The History of Psychoactive Substance Use and Addiction (Research Paper Sample)

Epidemiology of Addiction
Name
Institution
Epidemiology of Addiction
Introduction
Consumption of addictive psychoactive substances can be traced back to the earliest records of the human history. In ancient past, these psychoactive substances were consumed in various occasions: some priest consumed the substances during religious ceremonies; some substances such as opium were used for medicinal purposes; were consumed by the general population as they were socially accepted. People later devised various potent compounds which were easier to administer. As a result of high administration, addiction and abuse of these substances began. As early as in the 17th century, the concern of overuse of these substances and the loss of the use control – today known as addiction – had started to become an issue which was discussed (Crocq, 2016). From then, and even up to now, there has been a debate whether substance addiction is a disease or just a sin. Should the treatment of addiction be based on the moral concept or the medicinal concept? The other long pending questions are whether the addictions are caused by substances or it is caused by an individual psychology and vulnerability; should the psychoactive substances be restricted or be available to the people freely. The aim of this paper is to provide a clear history of substance addiction, discuss the current trends of the issue, discuss the societal concerns on addition, and try to relate its relevance in the counselling profession.
The History of Psychoactive Substance Use and Addiction
At least 4000 years ago, Shamans and Priests used "ethno-genic" substances so as to create a dissociative trance in their religious proceedings. Substances such as mushroom species called Amanita muscaria were commonly used by the Asian shamans. The use of Amanita muscaria was recorded up to the 8th century in the Northeastern Siberia (Crocq, 2016). Amanita muscaria was used to make Soma, which was the sacred beverage used by the Indians. Soma contained hallucinogenic compounds which they believed to have the ability to activate a state of spiritual meditation. Psychoactive substances were also used in medicinal fields. In the 9th century BC, Nepenthes pharmakov was used to treat Greek warriors (Crocq, 2016). They referred to it as the medicine of sorrow. Research has revealed that Nepenthes pharmakov was prepared from a portion of opium, and it was meant to "cure" grief and sorrow. In the 3rd Millennium BC, were using opium for various purposes such as calming crying children as they called it the medicine of "joy”. psychoactive substances such as nicotine, alcohol and caffeine were used by a significant portion of the world’s population foe millennia. These substances have penetrated into our cultural constructs and have become part of our social life. Vines were cultivated in Georgia as early as 5000 BC. Cannabis was largely consumed by the Islamic community. When the Biblical Noah came out of the Ark, he took a lot of wine and drunk.
Several psychotropic plants have been concentrated to form stronger substances which are easily administrable. By fermentation of cereals, people were able to make alcoholic beverages with a concentration of about 5% alcohol. Grapes have been fermented to form wines with a concentration of about 14%. By refining and concentrating psychotropic substances, people have been able to consume these substances of high concentration, as high as 50%, making them to become drunk easily. With high concentration and consumption of these substances, there have been tendencies of addiction. After the death of Alexander, the Great in 323 BC, the tendency of heavy drinking and consumption of psychoactive substances increased. Aristotle warned on the effect of alcohol withdrawal and said that pregnant women should not drink as it is injurious to the baby.
The term addiction is sometime credited to the Calvinist theologians. They are the first people who offered a psychological explanation of compulsive drinking which was later branded as addiction. In 1641, a Dutch physician, Dr. Nicolaes Tulp used the Calvinist theologians’ explanation to describe the process of losing control in the consumption of psychotropic substances. Even though Calvinist considered addiction as sin, Tulp gave some medical explanation for the phenomenon. This phenomenon was referred to as the loss of willful control to psychotropic substance consumption. Several journals on addiction were created in the 19th century. Emil Kraepelin was a physician who was suffering from substance addiction. In 1890s he wrote various articles on the effect of alcohol and tea in human’s life. By 1895, he was able to fight addiction and become teetotaler. The addiction has been a menace in the 20th and the 21st century. The underlying facts about addiction still remain the same.
The trends and Issues on Epidemiology of Addiction
The term epidemiology in drug abuse is used in a different way as compared to epidemiology of other infectious diseases. This is because even though some schools of thought believe that addiction is a medical condition, some do not agree to the same. There have been conflicting opinions when it comes to applying the medical models in the drug abuse and addiction issues. According to clinical researchers, there are three categories of drug behaviors, there is the drug use, drug abuse, and drug dependence. For an individual to be leveled at a category of abuse and dependence, they must have undergone through a medical diagnosis (Ganann, Ciliska, & Thomas, 2010). Drug use is just categorized in terms of the frequency and the amount of consumption. According to epidemiological researches, drug use is the first stage of the drug behavior and can be accurately and easily measured even in a non-clinical arena. It is also important to note that the drug use vary in patterns and the rate of graduation to abuse and dependence may vary in accordance with the type of drug used and the frequency and amount of consumption. So far, there has been accomplishment in the epidemiological research due to the coming up with the important aspects of drug use and abuse. There are two data system which has been formulated to measure the drug use and abuse statistics: The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse; and Monitoring and Future Study (Ganann, Ciliska, & Thomas, 2010).
The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse
A survey done on 2014 by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) was focused on the use of drugs at the household levels among individuals 12 years and above. This result was a representation of the trend from 2002 to 2014 9 (Adams, 2014). The research also examined various health issues related to addiction and drug abuse. The drugs were divided into three categories. This was done to ensure that the data represented is easily understandable and also to gauge the various effects of various drugs. The three groups included illicit drug use, tobacco use and alcohol use.
The Use of Illicit Drugs
By 2014, an average of 27 million people above the age of 12 have used illicit drugs in the last 30 days. This number represents 10.2% of the American population (Sussman, Lisha, & Griffiths, 2014). In other words, by 2014, in every 10 Americans, 1 had consumed or used illicit drugs. These illicit drugs included marijuana, cocaine, Methamphetamine (Meth), and the non-medical use of prescriptive drugs such as pain killers. This percentage is higher than illicit drug consumption in any year from 2002 to 2014. This great number is said to be highly contributed by the legalization of marijuana in a number of states in America. As a result, more people have easy access to marijuana thereby providing a statistic of 22.2 million Americans of 12 years and above who have taken marijuana (Sussman, Lisha, & Griffiths, 2014). Another big contributor is the non-medical consumption of prescriptive drugs. Drugs such as painkillers are consumed by many people for purposed other than their medical use. Over 4.2 million American aged 12 years and above are using these prescriptive drugs to make them high (Sussman, Lisha, & Griffiths, 2014). Drugs such as Benzodiazepines are some of the drugs which are commonly abused. Apart from marijuana and prescriptive drugs, some other drugs such as Meth and cocaine have not increased significantly in usage in the last few years.
The Use of Tobacco
In 2014, there are approximately 66.9 million Americans who were using tobacco. Among them, 55.2 million people were smoking while the remaining percentage were using it in other modes of consumption. Compared to other years, from 2002 to 2014, the number of smokers and tobacco users have reduced. This can be attributed to the various legislative restrictions which have been imposed in the use and the manufacture of tobacco products. Another reason can be due to public enlightenment. Public education on the health effects of tobacco use carry with it threatening realities. The imagination of diseases such as lung cancer have made many people stopped or avoided taking tobacco products. In 2002, 13% of adolescents were tobacco smokers. This has significantly reduced to 4.9% by 2014 (Sussman, Lisha, & Griffiths, 2014).
Alcohol Use
By the end of 2014, 139.7 Americans had consumed alcohol in the last 30 days. These include the people within the ages of 12 and above. This is a representation of 52.7% of the American population above 12 years. 6.2 % of these have recorded heavy usage of alcohol in. This percentage has been approximately constant from 2014. The number underage alcohol users have reduced significantly from 2002. This is due to the strict legislative restriction on the sales and consumption of alcohol among people below 18 years. However, almost one-third of the American young ...