Fact Sheet

Man has used mind-altering drugs in his search to dispel sorrow and achieve `lasting joy’. Mind altering drugs are derived from both natural and synthetic sources. Plant sources include opium, marijuana, hashish, cocaine and alcohol. Alcohol use and its dependency are 100 times greater than dependency on illegal drugs. The negative effects of drug use are a source of great concern worldwide. Negative effects include personal dysfunction, crime, accidents, ill health, and AIDS. A worrisome trend in recent years is the earlier first drug use and the growing proportion of female drug users.

Some short term effects of alcohol abuse: in-coordination, staggering, slurred speech, blurred vision (effects on psychomotor functions), lowered inhibitions (do things one would normally not do), poor judgment, nausea and vomiting.

Some long term effects of alcohol abuse: degeneration of the brain, cirrhosis of the liver, sexual impotence, stomach ulcers and dependency

Effects on unborn child: mental retardation, poor co-ordination, hyperactivity, increase in congenital defects of the eyes, ears and mouth.

Societal Effects

The Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services reports that that alcohol has been a contributing factor in almost 50% of the suicides, homicides and accidental deaths in the U.S. In 1985, approximately 18,000 traffic deaths were found to be related to alcohol consumption.

Drug use and Youth

Adolescence is a period of change and restless search for values, ideals and meaning to life. The period of change is biological, intellectual, emotional and spiritual. Some of the factors which contribute to the spread of drug abuse among adolescents:

• Curiosity and the desire to experience new things

• Identification with a peer group that uses drugs/alcohol

• Adolescents take more risks and are more impulsive

• Young people are conscious of societal norms and either accept or reject them.

• Rejection may include violent acting out and drug use

• Family conflicts, school and social stress

• Availability of drugs and general attitude towards its use, especially alcohol

• Absence of positive alternatives

• Lack of spiritual or religious values

1. Smoking

what happens when you smoke?

Tobacco is made up of some 300 chemicals, 40 of which are known poisons. When you smoke, these chemicals enter the bloodstream.

• Nicotine – a very powerful drug that makes the heart best faster

• Tar – which contains a number of substances that can cause cancer.

• Irritants – which damage the fine hairs that keep the lungs clear, producing smoker’s cough.

• Carbon monoxide – a deadly gas that affects the blood’s ability to carry oxygen round the body.

Societal effects

• Money – cigarettes are very expensive. Money spent on cigarettes can’t be spent on other things.

• Pollution – non smokers are forced to smoke because of smokers. They become ‘passive smokers’. A recent report says that non-smoking wives who live with smoking husbands have a 50 per cent increase in the risk of lung cancer.

• Health Services – smoking costs the NHS in UK about 180 million sterling a year. Cigarette smoking is responsible for 50,000 premature deaths a year and thousands of serious illnesses.

• The Third World – it takes between seven and eleven hectares of woodland to dry and cure one hectare of tobacco. Therefore the long-term effects of growing tobacco are deforestation, erosion of soil and loss of land fertility. In some Third World countries land is given up to produce tobacco crops for export, and because of this the local population may go hungry.

Smoking & health

Smoking contributes to and causes many illnesses and diseases.

• Bronchitis – smoking causes 75% of deaths from chronic bronchitis which kills over 30,000 people a year.

• Emphysema – this is a disease of the lung, affecfting breathing.

• Heart disease – nicotine increases the heart-rate and so wears down the heart. Smoking causes 25% of deaths from heart disease.

• Cancer – 90% of deaths from lung cancer are caused by smoking.

Other problems – smokers are less fit than non-smokers, and are more likely to get colds, flu and other infections. Smoking can damage unborn babies, and can cause problems like blood clots and stomach ulcers.

Why do people smoke?

• From habit.

• To relax.

• For pleasure.

• To conform.

• Because of advertising.

Reflections:

>>Everyone who smokes their first cigarette find it disgusting. So why do people persevere?

>>Why might some people argue that to ban smoking would be an infringement of human rights?

>>The proportion of 11 – 16 years olds that smoke is increasing. Why do you think this is so?

>>Should people who die of cigarette related diseases be able to sue tobacco companies?

>>Should cigarette advertising be totally banned?

‘Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.’

(I Corinthians 6:19)

Followers of the Great Religions believe that life is a gift from God. They therefore put a high value on its preservation and believe that people should try to look after themselves, avoiding actions that risk harm or injury to the body. Because it is harmful, some persons would argue that smoking is a denial of the goodness of God’s creation.

In order, write down which of the following you find the most frightening.

a) On average, each cigarette takes 5½ minutes off your life.

b) An average smoker loses about five years of their life.

c) Only 6% of people diagnosed as having lung cancer survive.

d) Cigarette smoking kills. On average, it kills 1,000 people prematurely a week.

e) 25 % of heart attacks are caused by smoking

• How far do you think advertising encourages young people to smoke? Design an anti-smoking poster.

2. Alcohol

what is Alcohol?

Ethyl alcohol, the active ingredient in alcohol, is a drug that acts as a depressant. Alcohol is a chemical, a drug, a fuel, a poison, a preservation and a solvent. There are four types of alcohol, their alcoholic content is:

Beer and cider: contains 4 – 7% alcohol

Wine : contains 10 – 12% alcohol

Fortified wine (e.g. port, sherry) : contains 15 – 22% alcohol

Spirits (e.g. scotch, rum, vodka): contains 40 – 55% alcohol

Why do people drink alcohol?

• To celebrate

• To be sociable

• To relax

• To feel adult

• For medicinal purposes

• In religious ceremonies

How does alcohol affect the body?

• The heart – alcohol can poison the heart muscles and lead to heart failure, in which the heart cannot pump blood efficiently. It can also cause an irregular heart beat, high blood pressure, stroke and chest pains.

• The nervous system – it acts as a depressant.

• The liver – alcohol causes fatty liver (this occurs because the body uses calories from alcohol as its energy source instead of the fat stored in the body). It also causes Hepatitis (liver inflammation, which involves the death of liver cells). It can cause jaundice (a yellow discoloration of the skin). Untreated this leads to death or cirrhosis.

• The stomach – alcohol causes the stomach to produce excess stomach acids. This leads to gastritis (painful inflammation of the stomach) which can cause bleeding and ulcers.

• The skin – it makes you feel warm but really your body is losing heat.

• The brain – prolonged drinking damages the nerves that allow you to control your muscles and sense pain, temperature, pressure and the position of your body.

• Oesophagus – (carries food from the mouth to the stomach) – alcohol causes increased acid production, leading to ulcers, bleeding and even cancer.

• Cirrhosis – occurs when liver cells die and are replaced by scar tissue. Symptoms include weakness, fatigue, weight loss, and loss of interest in sex. Cirrhosis can be treated, but if drinking continues to cause liver damage it may be fatal.

• Fetal alcohol syndrome – the alcohol a pregnant woman drinks reaches her baby and stays there until the mother’s body processes it. FAS is a group of abnormalities ranging from mild to severe mental retardation, to deformities such as small skull, small eyes, joint defects and facial deformities.

Research in America has shown that societies that have a low rate of alcoholism exhibit the following characteristics.

• The children are exposed to alcohol early in life.

• Parents drink moderately

• Alcohol is often taken with food.

• Wine and beer are drunk at home.

• Drinking is not seen as good or bad.

• Drinking is not seen as being ‘grown up’

• Abstinence is socially acceptable.

• People socialize without alcohol.

The `cost’ of a drink

• Alcohol consumption is Britain rose by over 100% between 1950 and 1990

• In 1996 24% of men and 9% of women in UK were found to be drinking over the sensible drinking limits (21 units per week)

• A survey of 9 – 15 years olds in UK found that 89% of the sample had had their first proper drink by the age of 13.

• 63% of children (11-15), in UK, believe that ‘drinking is only dangerous if you are addicted to it’.

• Estimates of alcohol related mortality have ranged between 5,000 and 40,000 deaths per year. At the high estimate end, this represents 7% of the total premature deaths.

• The drinks industry spends over 2 million sterling per year on alcohol advertising.

• Over 1600 million sterling per year is incurred in terms of lost production and costs to the medical and social services in caring for alcohol mis-users.

• People who are unemployed drink more than people who are employed.

• Heavy consumers of alcohol have a three-fold risk of cancer of the mouth and heavy drinkers have ten times the risk of dying from chronic liver diseases than non-drinkers.

• 50% of murderers had been drinking just before committing the offence.

• Drink can be a cause of family rows, divorce, child and wife battering, poverty, absenteeism, road accident and violence in the streets.

Reflection:

• ‘Without alcohol our society would go to pieces’.

• Some people describe getting drunk as having a ‘good time’. What leads them to such a view? In what sense could getting drunk be describe as having a ‘bad time’?

• Make a list of:

• all the ads on TV in one week about alcohol

• the images these ads try to create

• the types of drinks advertised

• the time of night the ads are on.

3. Drugs

At some time in our lives, we almost all use drugs of one sort or another. A drug is any substance which alters the chemistry of our bodies and, consequently, affects the natural balance of our minds and emotions. Drugs which can be prescribed by a doctor include substances such as penicillin which are intended to cure infections, and sleeping pills, tranquilizers and anti-depressants intended to help us relax. Cigarettes and alcohol, which we can ‘prescribe’ for ourselves, have a similar function.

Drugs can have nasty side-effects

• They can bring on confusion and frightening hallucinations

• They can cause unbalanced emotions or more serious mental disorders

• First time heroin users are sometimes violently sick.

• Later still, there may be more serious mental and physical effects.

• If a drug user starts to inject, infections leading to sores, abscesses, jaundice, blood poisoning and even the AIDS virus may follow.

Personal problems

• Relationships may become strained, especially with friends and family.

• Rather than helping you to face up to life, drugs may simply become one more problem in addition to the ones you already have.

Legal problems

• By taking illegal drugs you are risking heavy fines or even imprisonment.

• If you are arrested the result may be a police record, difficulty finding a job later, and other embarrassments.

Money problems

• It costs money to take drugs – they are expensive. A heavy user may end up spending all their money on ‘feeding the habit’. The habit may lead to violent crime.

Table 1 - Drugs that can be dangerous:

Marijuana:

A dangerous drug made from the Indian Hemp plant called cannabis sativa. It contains 421 different chemicals, 61 of which are found in no other plant. There are three basic forms:

• Marijuana : made from leaves, seeds and stems of the hemp plant

• Hashish: a concentrated form of marijuana made by compressing marijuana resins into small blocks

• Hash Oil: made by soaking marijuana in a chemical solvent and then evaporating the solvent to obtain an oil concentrate.

How does marijuana damage your body?

• Immune system suppression: your immune system keeps you from getting sick and helps you fight infection. Marijuana interferes with special immune systems called Helper T cells. These cells produce substances which are used by other immune cells called Killer T cells which pass through capillary walls to attack and destroy invaders such as bacteria, viruses and even cancer.

• Lung damage: because marijuana is inhaled deeply and held in the lungs for some time, smoking a joint is much more dangerous than smoking a cigarette. There is as much tar in one joint as there are in 15 cigarettes. Each puff contains more than 150 cancer causing substances. The smoke breaks down the delicate air sacks in the lungs and causes shortness of breath.

• Over 100 chemicals in the marijuana are irritating to the lungs and can cause bronchitis (inflammation of the bronchial tubes which take air to the lungs).

• More than 150 complex hydrocarbons are present, some of which can cause pre-cancerous growths, which can result in lung cancer.

• Brain damage: Marijuana widens the gaps between nerve cells and causes dense material to clog up the tiny gaps between the nerve cells in the brain preventing communication. Marijauna causes packets of neuro-transmitters to clump and become inactive and hampers the activity inside each nerve cell. It also interferes with thinking, attention, learning and memory.

• Damage to males: marijuana reduces the level of male hormone testosterone. With low\ levels of hormone little boys do not develop into adult males and their genitals do not function properly. In mature males, without testosterone, an erection cannot occur.

• Damage to females: testosterone levels increase in females causing development of facial hair, dark body hair and acne. It also disturbs the menstruation and ovulation.

Cocaine:

Cocaine, also known as crack, white lady and snow ice, is a dangerous drug made from the leaf of the coca bush. It is mainly grown in South America. Crack cocaine is a rock-like form of cocaine that produces a vapour and cracking sound when heated. It is quickly and overwhelmingly addictive.

How does cocaine damage your body?

• Brain: cocaine affects three types of chemicals in the nerve cells – dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. These chemicals relay information from one nerve cell to the next. Cocaine causes release of these chemicals and keeps them active for a longer time. It also slows the manufacture of these chemicals, and since the brain has less chemicals, when cocaine is stopped it produces a devastating low. To avoid this feeling, users will do anything to get more, which is why it is so terribly addictive.

• Brain damage: high blood pressure can cause the vessels in the brain to burst, causing brain damage or even death. Cocaine also causes seizures (fits) and infection of the brain from dirty syringes or needles.

• Heart and blood pressure changes: Cocaine causes increased heart rate, irregular rate or causes it to stop completely. This extra stress can cause severe chest pains and heart attack.

• Lung damage: if cocaine is injected too rapidly, it can cause life-threatening clots to form in the lungs. It also clogs the tiny air sacs in the lungs reducing the ability to breathe. Lung infections are common, and respiratory failure can result.

• Damage to fetuses and infants: pregnant cocaine users have a greatly increased risk of miscarriage and bleeding. Babies are born addicted, with low birth weight, seizures, strokes and kidney problems. Breast feeding also transfers the cocaine to the infant.

How Abusing Drugs can Harm Society

• A heavy user will find it difficult to contribute to society.

• There is a connection between drug addiction and crime.

‘Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells within you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy and that temple you are.’

(I Corinthians 3: 16 – 17)

Reflection:

• Write a short article entitled ‘Why some kids say “yes” .’

• John Stuart Mill, a nineteenth – century philosopher, wrote an essay entitled `On Liberty’ in which he argued that a person should be free to do whatever they want so long as it does not harm anyone else. What do you think?

Main ideas:

• Unless prescribed by a competent physician to treat a specific condition, the use of habit forming drugs and alcohol are dangerous to health and well-being

• Every means possible should be used to educate youth about the dangers of these intoxicants

• These intoxicants cause physical damage not only to the body, but spiritual damage to the soul.

Activities:

1. List all the forms of advertising that are used for the sale of alcohol in Guyana. Next to each write down the strategies used in these advertisements to `glamorize’ the use of alcoholic drinks. Discuss what measures should be put into effect to curb the high incidence of the use of alcohol by youths.

2. Alcohol is a major export and source of foreign exchange in Guyana. What is more important - the physical and spiritual health of the people (which may mean discouraging the use of alcohol) or the foreign exchange that alcohol brings in. Participants should be encouraged to give reasons for their answers.

3. Companies that make alcoholic drinks use tremendous amounts of water while many areas of Guyana lack a source of clean drinking water. Discuss this issue with your group. What kinds of decisions should be made and by whom?

4. Plan and perform a skit about the effects of alcohol and drug abuse on families.

5. Write `alcohol’ in the centre of a piece of paper. Draw lines out from this word and write one negative aspect of the use of alcohol on each line.

Readings:

`The drinking of wine is …the cause of chronic diseases, weakeneth the nerves, and consumeth the mind’. 1

`Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit.’ 2

`Alcohol consumeth the mind and causeth man to commit acts of absurdity’. 3

`Alcohol leadeth the mind astray and causeth the weakening of the body’. 4

`You who believe! Intoxicants and gambling … are an abomination- of Satan’s handiwork: eschew such that you may prosper. Satan’s plan is to stir up enmity and hatred among you by means of liquor and gambling, and to hinder you from the remembrance of God and from prayer. Will you abstain?’ 5

`Become ye intoxicated with the wine of the love of God, and not with that which deadeneth your minds’. 6

`Regarding marijuana and other hallucinogenic agents ….This is the worst of all intoxicants…it causeth the disintegration of thought and the complete torpor of the soul…marijuana extinguishes the mind, freezeth the spirit, petrifieth the soul, wasteth the body and leaveth man frustrated and lost.’ 7

`Men who are grave and wise, though they drink, are mild masters of themselves; but those who are benighted and ignorant are devoted to drink, and more so daily. Be careful each of you, of your deportment – what heaven confers, when once lost, is not regained.’ 8

References:

1. Baha’i Writings…

2. Christianity, The Holy Bible, Ephesians 5.18

3. Baha’i Writings…

4. Baha’i Writings…

5. Quran 5.90-91

6. Baha’i Writings…

7. Baha’i Writings…

8. Confucanism, Book of Song Ode, 196