Hey!, Wanna See Some Sin?
"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgressions and . . . their sins." Isa. 58:1
3. The Chemical Sins: Substance Abuse3b. Drugs: Page 2
Details and Sources:
The risks of drug abuse:
"Drugs can be considered harmful when their level of use causes physical, mental, social or economic problems.Not all drugs are equally hazardous. But even when used under medical guidance, some drugs can have undesirable side effects. Many drugs may also have effects beyond those for which the user is looking. When such drugs are used non-medically, these side effects become potentially dangerous."
"Safety Hazards: All psychoactive drugs can reduce physical coordination, distort the senses, or impair judgment. These effects can lead to serious safety risks, especially if the user drives a vehicle or operates machinery. Many road injuries and fatalities are caused by drivers intoxicated by alcohol or some other drug. Often people who have taken alcohol or drugs are unaware of their impairment which makes the risk all that much greater.
Physical Health Hazards: All psychoactive drugs have effects other than those for which they are used, and some of these can be very damaging to physical health. Smoking marijuana or tobacco, for example, can cause lung damage. Alcohol abuse can cause liver damage. Sniffing cocaine can damage the inside of the nose. Users who inject drugs by hypodermic needles can get infections such as serum hepatitis or AIDS.
Mental Health Hazards: Some drugs can cause short-term confusion, anxiety or even severe mental disturbance ("bad trips"). In the longer term, drug abuse can result in personality disturbances, learning problems, and loss of memory. Mental health risks are especially high for young drug users. A young person who turns to drugs as a way of avoiding normal anxiety and depression may be establishing a pattern of behaviour that can be hard to break in the future. Many such users come to believe that they cannot function normally without drugs.
Physical Dependence: Physical dependence occurs when a drug user's body becomes so accustomed to a particular drug that it can only function normally if the drug is present. Without the drug, the user may experience a variety of symptoms ranging from mild discomfort to convulsions. These symptoms, some of which can be fatal, are collectively referred to as "withdrawal". Not all drugs produce physical dependence, but they may still be abused because of their perceived effects, and as a result of psychological dependence. Physical dependence is one of the factors contributing to the continued use of drugs.
Psychological Dependence: Psychological dependence exists when a drug is so central to a person's thoughts, emotions, and activities that it is extremely difficult to stop using it, or even stop thinking about it. Like physical dependence, psychological dependence is a cause of continued drug use.
Tolerance: Tolerance means that, over time and with regular use, a user needs more and more of a drug to get the same effect. Tolerance increases the physical health hazards of any drug simply because it can result in increased drug use over time. Tolerance also increases the risk of dangerous or fatal overdose, for two reasons.First, with some drugs, the body does not necessarily develop tolerance to all the effects of the drug to the same extent. Long-term barbiturate users, for example, become tolerant to the mood-altering effect of barbiturates, but less so to their depressant effect on respiration. When this happens, the dose required to achieve this effect may be dangerously close to the lethal dose.
Second, if a drug user has not taken the drug in a long time, the expected tolerance may actually have decreased. So, after a long period of abstinence, the size of dose the user had previously become accustomed to may actually be enough to cause an overdose.
Overdose: An overdose of any drug is a dose that can cause serious and sudden physical or mental damage. An overdose may or may not be fatal, depending on the drug and the amount taken. Dangerous overdoses may occur in users who have developed a tolerance for a drug, or in any street-drug users who have no way of knowing the exact potency of what they are buying.
Street-Drug Hazards: Illegal street-drugs have a set of risks all their own. Users of street-drugs can never know exactly what they are taking. Dealers may not know (or reveal) exactly what they are selling. Some drugs are laced with other drugs or chemicals which can be harmful. Often one drug is sold in place of another.In 1988 nearly two-thirds of all street-drug samples tested by the Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario were found to be different from what they were alleged to be by the seller. That means that about two out of every three times a drug was bought on the street, it was not what the buyer thought it was.
Many bad drug reactions, including fatal overdoses, are caused by the users' ignorance of exactly what drug and how much of it they are taking.
Mixing Drugs: Many drugs become dangerous when they are mixed. Today a mixture of heroin and cocaine is a common example. The reasons for combining two drugs are related to a desire to enhance the effects of drug use or as a means of counteracting the undesirable side effects of a particular drug. Even if drug-users are aware that mixing drugs is dangerous, they may do so anyway. Users of street-drugs may mix drugs unknowingly because they can never be really sure of what they are taking.
Legal Risks: The use of many psychoactive drugs is illegal. Some can be used legally but only by prescription. A prescribed drug may, of course, only be used legally by the person for whom it was prescribed. A conviction for illegal possession of a drug can result in a fine, imprisonment, or both, and a criminal record."
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hppb/alcohol-otherdrugs/pube/straight/content.htm#Drug%20Abuse
1993 Preliminary Estimates of Drug-Related Emergency Department Episodes
Drug-related episodes rose by 45 percent (from 323,100 to 466,900) from 1978 to 1993, while emergency department visits increased by 26 percent (from 71.3 million to 89.7 million).
http://www.health.org/govpubs/AR008/anualtot.htm
Teenagers and Drugs:
- 11.7 percent of high school seniors, 8 percent of 10th graders, and 5.2 percent of 8th graders surveyed in 2001 reported that they had used MDMA [Ecstasy] at least one time in their lives
- 1.7 percent of seniors, 1.5 percent of 10th graders, and 1.1 percent of 8th graders reported lifetime use of Rohypnol
- 1.6 percent of seniors, 1.0 percent of 10th graders, and 1.1 percent of 8th graders surveyed in 2001 reported past year GHB use.
- 2.5 percent of seniors, 2.1 percent of 10th graders, and 1.3 percent of 8th graders reported past year ketamine use
- 61.5 percent of high school seniors surveyed in 2001 reported that MDMA was "fairly easy" or "very easy" to obtain, an increase of more than 10 percent from 51.4 percent in 2000
( Monitoring the Future National Results on Adolescent Drug Use: Overview of Key Findings, 2001, 2002).
http://www.ncjrs.org/club_drugs/facts.html
Driving Under the Influence of Illicit Drugs
An estimated 7.0 million persons reported driving under the influence of an illicit drug at some time in the past year. This corresponds to 3.1 percent of the population aged 12 and older, and is significantly lower than the rate in 1999 (3.4 percent). Among young adults aged 18 to 25 years, 10.7 percent drove under the influence of illicit drugs at least once in the past year.Of the 7.0 million persons who had driven under the influence of illicit drugs in the past year, most (77 percent) had also driven under the influence of alcohol.
http://www.samhsa.gov/oas/NHSDA/2kNHSDA/chapter2.htm
Drug deaths:
(1998): "In 1998 a total of 16,926 persons died of drug-induced causes in the United States (Table 20). The category 'drug-induced causes' includes not only deaths from dependent and nondependent use of drugs (legal and illegal use), but also poisoning from medically prescribed and other drugs. It excludes accidents, homicides, and other causes indirectly related to drug use. Also excluded are newborn deaths due to mother's drug use." The total number of deaths in the US in 1998 was 2,337,256.
Source: Murphy, Sheila L., Centers for Disease Control, "Deaths: Final Data for 1998,", National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 11 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, July 24, 2000), pp. 1, 10, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvs48_11.pdf .
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/causes.htm
Drug manufacturing:
During 2001, approximately 8,000 clandestine methamphetamine laboratories were seized and reported to the National Clandestine Laboratory Database at the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC)
(Drug Descriptions: Amphetamines/Methamphetamine, 2002).
http://www.ncjrs.org/club_drugs/facts.html
Why do people abuse drugs?:"Drug users have similar characteristics, but anyone can become one. Drug users come from all parts of the country and all walks of life. They can be rich or poor, young or old, male or female, intelligent or unintelligent, well educated or poorly educated.
The Most Common Reasons: Different people use different drugs for different reasons. The reasons can vary from drug to drug, from person to person, from occasion to occasion. A person may have more than one reason. People may start using a drug for one reason (curiosity, pleasure, social pressures, or for medical reasons) and may continue using it for quite another (like psychological dependence or group pressures).
Curiosity: Drugs are talked and written about a lot these days. They are frequent topics of conversation. Some people may have friends or acquaintances who use drugs. Since curiosity is a natural aspect of human behaviour, it's not surprising that many people, especially young people, are tempted to experiment with drugs.
Emotional Pressures: Some people use psychoactive drugs to relieve various emotional problems, such as anger, stress, anxiety, boredom or depression. Insecure people may take drugs to boost their self-confidence. Some young people may use drugs as an expression of alienation or rebellion.
Social Pressures: The social pressures to use drugs can be very strong. Young people may be influenced by popular songs glorifying drugs or by famous singers, musicians, or athletes who are known to use drugs. Children are especially influenced by their parents, whose casual use of alcohol, nicotine, and other drugs sometimes makes drug taking seem normal, safe, or even justifiable.
Group Pressures: In some groups, drug-taking is the fashionable thing to do. It is the badge of belonging and the key to social acceptance. Abstainers are excluded. It's hard to be different, so people go along. In a 1986 Gallup survey, 60% of young people, including users and non-users, said the major benefit of cannabis was not the way it made you feel, but that it made you part of the group.
Previous Drug Use: For most people, trying a drug for the first time is a major step. A single experiment does not mean a person will become a regular drug user, but it may remove some of the barriers against trying drugs again. It is also true that people who are regular users of one drug are more likely to use other drugs as well. The factors contributing to abuse may include the use of substances not normally regarded as drugs (e.g., tobacco or alcohol).
Dependence: Some people use drugs because they have become physically or psychologically dependent on them. It doesn't matter whether the drug is legal or illegal, mild or strong, or whether it was first used for medical or non-medical purposes. When people continue using a certain drug because they experience discomfort or distress when use is discontinued or severely reduced, they can be said to be drug-dependent."
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hppb/alcohol-otherdrugs/pube/straight/content.htm#Drug%20Abuse
Influencing drug use:
In 1993, American tobacco companies spent $6,000,000,000 (that's six billion) on advertising addictive drug products. In 1999, they spent $8,240,000,000 on advertising. Billions are spent every year to promote addictive drug products as "attractive", "sexy", "pleasurable" and "desirable".
In 1998, the American alcohol industry spent approximately $2,200,000,000 on advertising and marketing a product which is frequently abused by consumers and which can be addictive.
http://www.tf.org/tf/alcohol/alcocont.shtml
In 1997, the American food industry spent $322,000,000 to advertise coffee, tea and cocoa. Coffee is a beverage with a high caffeine content. Tea and cocoa also contain caffeine."Food Advertising in the United States", by Anthony E. Gallo
USDA, Economic Research Service"Nearly one out of every three advertising messages on radio or television and in magazines or newspapers promotes drugs and drug use in one way or another - a pill for this or a beer to be sociable. The attitudes these ads foster towards the use of legal drugs can affect the way people [particularly children and young people] think about all drugs."
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hppb/alcohol-otherdrugs/pube/straight/content.htm#Drug%20Abuse
The cost of drug abuse: $97.6 billion (1992)
Estimated Economic Cost of Drug Abuse in the United States, 1992
Health Costs
Direct
Drug Abuse Services $4,400,000,000
Medical Consequences $5,531,000,000Indirect (Lost Earnings)
Premature Death $14,575,000,000
Illness $14,205,000,000
Institutionalization $1,477,000,000Total Health Costs $40,188,000,000
Crime and Other Costs
Direct
Crime $17,970,000,000
Social Welfare Administration $337,000,000Indirect (Lost Earnings)
Victims of Crime $2,059,000,000
Incarceration $17,907,000,000
Crime Careers $19,198,000,000Total Crime and Other Costs $57,471,000,000
Total Health, Crime and Other Costs $97,659,000,000
Why is illicit drug use included in a list of sins?
1. Scripture condemns drunkenness as sin (Gal. 5:21; Rom. 13:11-14; Lk. 21:33-36; 1 Cor. 5:11-13).
-- Drunkenness is the impairment of one's mental and physical faculties.
-- The condemnation of drunkenness (and other sins) includes the phrase "and such like" (Gal. 5:21).
-- Any deliberate use of illicit drugs impairs one's mental and physical faculties. Abuse of prescription drugs can produce the same result. (The accidental abuse of prescription drugs is not the same as deliberately choosing to sin.)2. Scripture condemns "the lusts of the flesh . . . the desires of the flesh and of the mind" (Eph. 2:3).
Substance abuse leads to addiction.
3. People begin using drugs for various reasons. They continue to use drugs because they are addicted.
-- Addiction is condemned in scripture. "Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Rom. 6:16).
-- Addiction is a form of idolatry. "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them (manufactured items, "graven images"), nor serve them: . . . " (Ex. 20:5, 4).
4. God gives us free choice (Deu. 30: 15, 19) of life and good, or death and evil. In our preoccupation with our "freedoms", we tend to forget that God gave us physical life and Christ paid the price (for us) which makes available to us, eternal life. With freedom, comes responsibility. We have a responsibility to God to properly care for our bodies and our minds. "For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Cor. 6:20). To choose to use drugs is to choose ill health and death. There is nothing "good" about the use of illicit drugs or the abuse of any drug.
5. Drug use results in harm to others, a violation of the "golden rule". "Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." (Mat. 7:12).
6. The growing, manufacturing and use of drug products harms the environment and creates environmental and safety hazards. "And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." (Gen. 2:15). The Hebrew shamar --to keep, means to "guard" and "protect", not to destroy.
7. Scripture condemns "uncleanness". "I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness." (Rom. 6:19). The Greek word akatharsis -- uncleanness, means physically or morally impure or dirty.
Drug abuse defiles the body and the mind.8. God forbids idolatry (Ex. 20:3-6). The New Testament condemns idolatry (Rev. 21:8). Idolatry is service to any other "master" (man, object or practice) other than God (Rom. 6:16). Addiction is an enslavement, a bondage, a "servitude" to any drug or any practice which exerts more influence over a person than God's law of love. Idolatry includes the giving in to seemingly irresistible temptations to do harm to ourselves or to others (1 Cor. 10:13-14).
If You Need Help:
Prescription drug abuse
http://prescriptionabuse.org/
Drug Abuse and Addiction Information
Information on specific drugs, how to talk to your teen about drug use & abuse, prevention and treatment for drug abuse.
http://parentingteens.about.com/cs/druguse/
Looking for drug treatment programs and alcohol abuse treatment programs?
Find the right drug abuse treatment program or alcohol abuse treatment program with the
Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator
Sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
http://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/
For more information:
Drug Related Street Terms/Slang Words
http://www.addictions.org/slang.htm
Signs and Symptoms: Behavior characteristics associated with substance abuse
http://www.addictions.org/signs.htm
Drug descriptions
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/concern.htm
Marijuana
http://www.marijuana-info.org/
Club drugs
http://www.clubdrugs.org/
Anabolic steroids
http://www.steroidabuse.gov/