[an error occurred while processing this directive] TheBible.net: The Deadly Dangers of Illicit Drug Use
The Deadly Dangers of Illicit Drug Use
by Danny L Box
    Drug use among American young people continues to rise. A survey was conducted in 1996 by the University of Michigan among American high school students (especially eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders). It discovered that an average of thirty-one percent of all students had used some type of illicit drug at least once in the previous twelve months. Based on a more recent survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (results released in October of 1998), an estimated forty percent of Americans twelve years of age and older have used an illicit drug at least once during their lifetimes. The drugs most often abused were marijuana, stimulants, hallucinogens, inhalants, narcotics, barbiturates, and, more recently, cocaine and crack. People abuse drugs for a number of reasons. Some want to experiment and have "fun." Others are rebelling against authority. Some are trying to relax or escape. Still others are trying to address a true medical problem. However, the main reason people (especially teenagers) use drugs is peer pressure. They want to fit in with the crowd. They do not want to be laughed at, made fun of, or called names. They want their peers to accept them, and if it takes using drugs to gain acceptance, then many will do so.

Drug Classifications

    When we talk about drug abuse, we must understand that abused drugs fall into several different categories. There are narcotics, which include morphine, opium, heroin, and methadone. The depressants are such drugs as alcohol, barbiturates, and sedatives. These are commonly called "downers" because of their depressive effects. Then there are stimulants such as amphetamines, methamphetamines, cocaine, and crack. Drugs in this group are often called "uppers" because of their stimulating effect. "Ts" and "Blues" belong to this group. Many of the prescription diet pills, so often abused by young women, are stimulants. The hallucinogenic drugs include marijuana, MDMA ("Ecstasy"), PCP ("Angel Dust"), LSD, and peyote. In addition there are inhalants, such as paints and paint thinners, model glue, sterno, and even, in some cases, gasoline or kerosene. Let us look at each one of these groups and see the effects they have on the body.

Physical Effects of Drug Abuse

Narcotics

    Medical practitioners most frequently prescribe narcotics for pain relief. Among those most commonly given to their patients are morphine and some of the opium-based compounds, such as paregoric. Many people abuse these prescription medications by heating either dissolved tablets or liquid paregoric and then injecting the solution into a vein. People who abuse narcotics seem to ignore the possibility of an overdose and its effects, which include convulsions, respiratory arrest, and death. In addition, one of the big problems associated with narcotic abuse is dirty needles and other unsanitary conditions during use, which can lead to hepatitis, tetanus, and AIDS.

Depressants

    Since depressants are the drugs that slow one down, the medical profession most commonly uses them as sleeping pills and drugs to fight anxiety. Such medications are widely abused. Many people will get prescriptions from their doctors for these drugs and then sell them on the street for as much as five dollars per pill. Habitual abusers often use these drugs to bring themselves down from a "high" produced by some other drug. Many famous entertainment personalities have died from depressant overdoses in just such attempts. The late Elvis Presley had a toxic level of about three depressants in his blood stream at his death. Depressants in high doses cause mental confusion, moodiness, suicidal thoughts, and loss of muscle coordination. When taken in combination or with alcohol, depressants can lead to death by shutting down the respiratory system.



Stimulants

    Stimulants cause one to be overly alert. The medical profession prescribes diet pills containing stimulants to increase the energy level of obese persons. This action in turn speeds up the metabolism, helping to burn up more calories and resulting in weight loss. Stimulants can cause sleeplessness, sweating, bad breath, and hallucinations. They can also cause irregular, rapid heartbeat, headache, seizures, and death. Cocaine and crack are two of the drugs that fall under this category. Since this drug is so widely abused, we will address it more particularly below.

Hallucinogens

    This group of drugs (marijuana, LSD, PCP, MDMA, et al.) has no proven medical benefit. Some advocate that marijuana relieves nausea and vomiting associated with the use of cancer-fighting drugs, but recent surveys show that other prescription drugs can achieve the same effect. The hallucinogenic drugs can cause wide mood swings, vivid hallucinations, panic attacks, and a distorted sense of reality. People under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs have tried to "fly" out of ten-story buildings and have defied police officers, thinking they were immune to bullets. These drugs may also cause chromosome damage, which may affect one's offspring. Many of the drugs which are used as hallucinogenic agents are used to kill animals (MDMA), or that have been used in research as mind-altering drugs to be used against the enemies of our country (LSD).



Inhalants

    Solvents, aerosols, refrigerants, and medical anesthetics are all inhalants that people abuse. Abusers purposely inhale such substances in order to get "high." These substances can be extremely dangerous. They clog the lungs and cause seizures, brain damage, and death. Irregular, rapid heartbeat and heart attack are also likely with the use of inhalants. One of the most common current inhalant abuses is paint sniffing, which has caused a great number of deaths among teenagers especially in recent years.

The Most Abused Drug - Cocaine

    The use of cocaine (also known as "crack") in our country continues to rise. Traffic in this drug alone has now become a multi-billion-dollar business. Presently it is the most abused drug in the age group from eighteen to thirty-five, and some reports have people as young as twelve and thirteen years old smoking crack. To provide a better understanding of this drug, I will ask and answer a few questions about it.

What is cocaine?

    Cocaine is a drug made from the leaves of the coca bush. After harvesting these leaves, workers soak them in kerosene, paint thinner, or other solvents to make a thick paste. This paste is refined into the fine white powder that is cocaine.

What is "crack"?

    "Crack" is cocaine that is mixed with some type of solvent and then baked, resulting in white or tan crystals. When smoked, it produces a vapor that is cocaine in its most powerful form. This product is quickly and overwhelmingly addictive, and is so frequently abused because it is cheap enough for even children to buy. "Crack" is extremely dangerous!



How is cocaine used?

    One can "snort" cocaine (i.e., sniff it up one's nose) in powdered form, mix it with water and inject it directly into a vein, or smoke it.

How does cocaine affect the human body?

    Cocaine causes the brain to release dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin into the blood stream. At normal levels, these chemicals help control and maintain certain functions of the body. However, when cocaine increases the production of these chemicals they cause rapid heartbeat, blood pressure elevation, pupil dilation, heavy perspiration, trembling, anxiety, and insomnia. Cocaine causes the heart not only to beat very rapidly and often irregularly but, in some cases, to stop beating all together. It causes the blood pressure to increase because it puts extra stress on the circulatory system. In some cases weak vessels rupture because of this increased pressure.

    When smoked or snorted, cocaine clogs the alveoli, which reduces lung capacity and function. Infection and lung damage can result. Fluid build-up in the lungs can cause users to "drown internally." Respiratory failure is a common cause of death in the cocaine user. Snorting cocaine results in nasal sores, irritation of the sinuses, and a constant stuffy nose. Nose bleeds and deterioration of the nasal cartilage often occur. Cocaine also affects the immune system, which helps prevent illness and helps fight infection when one becomes ill. Pregnant women who use cocaine have a greater chance of miscarriage or having babies born with severe birth defects. After seeing all of the very serious health problems associated with cocaine and its lethal potential, one should ask himself or herself "Is it really worth my life?"

Spiritual Considerations and Implications

    Before concluding this brief essay, I must address the spiritual dangers associated with drug use. Paul asked us all, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God...?" (1 Cor. 3:16). He also tells us that the body of the child of God is the temple of the Holy Spirit; one's body is not his own because it has been bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:1920; cf. 1 Pet. 1:1819). Romans 12:1 instructs us to present our bodies as living sacrifices to God. These "sacrifices" must be "without blemish" to be acceptable to Him (Phi. 2:15). We are also told to "abstain from all appearance of evil" (1 The. 5:22) and to have "no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness" (Eph. 5:11). Now, keeping these Scriptures and many others in mind, can there be any doubt that we need to avoid drugs and those who abuse them?

This item originally appeared at The Gospel Journal


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