Does the drug really kill?
"The drug kills" is a prayer that has been used in numerous awareness campaigns and prevention of addictions. However, this phrase so listened to and repeated countless times hides aspects of the consumption of substances and obscures the perception of this problem. What makes a person sick, deteriorates and can kill is how a person relates to drugs.
And when we talk about drugs we do not only refer to the so-called hard drugs, such as cocaine or base paste, and we do not even only talk about illegal drugs, because drugs are as much marijuana, illegal, as alcoholic beverages, tobacco or drugs. psychopharmaceuticals, legal.
If we stop from the classification of substances between legal and illegal, from a legal model, the consumer remains instead of a criminal, since buying and consuming something illegal means committing a crime. From this perspective we put aside the power to think of the consumer as someone who has a health problem, a desperate dependence on a substance.
- Related article: "Addiction: disease or learning disorder?"
Does he really kill the drug?
The drug itself does nothing; neither sick, nor kill. It is a thing, inert, without life or entity, or power. It is a necessary component in a substance use addiction , but you need a person who chooses, uses, abuses or depends on it.
In any case, it is worth clarifying that there are many drugs with a high addictive capacity , as is the base paste or cocaine; but beyond this "power", necessary but not sufficient, it will be necessary that certain conditions of the person are given so that at the end of the day he enters into an addictive relationship and dependence on it.
The so-repeated motto "we must put an end to the scourge of drugs", demonizes it, gives it the ability to be an active agent, which, like a virus, invades a person, understood as passive.
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Two examples: the case of alcohol and psychotropic drugs.
If the drug is the one that generates dependency, just by tasting an alcoholic beverage, we would all become alcoholics . However, this does not happen, because it is not the drug itself that will determine it, but the relationship between the person (with social, biological, psychological, cultural, intertwining factors) and drinking.
Now let's talk about psychotropic drugs. On many occasions a psychopharmacological treatment is necessary , but with the proper professional supervision so that it really works. The great variety of psychopharmaceuticals for different functions opens up the possibility of "solving" different concerns and problems with the simple fact of being medicated. Taking medication without treatment is like lowering the fever with a fever reducer and continue as if nothing, covering what the body is announcing that something is not working well.
Not being able to sleep, feeling uneasy, having restlessness when alone, or surrounded by many people, being in a bad mood or acting impulsively, has a possible solution in a pill. However, it will be much more productive and healthy not simply to cover the symptoms, but to investigate why we can not sleep, what happens to us or what happened to us not to tolerate being alone, why we feel these nerves when leaving home ... All these answers will not be found in a compulsive consumption of pills without a treatment that interrogates and heals.
conclusion
If we consider the drug as the protagonist and guilty of addictions, we first dismiss other addictions that are substance-free, such as addiction to sex, shopping, eating, or gambling, among many others.
Second, think of drugs as a scourge, social, national and global, it leads us to see the addicted person as a passive victim and in this way we take away the responsibility for his actions and, therefore, the possibility that he has in his hands to build changes and recover.
