Almost a hundred years ago today, drugs were banned. With this, a never-ending war on drugs began. Now we have been fighting against it for a century but the situation is uncontrollable. This is the story about drugs that our teachers, adults and the government have been telling us. This story is engraved in our mind and we believe it as a perfect belief. We think this is the truth. I myself am a follower of this belief. Then I began a long journey in search of him which was thirty thousand miles long and three and a half years. The goal was to find out what power or secret is driving this war. On this whole journey, I also wrote a book of my own titled “Chasing Screams”, “The War of Addiction from the Beginning to the End”. A different story awaits us here if we are willing to listen.
John Harrie is a British journalist who has written for many popular periodicals such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, The Nation, The Sydney Morning, Herald, E-Mondo, Le Monde and many others. He has received the title of “Best National Journalist of the Year” twice by Amnesty International. His works also include “Chasing Screams” and “The War of Addiction to the Beginning and the End”.
Editor: Iqra Tariq
So if we take this story seriously, we will have to make a big change in ourselves that is bigger than this drug war. We have to change ourselves. I learned from a bunch of people from all walks of life on the trip, like a girl who quit drinking after listening to Bill Holiday’s music, who told me that the war on drugs has put so much hate in the hearts of addicts. It has been said that along with drugs, people also played a big role in ruining me. A Jewish doctor recounts the cruel experiences he faced when he was taken in by a Buddhist guru and drugged as a child. Only to find out what effects the drug will have on him when he is young. A gay boy expressed his grief that his father, along with one of his officers, sexually assaulted his mother. His mother is addicted to cocaine.
Watch the exclusive interview of Dr Sadaqat Ali on the subject of drug addiction.
I had many such questions in my mind and the reason for finding their answers was purely my personal desire. Like if I reminisce about my childhood, the first thing that comes to mind is me trying to get over my addictive relationship and not being able to. A few years later, a very close relative of mine became addicted to heroin and I fell in love with her, and I felt like addiction was my home. Since then I have been pondering these mysteries of addiction. After all, what happens is that once a person falls into the addiction of drugs, he cannot stop it by himself. What should we do to bring these people back to life?
If you had asked me before this trip what are the causes of addiction, I would have thought you stupid and eccentric and said “It’s like you don’t know, right?” And this I did in my life. Rather, we all do and many still do. Addiction potential is high. If we pass through such a street for 20 days where people keep taking drugs. If we talk to them more about this, on the 21st day our body will unconsciously ask for the drug. We will feel that this is our need. We may have an involuntary but severe addiction. Meaning we can also get addicted. That’s what addiction is and that’s what it’s all about.
This story may sound a little strange to hear, but there is a complete theory behind it which came to light after conducting experiments on rats. It rose to fame shortly after its existence in the 1980s. When America became part of the Psychological Society and became the voice of a drug-free America. This is a common sense and easily forgotten experience. A rat was locked in a cage with food and three water bottles placed in the cage. One bottle was pure water while the other was mixed with heroin and cocaine. No matter how many times the experiment was repeated, the rat was repeatedly drawn to the intoxicated water. He drank it again and again until he died while drinking it.
After much thought-provoking research, it was found that there was a drug that nine out of ten rats drank and became addicted to, and repeatedly drank until death. Bar only drank it and that drug is cocaine. Cocaine does the same to you if you become addicted to it. As early as the 1970s, a psychology professor, Bruce Alexander, noticed that only one rat was kept in a cage and had nothing to do but to be drugged. They thought about doing the experiment differently. They built a rat park. It was like a rat’s paradise. Where they have colorful balls to play with, their favorite foods, caves and burrows for them to roam and lots of friends and every luxury that mice could ever imagine. Professor Alexander wanted to know what would have happened in such a situation.
The mice did not know what was in the bottles. Often the rats alternately drank water from the two intoxicated bottles, and the results were surprising. The healthy and happy mice stopped drinking the drug-laced water. They just tasted it and never touched it again. They used one-fourth as much distilled water as the isolated mice, and none of them died. All of the rats that were isolated and unhappy began to use the drug more frequently. These mice experiments were continued. Now Professor Alexander moved the mice living in comfort to harsh cages. Now they were alone and the choices were few and far between. He fell into drug addiction. They allowed the rats to become intoxicated for fifty-seven days, so that according to modern concepts of intoxication, the maximum number of days after which the disease would develop. Then they took the rats out of isolation and into a park where they could be happy with companions.
Professor Alexander wanted to know how addiction takes hold after the chemical changes in the brain caused by addiction. What will happen to them now? But still surprising results were revealed in mice. Rats recovered after some physical pain, discomfort, and shock and did not return to the drug bottle. He started living a healthy life. Good Park’s good lifestyle saved them. At first in this experiment I thought it was an unexpected behavior or habit in the rat park. But now my surprise was no end when I saw humans in the same conditions as rats in the laboratory in those days. These men were separated in the Vietnam War like rats in the park. Time magazine carried reports that soldiers were using heroin in war like people eat chewing gum. About 20 percent of American soldiers have become addicted to heroin. An American Journal of Psychiatry also published this in one of its studies.
But 95 percent of the addicted soldiers confirmed the validity of the rat laboratory in their actual lives, as soon as they were sent back to pleasant conditions, that is, they went home completely cured and quit the drug. Their conditions have also improved. Some of them have been taken out of the bad rat cage and put in the park. Professor Alexander openly challenged the right-wing people with the barrel idea based on his research. Because right-wingers say that addiction is moral, because it’s the pursuit of so much comfort and luxury, and according to Beryl, it’s a disease caused by some chemical disorder in the brain. In which the drug changes the chemical accordingly. Prof. Alexander Derder actually explained that addiction is a habit and that addiction is a trap of helplessness. When I first came to know this fact, I was also very surprised and he was in five.
Who can it be? This new theory made a radical attack on prior knowledge according to our addiction. We never want to hear that this is a theory that is true. But the more I read and interviewed people about his research and learned more, the more I found this theory to be true. This is an example of writing that you see around you all the time. If you indulge in it, one day you too may become a victim of it. If you don’t set your boundaries, one day addiction will have a devastating effect on your life. You may even become addicted to it. Then you may be treated in a hospital with Diaspora, which is better than street heroin. For unadulterated needs, you may need to switch to street heroin again. A Canadian doctor, Gabor Matt, was the first person to tell me that hospital heroin doesn’t hurt you, while street heroin does.
Doesn’t seem plausible that after all this research you still believe you are addicted and addicted to chemical changes. But if you believe what Professor Alexander says, it is there is another side to the picture. According to him, the heroin addicts of the street markets are like rats in colorful cages and those who take heroin in the hospital. Like Mice in the Good Park there are a lot of people who are going to love it. Addiction is the same but the conditions are different. This gives us the insight that to understand the addict, first understand the disease of addiction. Professor Yitter Cohen here describes the need for human beings to be connected to each other. This gives us satisfaction. If we humans connect with each other, we connect with what we find. Whether it’s a drunken drug addiction cycle with lots of needles and syringes.
They say that addiction should not be called addiction but should be called bonding or grasping relationship. So the solution to addiction is not accountability or counter-addiction, but human beings connecting and building trusting relationships. First understand addiction. Professor Yitter Cohen here describes the need for human beings to be connected to each other. This gives us satisfaction. If we humans connect with each other, we connect with what we find. Whether it’s a drunken drug addiction cycle with lots of needles and syringes. They say that addiction should not be called addiction but should be called bonding or grasping relationship. So the solution to addiction is not accountability or counter-addiction, but human beings connecting and building trusting relationships. First understand addiction. Professor Yitter Cohen here describes the need for human beings to be connected to each other.
This gives us satisfaction. If we humans connect with each other, we connect with what we find. Whether it’s a drunken drug addiction cycle with lots of needles and syringes. They say that addiction should not be called addiction but should be called bonding or grasping relationship. So the solution to addiction is not accountability or counter-addiction, but human beings connecting and building trusting relationships. It should be said, rather, it should be called bonding or grasping relationship. So the solution to addiction is not accountability or counter-addiction, but human beings connecting and building trusting relationships. It should be said, rather, it should be called bonding or grasping relationship. So the solution to addiction is not accountability or counter-addiction, but human beings connecting and building trusting relationships.
Professor Alexander wanted to know how addiction takes hold after the chemical changes in the brain caused by addiction. What will happen to them now? But still surprising results were revealed in mice. Rats recovered after some physical pain, discomfort, and shock and did not return to the drug bottle. He started living a healthy life. Good Park’s good lifestyle saved them. At first in this experiment I thought it was an unexpected behavior or habit in the rat park. But now my surprise was no end when I saw humans in the same conditions as rats in the laboratory in those days. These men were separated in the Vietnam War like rats in the park. Time magazine carried reports that soldiers were using heroin in war like people eat chewing gum. About 20 percent of American soldiers have become addicted to heroin. An American Journal of Psychiatry also published this in one of its studies.
But 95 percent of the addicted soldiers confirmed the validity of the rat laboratory in their actual lives, as soon as they were sent back to pleasant conditions, that is, they went home completely cured and quit the drug. Their conditions have also improved. Some of them have been taken out of the bad rat cage and put in the park. Professor Alexander openly challenged the right-wing people with the barrel idea based on his research. Because right-wingers say that addiction is moral, because it’s the pursuit of so much comfort and luxury, and according to Beryl, it’s a disease caused by some chemical disorder in the brain. In which the drug changes the chemical accordingly. Prof. Alexander Derder actually explained that addiction is a habit and that addiction is a trap of helplessness. When I first came to know this fact, I was also very surprised and he was in five.
Who can it be? This new theory made a radical attack on prior knowledge according to our addiction. We never want to hear that this is a theory that is true. But the more I read and interviewed people about his research and learned more, the more I found this theory to be true. This is an example of writing that you see around you all the time. If you indulge in it, one day you too may become a victim of it. If you don’t set your boundaries, one day addiction will have a devastating effect on your life. You may even become addicted to it. Then you may be treated in a hospital with Diaspora, which is better than street heroin. For unadulterated needs, you may need to switch to street heroin again. A Canadian doctor, Gabor Matt, was the first person to tell me that hospital heroin doesn’t hurt you, while street heroin does. It doesn’t seem plausible that after all this research you still believe you are addicted and addicted to chemical changes.
But if you believe what Professor Alexander says, it is there is another side to the picture. According to him, the heroin addicts of the street markets are like rats in colorful cages and those who take heroin in the hospital. Like Mice in the Good Park there are a lot of people who are going to love it. Addiction is the same but the conditions are different. This gives us the insight that to understand the addict, first understand the disease of addiction. Professor Yitter Cohen here describes the need for human beings to be connected to each other. This gives us satisfaction. If we humans connect with each other, we connect with what we find. Whether it’s a drunken drug addiction cycle with lots of needles and syringes. They say that addiction should not be called addiction but should be called bonding or grasping relationship. So the solution to addiction is not accountability or counter-addiction, but human beings connecting and building trusting relationships.
First understand addiction. Professor Yitter Cohen here describes the need for human beings to be connected to each other. This gives us satisfaction. If we humans connect with each other, we connect with what we find. Whether it’s a drunken drug addiction cycle with lots of needles and syringes. They say that addiction should not be called addiction but should be called bonding or grasping relationship. So the solution to addiction is not accountability or counter-addiction, but human beings connecting and building trusting relationships. First understand addiction. Professor Yitter Cohen here describes the need for human beings to be connected to each other. This gives us satisfaction. If we humans connect with each other, we connect with what we find.
Whether it’s a drunken drug addiction cycle with lots of needles and syringes. They say that addiction should not be called addiction but should be called bonding or grasping relationship. So the solution to addiction is not accountability or counter-addiction, but human beings connecting and building trusting relationships. It should be said, rather, it should be called bonding or grasping relationship. So the solution to addiction is not accountability or counter-addiction, but human beings connecting and building trusting relationships. It should be said, rather, it should be called bonding or grasping relationship. So the solution to addiction is not accountability or counter-addiction, but human beings connecting and building trusting relationships.
As I learned all this and began to appreciate it, I felt that I still could not completely deny my previous knowledge of addiction. Are all these scientists doing that there is no connection between chemicals or neurotransmitters? It doesn’t matter, I asked for clarification and was told that when you get addicted to gambling, it means you are injected with playing cards in a syringe? Any type of addiction you can get doesn’t involve chemicals. This thing piqued my curiosity. Now I went to the Gamblers Anonymous meeting in Las Vegas to ask permission to make an observation I was surprised. Believe it or not, those people were also addicted to heroin and cocaine. But they did not take any chemicals from the gambling table. But now I can also say with certainty that there is some interference of chemicals.
I can give you a comprehensive but short answer to this question from a scientific experiment written by Richard de Grandeur in his book The Cult of Pharmacology. All of us agree that smoking is one of the major addictions in the world, beware of the chemical hook or hook nicotine that is in cigarette tobacco. When nicotine was introduced in the 1990s, there was a rumor that smokers could safely ingest the chemical nicotine and achieve freedom from smoking. But a report from the Office of the Surgeon General reported that only 17.7% of people were able to quit smoking with nicotine patches. According to this report, the chemical hook is only 17. From 7% till now millions of people in the world have destroyed their lives. This decade also revealed that we are only focusing more on finding the causes of addiction, which is a small part of the whole film. All of these things apply to the hundred-year-old drug war in which I have seen deaths from janitors to Liverpool.
In which the only purpose was to get these chemicals out of the body and mind and become free from addiction. As a result of all these things, it is no longer that addiction is not caused by chemicals, but by the relationship between people and that alone is the reality of addiction. Now this thing also does not seem to be common sense. Ironically, this war on addiction has only exacerbated the problems and causes of addiction. For example, I went to a prison in Arzuta where drug addicts were punished and kept for weeks in a small stone cave. Was here humans were in a pitiable condition just like rats who were locked in solitary cages and death was their only end. Even if these prisoners survive, no one outside will give them a job because of their criminal record, the society will not accept them, then the situation will get worse. I’ve seen this happen quite often with humans walking around the world.
Now the alternative can be that we create a system that helps people in such a way that they leave their addictions and start connecting people together. It is not just to the extent of saying it is happening in practice. I saw it about 15 years ago. Drug problems in Portugal were more severe than in the rest of Europe. About one percent of their population was addicted to heroin. When he started fighting the war on drugs, things got worse. They decided they would do the exact opposite. They decriminalized drugs and spent as much money as possible on jailing and arresting people. He began to focus on the rehabilitation of patients. In all this their difficult task was to provide safe housing, employability and purpose of living to the rehabilitated people. Which will get them out of the bad situation. For example, some drug addicts are grouped and assigned during rehabilitation that they should run an institution to help people out of difficulties.
Suddenly it was seen that this group developed a close relationship with each other and with the society and started to think of themselves as protectors of the people. A study published in the British Journal of Criminology found that since the ban was lifted, drug addicts have decreased and injection drug use has decreased by 50%. Joao Figozia is a famous police officer in his country. He played a central role in lifting the ban on drugs. He said that he had seen every dangerous warning that we hear or see on TV or in newspapers. But when they lifted the ban, less dangerous problems emerged than their anticipated dire consequences. Today people cite the example of Portugal. He said in his interview that my effort was not limited to the addicts I love but for all of us. We have to think differently for ourselves. Human beings are connected to each other. To be connected, to be loved is our basic need. The wisest phrase of the 20th century is “Live rooted and trusted.”
But we are creating a culture where people prefer to remain isolated. We are connected only by the internet today. Drug addiction grows when our lifestyles become unhealthy. We a famous author, George Jovant, labels it in his book “Age of Solitude”. Because we have built such settlements where people are easily disconnected from each other and this intensity is much higher than in earlier times. Professor Alexander says based on the Rat Park experiments that we should now focus on collective recovery rather than individual recovery. We need recovery from the sickness that isolates us and like the fog that envelops us. Now this new scientific evidence is not entirely political, and it emphasizes not only that we need to change our minds, but that we need to change our hearts.
Loving an addict is very difficult. Now when I see any addict I fall in love with him. My heart longs for me to truly love him, treat him in tough love ways and show him the truth with intervention. Let me tell every addict that enough is enough, life still awaits. The drug war teaches us to ignore or force the lives of those who cannot stop. But what I’ve learned is that if you do that, you’ll lose them along with the addiction. I came home with the intention of keeping every addict closer to my life. I will tell them that my love is unconditional whether you quit or not.
When I returned from this trip, I found a friend of mine lying on one of my beds in severe withdrawal pains and sufferings, lying on one of my spare beds. Now I’m thinking about it in a completely different way. For over a hundred years we have been singing war songs against drugs and addicts. I think I’m over that battle now. We should sing love songs for addicts.