Cohen, Sidney

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 38 | Number 2 Article 9May 1971Drug Abuse: A Worldwide PictureSidney CohenFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationCohen, Sidney (1971) "Drug Abuse: A Worldwide Picture," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 38 : No. 2 , Article 9.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol38/iss2/9of mastery of reason over instinct. Unless we can achieve it , we do not attain the true manhood that was meant for us to reach. Unless we reach it, we shall be forever chained to a mechanistic control over our excesses , and never be the men we must be, the kind of men that Mal thus · himself, when he wrote those prophetic essays on population, feel we had to become Guest Lecturer, David J. Bowman, S.J. of The National Council of The Churches of Christ if we were not to destr selves. Unless we attain it , we . truly and joyfully be gr a t the Almighty for the beaut) sexuality, for the meaning < happiness and fulfillmen t can bring to our human liv This is the challenge th; · us today. 1971 Gerald Kelly Lecture Sunday, June 20, 1971 Chalfonte-Haddon Hall Atlantic City, N.J. 12 Noon (Luncheon) All Persons Invited "Ecumenical Life for Catholics, For Men, for Medical Men in 1971" o ur-nnot ·ul to at is d the · at it aces Sponsored by The National Federation of Catholic Physicians' Guilds during the Annual Meeting of The American Medical Association . Fer reservations write to: NFCPG, 2825 N. Mayfair Rd., Milwaukee, Wis. 53.222. 112 Linacre QuarterlY DRUG ·ABUSE-A Worldwide Picture by ·Sidney Cohen, M.D. Los Angeles, California It is rewarding to scan time and space to help understand and deal with the problems that beset us. Have conditions in the past ever existed comparable to the present day preoccupation with drugs? In-deed, they have. On numerous oc-casions in man's journey through time, mind altering chemicals ap-peared to threaten or even over-whelm certain cultures. Only a few ented at the X/1 Congress of ternational Federations of holic Medical Associations , ashington, D. C. , October /3 , 1970. examples can be cited now since we are concerned today with the space frame rather than the time frame. Eighteenth century England was floating in a sea of cheap gin. Some of you will recall Hogarth's print "Gin Lane" where one could become "Drunk for a Penny, Dead Drunk for Tuppence. " The con-sumption of neutral spirits was so great among men , women and children of the working class that for a while it seemed as if the sun would set on the British Empire. Finally, gin was taxed , and daily intoxication became too expensive a practice. 113 ., 1 : ' .... ... ,· ,,. ' .·: •• ·: .... :·:·. ·-';( •• 1:··· ' ,.: ''' 1.·\• I Opi u rn , of course, has stu I tified many po pulations. In the Western world nineteenth century England was a place where laudanum (tinc-ture of opium) could be obtained from the apothecary without dif-ficulty. DeQuincey wrote: "Hap-piness might now be bought for a penny and carried in the waistcoat pocket. Portable ecstacies·. might be had in a bottle, and peace of mind sent down by the mail." It is estimated that during the 1930's 40 million Chinese or 10% of the population were opium smokers. This must have con-tributed to the decay of the Chinese empire. In this country patent medicines which ~oothed babies, killed pain or relteved cough almost in-variably contained opium.~ Just be_fore t~e Civil War the hypoder-mtc synnge was inve.nted. Mor-phine had already been extracted from gum opium. It was assumed that . addiction would be minimized if the morphine was in-jected rather than swallowed : As a result of the patent medicine scan-dal, the indiscriminate use of in-jectable morphine, and the spread of opium smoking from the West Coast Chinatowns as many as one of every 400 Americans had an opium "habit" during the latter half of the 1800's. In fact this situation persisted untii the second decade of the 20th century. Similar, but more circumscribed e p i d e_ m i c s o f e t h e r s n i f f i n, g , laughtng gas inhaling, cocaine snorting and datura eating can be recorded. Each was claimed to be the mind expander of its day. 114 But to turn to the curre . we should first try to d e; our present situation he then look at the experi e r few centuries, whi c · iII uminate our own pred i, The chemical abuse si t changes frequently w i drugs, new styles of usage ; populations involv e < fo I lowing statements are accurate summary of the situation. 1. It is estimated the t million problem alcoho li in the United States. In c alcoholism is a consistent of all reports, national an-national. It is the most substance abuse problem face. rmine ~ . and e of a may .ment. dtion new d new The fairly isting er six . exist a sing ~ature inter-r io us 1at we 2. Although tobac c is a minimally psychoactive su! tance, it is mentioned here to < mon-strate that trend reversal s tn oc-cur even when dependen ce s con-siderable. In the past 5 yea ,-. more · than 12 million America 1 have stopped smoking cigare tt .. ~ ' and the number of cigaret tl ; con-sumed has declined du r ' 1g the past two years. Physici a .· s as a group have shown the g · ~ atest reduction in cigarette smo k1 ng. 3. The use of mariju a :: a and hashish continues to increa .,c. The age groups involv e c• are progressively younger, and very few communities do n o t have some degree of cannabis use. In a few school districts there has been a leveling off of the ra te o f in-crease during the past yea r. Linacre Quarterly 4. Stimulants and sedatives are ing consumed more a nd more all age groups. These include amphetamines, and to a lesser ree cocaine, the barbiturates, non-barbiturate sedatives, the or tranquilizers and a number over-the-counter medications ntaining scopolamine. The in-a venous use of metham-hetamine has increased. 5. Hallucinogens continue to e .a v a i I a b I e a n d u sed . Co n -iderable mislabeling and ulteration occurs with these bstances. LSD usage may be eclining, but mescaline, ilocybin and THC are being substituted. According to analyses LSD is the usual ingredient in so-Iled mescaline, psilocybin and Volatile solvents continue to e used by some very young ildren and disturbed adults. vary from airpla11e cement, tr ta.cmt•er thinner, gasoline and spot remover to refrigerant aero so Is, sect and deodorant sprays, and ous oxide. 7. During the past two years roin addiction has increased re rapidly than in earlier years ith new consumer markets opening up among white middle youngsters. Mixtures of the abovemen-tioned substances plus many others are being consumed by some individuals totally immersed the drug subculture. At times identity of the material is com-etely unknown. The present indulgence in drugs o alter mental functioning is worldwide. The present upsurge began about 10 years ago when some credulous instructors and students at Harvard took LSD. They then proclaimed that the psychedelic revolution had arrived and that the so I uti on to man's and humanity's problems was at hand. As we review that . movement a decade .later, it seems evident that very I ittle of the promise was fulfilled. Indeed, still another prob·Iem seems to have been added to humanity's burden. The overuse of all mood changing drugs spread from the large cities and major universities throughout the land. About five years ago young American tourists introduced the practise into other Western countries. However, it is much too oversimplified to believe that the spread of the "American disease" accounts for the pandemic. In fact, a number of countries had preexisting drug problems. In other lands the same conditions that made the time ripe for the misuse of drugs were present: affluence, accelerated social change, breakdown of established belief systems, spiritual unrest, and the coming of age of the mass media. England has a brisk drug scene with hashish, stimulants, sedatives and acid. However, the most in-teresting and instructive issue is heroin and the so-called "British system." Until very recently physicians were permitted to prescribe heroin to keep addicts comfortable. This was, in effect, a sort of heroin maintenance. It suc-cessfully kept organized narcotic syndicates out of England, but during the past 10 years the in-115 creasing number of non-medical addicts , especially juvenile ad-dicts, evoked concern. Finally, two years ago regulations were amended so that only rehabilitation clinics can prescribe heroin to addicts. The ef~o~t is to discontinue the drug~ fatltng that, to maintain the patient on reduced amounts of heroin or methadone. Methadone maintenance as practised in the United States seems preferable to heroin maintenance~ one dose a day is sufficient, and that can be given by mouth. Sweden, and to a lesser degree, the other Scandanavian countries have had difficulties with Preludin, an amphetamine-like compound. Introduced more than a dozen years ago as a safe weight reducing pill, it began being abused when large amounts were swallowed for its euphoriant ef-fect. Later the m~terial was crushed, dissolved and injected in-travenously. Qver I 0,000 people in Sweden inject Preludin despite the fact that stimulants can now be prescribed only with the approval of a special committee. The sub-stance is smuggled in or manufac-tured in illicit laboratories. Japan succeeded in overcoming a serious methamphetamine problem after World War II by a combination of education, strict law enforcement and drying up of supplies. More recently, paint thinner inhalation, the return of "pep" pills and of sleeping medications among groups of young people are becoming popular. Countries on both sides of the Iron Curtain are finding that 116 hashish is " in " although e:-Eibe, controls manage to ; prevalance down. So far a · Nepal is the only country · restrictive legislation for c This is interesting in vi e many countri.es of the Mi · and Near East th a . traditionally sanctioned t} cannabis. There are nations w L depending upon severe to deter drug traffic. Nig• Egypt have a death pen growing cannabis, and Ir : people who are found wi1 tities of heroin or opium. · these sanctions will be e remains to be seen. Ceremonial drug use re certain cultures- kh a Arabia, kava in the Melan\ chipelago, betel nut in pa r· 1nabis. of the !e East have use of .: h are 1alties ia and ty for hangs East Indies, peyote amo n: _he In-dians of the Native A n ·rican church, yage among a few ,ndean tribes, and the ordeal bea : still is occasionally used in th e · 'ongo. Unfortunately, alcohol, t h . inex-p e ·n s i v e a n d e a s i I y p r c I u c e d beverage tends to displ ac · these ancient ritual drugs . As a commentary {. n the motivation for certain ind t; .gences in drugs new to a culture , t is in-teresting to note a situ a ti o n in some of India's large cit ie:,. Here the old folks drink bhang, 1 weak decoction of cannabis, wh il ~ many of their sons and daughte r. drink Scotch. Although this brief re ' iew is hardly a comprehensive p icture of the global drug scene, at least cer-tain highlights are pr e se nted which may be mean i ngfu I to the situation in this cou nt r y. Linacre QuarterlY SOME ASPECTS OF AGING T. K. McKeogh, M.D. "Every man would live long, but no one would be old. " The great Irish satirist, Jonathan Swift, who himself suffered the horors of aging, struck to the heart of the matter in this pithy phrase. From time immemorial men have dreamed of a much longer life than their allotted span and a life that would retain the fullness and Dr. McKeogh is from Kilkenny, d and the President of The . .... ,,..,. ..... lie Physician's Guild of Ire-This paper was presented at e lnterriational Congress of lie Medical Associations in ashington, D.C., October 16, 1970. '1971 vigour of youth - the land of youth, Tir na n-Og, is an Irish tradition as ancient as the Tales of the Fianna. Determined attempts have been made and are being made to turn this dream into a reality. In the western world the number of scientists studying the aging process has greatly in-creased in the last three decades. In the U.S. alone, more than one thousand scientific teams are en-gaged in this work. More than twenty speculative theories of aging are being tested in scientific laboratories around the world. Now and again some gerontolo-gist hits the headlines with an optimistic forecast of a major breakthrough which the popular press is only too happy to sensa-tionalise. But the hard fact re-mains that to date the quest for longevity has largely failed. It is true that in the western world we have an increasing elderly popula-tion . In the U.S., France, Sweden and Britain some I 0% of the population are over the age of 65. Today there are more than 20 million Americans over the age of 65 and some 12,000 cBntenarians. Since 1900 the number of indiv~ ­duals aged 60 and over in th United Kingdom has trebled an the proportion of the population 117 . · ...~. , I .· 

Drug Abuse: A Worldwide Picture

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Drug Abuse: A Worldwide Picture

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