdrawal syndrome, which not only includes tiredness, but also anhedonia (an inability to feel pleasure), depression, anxiety, dysphoria, sleep disturbances, and a strong craving for drug.

The person may experience terrible mood swings as he oscillates between periods of drug-taking and withdrawal. He may experience periods of paranoia and anxiety when taking the drug, and periods of deep depression when not taking the drug. The impact of this on psychological well-being can be considerable.

> pdf document

Filed Under: Background Briefings Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Harms and Risks of Substance Use

May 30, 2021 by

Reflections on the harms and risk factors related to drugs, alcohol and solvents. (979 words)

There is much discussion about the harms and risks of drug use, particularly in the popular press. The relative harms of different drugs are compared, and the law tries to operate a control system with drugs purportedly graded by their dangers, albeit with alcohol and tobacco forgotten.

Heroin and cocaine are considered to be particularly dangerous. And yet, there are people that have taken cocaine or prescribed heroin for many years and have suffered no physical harm. There is no given in the world of drugs—except that all substances (even water) can kill if given in sufficient quantity.

In his excellent book Matters of Substance: is legalization the right answer – or the wrong question [1], the late Griffith Edwards points out:

‘With drugs nothing is always. Their use does not carry a guarantee of danger, but neither is their safety guaranteed. What one needs to ask about any substance is not whether in absolute terms it is safe, but rather the degree of risk which may attach to its use.’

The harm caused by substance use needs to be considered in a variety of ways. Use of drugs, alcohol and solvents can carry risk to different aspects of life. They may threaten physical or mental health, social circumstances, educational and employment status, and may put a person at risk with the criminal justice system.

Substance use may also affect the safety and welfare of others. Other people may be affected negatively by the transmission of blood borne viruses through sexual contact with an infected drug user, through violence committed by a person who is drunk, or by someone who is driving while under the influence of a sedative prescription drug. The harmony and happiness of families can be disrupted, and in the extreme whole communities can be affected.

Harm done by substance use can be major or minor. It can also be a one-off or chronic. Harm may be caused directly by the drug itself, and/or by the lifestyle associated with use of the drug, for example, with street heroin.

For some harm, an increasing risk is associated with longer-term and heavier substance use. However, for other types of problems, the risk can be much more random: the twentieth experience with ecstasy or a solvent may trigger some reaction leading to death; the first injection of heroin may lead to infection with hepatitis C which kills the person years later; the heavy drinking session may lead to the person tripping on the pavement into the path of an approaching vehicle.

With illicit drugs, there is the possibility of contaminants in the drug which can cause illness and even death. In one example, heroin users in California injected unknowingly a synthetic drug known as MPTP, which produced symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. This movement disorder, caused by a massive depletion of dopamine in the brain, mostly occurs in people over 60 years old. In this case, young heroin users developed the symptoms within 24 hours of taking the drug. The condition was irreversible and could only be alleviated by l-Dopa or neural grafts of foetal tissue [2,3].

The particular harm caused by substances is also dependent on the route by which they are administered. Injecting drugs can lead to the transmission of blood borne viruses, smoking can cause lung damage, and drinking of alcohol to cancer of the gullet. Accidental overdose is more likely to occur following injection than ingestion of tablets. Users of illicit heroin are also unaware of the purity of the substance they purchase—an unusually pure, or contaminated, batch of heroin can cause overdose.

One of the dangers of drugs and alcohol is their propensity to cause addiction or dependence. In simple terms, addiction can be seen as an impairment in a person’s ability or power to choose. The drug becomes more important to the person than other aspects of their life, which the majority of people would consider as essential. Addiction drives forward heavy and persistent drug use, ultimately increasing the likelihood of self-harm.

The particular effects of a drug, and the development of addiction, are influenced not only by the intrinsic properties of the drug and its route of administration, but also by the previous drug experience of the user, their physical and psychological characteristics, and the setting in which the drug is taken. Therefore, these factors can influence the harm caused by drugs.

Overdoses are more likely when a heroin user leaves prison, since he is likely to forget or not understand that his body has lost its tolerance to the drug. Amphetamine psychosis will be more likely to occur in an individual with a propensity to schizophrenic symptoms. Alcohol-induced violence is more likely to occur in certain environments than in others. Life-threatening seizures can occur when a person withdraws from long-term use of the prescription drugs Valium and Librium.

Finally, and not least, is that the dangers of many substances can be exacerbated by taking another at the same time. For example, the likelihood of overdose after heroin is increased if the person is also drinking alcohol.

Psychoactive substances have been used in society for thousands of years. They will remain with us for as long as mankind wishes to change his state of consciousness, for whatever reason. These substances—be they legal or illegal—will always have harm and risks associated with them.

What is important in today’s society is to keep people well-informed about the potential harms of drugs, alcohol and solvents and the circumstances in which they can be dangerous. We do not need media hype or campaigns that over-exaggerate the risks. We need to be objective and realistic.

Endnotes:

[1] Matters of Substance: is legalization the right answer – or the wrong question, Griffith Edwards, Penguin, 2005.

[2] MPTP, Wikipedia.

[3] The MPTP Story, J. William Langston, Journal of Parkinson’s Disease, 7, S11-S22, 2017.

> pdf document

 

 

Filed Under: Background Briefings Tagged With: , , ,

12 Principles of Indigenous Healing

May 29, 2021 by

When I first became interested in Indigenous healing a number of years ago, I did a great deal of reading about the healing of trauma and intergenerational trauma. I summarised what I considered to be 12 principles of healing, which are relevant to Aboriginal people here in Australia and other Indigenous peoples around the world. I first posted about these principles on Sharing Culture in 2014 and then on The Carrolup Story in 2018.

1. The Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples must be recognised and respected
Recognition of, and respect for, the Human Rights of Indigenous peoples is fundamental to improving their health and wellbeing. Society must ensure that Indigenous peoples have full and effective participation in decisions that directly or indirectly affect their lives.

Read More ➔

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Recovery Moments: Ian and Irene’s Story

May 28, 2021 by

Two of my favourite people that I have met on my Wired In journey are Ian and Irene MacDonald. I first met Ian in 2007 at a Federation of Drug & Alcohol Professionals (FDAP) meeting, although we had been corresponding earlier. Ian and Irene had lost their son Robin to a heroin overdose in 1997 and were now running a family support group, CPSG (Carer and Parent Support Gloucestershire).

Ian later asked if I would give a talk to family members in Cheltenham and I happily agreed. The talk took place in September 2008. I was still living in Cowbridge in South Wales at the time. My new partner Linda was visiting from Australia, so she came to Cheltenham with me. We spent a lovely evening with Ian and Irene. I remember thinking at the time how would I ever recover from losing a child?

Read More ➔

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , , ,

Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD)


May 27, 2021 by

Here’s an article on asset-based community development which I wrote some years ago. This approach can facilitate healing in a community.

“Mental health is not a product of pharmacology or a service that can be singularly provided by an institution: it is a condition that is more determined by our community assets than our medication or access to professional interventions more generally. There are functions that only people living in families and communities can perform to promote mental health and wellbeing, and if they do not do those things; they will not get done, since, there simply is no substitute for genuine citizen-led community care (not to be confused with volunteer mentoring schemes).” Cormac Russell

There are two alternative ways to build a community in a neighborhood.

Read More ➔

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , , , ,

‘A bright light in a dark world’ by Maddie

May 26, 2021 by

One of the highlights of my career has been the development of Wired In To Recovery. Our online recovery community attracted over 4,000 members, who were from around the world and had a diverse range of backgrounds. A significant number (over 1,000) of community members blogged, generating over 7,500 blogs and 35,000 comments!

I loved reading the blog posts and had many favourites. Here is just one of the moving posts I was lucky enough to read.

“I’m almost nine months into my recovery journey, during which time I have not had a drop of alcohol. I’ve been reflecting back to my past, the time that I was drinking very heavily. Today, I can’t imagine drinking every day as I did, waking up with a hangover every morning. My mind just can’t seem to go back there.

Read More ➔

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

‘Nothing to mourn; just a drug addict’ by Dr David McCartney

May 25, 2021 by

When I developed Wired In and worked in the addiction recovery field, I was living in South Wales. When my daughter Annalie was in medical school in Edinburgh, I used to fly up from Cardiff to visit her. I soon came to love Edinburgh. That positive feeling for the city increased greatly when I met Dr David McCartney.

David ran Lothians and Edinburgh Abstinence Programme (LEAP), a programme that offered structured treatment based in the community using a blend of evidence-based interventions. The patient group in treatment operated as a therapeutic community. David was in recovery himself. I loved visiting LEAP every time I was in Edinburgh, and meeting the patients and staff. I’d sit in on group sessions and spend time talking to the patients. David and I became good friends and I hold him in the highest regard.

I’ve recently been checking out David’s blog on Recovery Review. He writes so well and covers a number of key themes relating to addiction recovery. Here is David’s latest post, ‘Nothing to mourn; just a drug addict’, focused on the issue of stigma.

Read More ➔

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , , ,

Factors Facilitating Recovery: Understanding

May 24, 2021 by

Here is the next section from my chapter Factors Facilitating Recovery in  my eBook Our Recovery Stories: Journeys from Drug and Alcohol Addiction.

Understanding is essential for recovery. People with substance use problems and those on a recovery journey need information and education about a variety of matters, including: the nature of addiction and their own substance use problems; the range of interventions they can use to help them overcome or manage these problems; opportunities that allow them to exercise their strengths and assets; supports they can use to facilitate their recovery journey, and self-management skills that help them cope with situations that might lead to relapse. 

Recovering people are a major source of information that can facilitate another person’s recovery journey.

Read More ➔

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Can a Cambodian Cow Facilitate Healing?

May 23, 2021 by

One of the best book I have read on mental health has to be Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions by Johann Hari. I can strongly recommend the book, which focuses on a ‘radical’—and very sensible way—of viewing depression and overcoming the problem.

Depression is NOT caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, as is argued by drug companies and many biologically-oriented psychiatrists and large numbers of doctors. Moreover, there is little, if any, ‘genuine’ scientific evidence that ‘antidepressants’ alleviate depression. Johann Hari talks about social factors that cause depression and considers new socially-related ways of alleviating the problem. I will be talking about the book more in a future blog.

Read More ➔

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , ,

‘Neutralising Suffering: How the Medicalisation of Distress Obliterates Meaning and Creates Profit’ by Joanna Moncrieff

May 22, 2021 by

jmoncrieffThere is so much great content on Mad in America. Here’s an excellent article from British psychiatrist Joanna Moncrieff, one I wholeheartedly endorse. On the one hand, society discourages people from taking psychoactive drugs, and even prosecutes them for doing so, whilst on the other hand it encourages people to take psychoactive (prescription) drugs. Sometimes, they are the same drugs or very similar-acting.

‘People have used psychoactive substances to dull and deaden pain, misery and suffering since time immemorial, but only recently, in the last few decades, have people been persuaded that what they are doing in this situation is rightly thought of as taking a remedy for an underlying disease.

The spread of the use of prescription drugs has gone hand in hand with the increasing medicalization of everyday life, and a corresponding loss of the previous relationship that people had with psychoactive substances.

Read More ➔

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Historical Perspectives: Opium, Morphine and Opiates

May 21, 2021 by

I’ve always been interested in historical perspectives surrounding the use of psychoactive drugs. Drug use, and views about drug use, have not always been the same across time. In April 2005, I wrote the first of a short series on the historical use of opium, morphine and opiates for Drink and Drugs News, the leading UK magazine focused on drug and alcohol treatment.

Here is that first article, along with links to the following two articles. You can also find these articles in my Background Briefings section of Articles on this website.

“Opiate, or opioid, refers to any drug, either natural or synthetic, that has properties similar to opium or its main active ingredient, morphine. Opium comes from one type of poppy, Papaver Somniferum.

Read More ➔

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , ,

Factors Facilitating Recovery: Involvement in Meaningful Activities

May 19, 2021 by

Another important factor facilitating recovery involves the development of valued social roles through involvement in meaningful activities. Through these activities, recovering people gain a sense a purpose and direction in their life—they find a niche in the community. 

These meaningful activities may involve employment or volunteering, engagement in hobbies or other leisure activities, or connecting with other organisations or groups. Employment is a central way in which people can achieve more meaning and purpose in their lives and is therefore a key pathway to recovery. As described in a previous post, impacting on the lives of other people in a positive manner, ‘giving back’ as it is often called, is also important for personal recovery.

Read More ➔

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , , , , , ,