Drugs

Drugs have been recruited to achieve altered states of consciousness since the beginnings of recorded history. Drugs are chemicals that affect the body in deliberate ways. Psychoactive drugs in particular affect the nervous system, producing psychological changes in the persons who take them.

At the end of the 17th century, the famous English physician Thomas Sydenham wrote,"I cannot forbear mentioning with gratitude the goodness of the Supreme Being who has supplied afflicted mankind with opiates for their relief." Many powerful hallucinogens are of natural origin: bufotenine is present in the flu agaric toadstool(Amanita muscaria); LSD was originally derived from ergot, a fungus that infects wheat and rye; and mescalin is present in the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii).

A modern Shydenham who praised opium might lose his licence to practice medicine, and recent studies have revealed cases in which dying patients were denied doses of morphine for fear of turning them into addicts. This comparison is instructive because it demonstrates our love-hate relationship with mind-altering drugs: on the one hand, they can relieve pain or transport us to new levels of awareness; and on the other, they are feared and demonized as causes of mental and physical degradation.

Drugs that affect consciousness can be classified into four main groups -- opiates, depressants, stimulants and hallucinogens -- which act on the brain in different ways and have different psychological impacts.

1. Opiates are drugs derived from the dried resin of the opium poppy, or synthetic versions of these chemicals, such as heroin, codeine and morphine. All have been used medicinally at some time for their pain-killing properties, and codeine and morphine are still prescribed today. They are used illegally for similar reasons: heroin gives the user a 'high', reducing anxiety and producing a sense of temporary well-being.

Opiates mimic the brain's natural painkillers, endorphins. Endorphins are neurotransmitters, molecules that pass from one neuron to another. Endorphins molecules are the correct size and shape to bind to opioid receptors, and when they do so, the net effect is to block pain and produce sensations of pleasure. Opiate drugs also bind to the opioid receptors of the neurons and thus increase the user's sense of well-being. Repeated use of opiates, however, produces a cascade of painful and psychologically disturbing effects: the brain becomes accustomed to receiving an external supply of painkillers and so progressively cuts down on its own production of endorphins. The user compensates by taking larger and larger doses, risking a lethal overdose. When the effects of the opiate wears off, the brain finds itself short of painkillers, natural and artificial. The result is that the user suffers painful withdrawal symptoms, including stomach cramps, vomiting and intense headaches, which can be most easily alleviated by another chemical "fix". The initial 'high' of the drug is soon replaced by the self-sustaining cycle of opiate addiction.

2. Depressants include prescription tranquillizers, such as Valium, and barbiturates, such as Seconal, which are used to reduce anxiety and treat insomnia. But by far the most widely used depressant is alcohol. Because it is consumed, tolerated and even actively marketed in many countries, it is easy to forget that alcohol is also addictive and a drug, and for various reasons, we often choose to ignore the enormous range of physical and social problems that it directly causes. The psychological effects of alcohol on the brain are fairly complex: moderate drinking seems to reduce our tensions and inhibitions, making us feel "up", but heavier consumption often produces irritability and mood swings and makes us feel "down".

3. Stimulants are drugs such as amphetamines, cocaine, nicotine and caffeine. To greater or lesser degrees, these substances produce euphoria, increase alertness and stamina, and enhance the user's self-confidence. There is even some tenuous evidence that they might improve our performance in cognitive(thinking) tasks. Stimulants work either by promoting the release(or prolonging the activity) of neurotransmitters such as noradrenaline(norephinephrine), dopamine and serotonin in the brain or by interfering with the brain's natural depressants(caffeine, for example, suppresses the activity of adenosine, one of the brain's natural "downers").

4. Hallucinogenic drugs profoundly change the ways in which the user sees his or her inner and outer worlds. Sounds and colours may altered or intensified and perception of time may be seriously affected, with hours condensed into minutes. Uses of hallucinogens, such as LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) or Ecstasy (MDMA), often report feeling a diminished sense of self, almost as if they were merging with their surroundings, or claim to have profound, meaningful insights into self and spirit.



This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and animals, despise riches, alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labour to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its worlds but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body... ~ Walt Whitman