Committee: World Health Question of: Substance Abuse Student Officer: Didar Evren Butterworth Introduction: There is a long history of the use of psychoactive drugs for medical and spiritual purposes. The chewing of coca leaves, for example, dates back over 8,000 years ago in Peruvian society. Today, people still use drugs for medical purposes but they also use drugs for non-medical reasons. People often start using drugs to forget about their problems, cope with everyday life and to make them feel good. Peer pressure also has a huge impact on young people who start using drugs. The drugs people use include alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs and illicit drugs like cocaine, heroin, marijuana and meth. Although prescription drugs are thought to be safer they can be very addictive. In USA today, prescription drugs are abused more often than illicit drugs. In 2010, prescription painkillers were linked to nearly 60% of drug overdose deaths. Today, there s a global network of production, trafficking and consumption. Below is a CIA Map of International illegal drug connections.!
Many drug production areas have weak governments and/or poor security and may be even controlled by drug cartels using violence and intimidation. Over a quarter of all the cocaine consumed in Europe in 2007 (more than 140 tons, with a wholesale value of about $1.8 billion) was trafficked through West Africa. Guinea-Bissau has become a narco-state in just five years, with the value of the drugs trade now much greater than its national income. Drugs have played a significant role in many conflicts from World War II to Syria. The Issue: Drugs work by stimulating the central nervous system and the brain. The most common short term effects are increased heart rate, high blood pressure, mood changes and paranoia. In high dosage there is a high risk of heart attack, stroke, respiratory failure and coma. In the long term substance abuse can lead to mental and physical effects that will require treatment. These effects can include paranoia, psychosis, immune deficiencies and organ damage. What can start off as fun and recreational can quickly turn into an uncontrollable addiction. After continuous use, the body becomes less and less stimulated by the drug and the abuser must take higher dosages. The risk of overdose increases. This dependence is uncontrollable and may interfere with the person s everyday life. People on drugs are more likely to make bad decisions and put themselves in danger. For example the sharing of needles is a common way of the spread of HIV/AIDS. While substance abuse comes with a great many side effects, ranging from mild physical side effects like nausea and dehydration to work-related consequences such as reduced productivity, one of the greatest risks of substance abuse is dependence. Even when the effects of drugs are damaging to a person s body and relationships with friends, family members and coworkers, the constant need for a substance often overcomes any rational thinking. Factors which shape the problem of abuse Urbanisation Gender and age of population Disposable income Inequality in unemployment Youth culture
! Mental health According to World Health Organization (WHO); The harmful use of alcohol results in 3.3 million deaths each year. On average every person in the world aged 15 years or older drinks 6.2 litres of pure alcohol per year. Less than half the population (38.3%) actually drinks alcohol, this means that those who do drink consume on average 17 litres of pure alcohol annually. At least 15.3 million persons have drug use disorders. Injecting drug use reported in 148 countries, of which 120 report HIV infection among this 1 population. According to the "World Drug Report 2012" (PDF). UNITED NATIONS. Retrieved 27 November 2016. Between 153 million and 300 million people use illicit drugs. This does not include the abuse of legal drugs such as alcohol and prescription drugs. The most common illicit drug is cannabis. Alcohol: Alcohol is a psychoactive substance with dependence-producing properties that has been widely used in many centuries (WHO). 1 http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/facts/en/
There is no need to say that alcohol consumption is detrimental to individuals and to society. There are lots of studies all around the world to prevent the harms of alcohol. World Health Organization has undertaken a valuable study to raise consciousness about alcohol consumption world wide. According to World Health Organization (WHO) 3.3 million deaths every year result from harmful use of alcohol. Consumption of alcohol in early ages causes death and disability. WHO states that in the age group 20-39 years approximately 25% of the total deaths are alcohol related. Alcohol consumption is not only harmful to people s physical health but also it is harmful to mental health. The result of the research shows that relationship between harmful use of alcohol and a range of mental and behavioural disorders, other noncommunicable conditions as well as injuries are connected. Another adverse consequence of alcohol consumption according to WHO is the harmful use of alcohol brings significant social and economic losses to individuals and to society at large. It has also been observed that the harmful use of alcohol results in a significant health, social and economic burden on society. In addition to this, the latest casual relationships are those between harmful drinking and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis as well as the course of HIV/AIDS. Alcohol consumption by an expectant mother may cause fetal alcohol syndrome and preterm birth complications. Center Report on 12th of May 2014, there is a steady increase in alcohol use, especially among women. The Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health 2012 found that alcohol consumption increases the risk of developing more than 200 diseases. As the study indicates on average every person in the age 15 years or older drinks 6.2 litres of pure alcohol per year. Shekhar Saxena, director of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at WHO stated that binge drinking, which is heavy episodic drinking is the most harmful to health. As World Health Organization (WHO) stated, there are a variety of factors. It is possible to put these factors to two categories: Individual and societal vulnerability. Societal vulnerability factors are level of development, culture, drinking context, alcohol production, distribution and regulation. The individual factors are age, gender, familial factors and socioeconomic status, according to UN News. US Figures: Treatment is also much less expensive than its alternatives, such as incarcerating addicted persons. For example, the average cost for 1 full year of methadone maintenance treatment is approximately $4,700 per patient, whereas 1 full year of imprisonment costs approximately $24,000 per person. Definitions and key terms: Substance abuse: The harmful use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs.
Psychoactive: A psychoactive drug is one that has a large effect on the central nervous system and mental processes. Examples include alcohol, heroin, cocaine, glue, morphine. Dependence: Many psychoactive substances after repeated use result in a strong desire to take the drug again. After stopping their use users suffer from often very extreme withdrawal symptoms. Harm reduction (or harm minimization) is a range of public health policies designed to reduce the harmful consequences associated with various human behaviors, such as the use of illicit drugs. For example needle-exchange programmes reduce the likelihood of users of heroin and other drugs sharing the syringes and using them more than once. Syringe-sharing can lead to infections such as HIV or hepatitis C, which can spread from user to users through the reuse of syringes contaminated with infected blood. Cannabis: It is the genus of a plant that produces marijuana. The flower of this plant contains a chemical that is called THC (tetra-hydro-cannabinol) which makes a person feel very good, happy and excited. Opioids: Opioids are substances that produce morphine-like effects. Morphine is a drug that is used to treat severe pain. Addiction to opioids can with develop with long use which means the user will use higher amount of dosage to get the same effect. Cocaine: Cocaine is a drug that is made out of coca leaves which are found in native to north-western South America. Some effects of cocaine can be raised body temperature and blood pressure and nausea. The long-term effects of this drug depends on the way that is being taken (snorting, needle injection, consume by mouth). Key Events: The Pharmacy Act 1868 - United Kingdom (UK) Pure Food and Drug Act 1906 - United States of America (USA) The purpose of this act was to control the purchase of arsenic, cyanide, opium and prussic acid. The aim was to keep a record of all purchases. The aim was to label substances such as alcohol, cocaine, heroin, morphine, and cannabis with the dosage and contents.
The Opium Exclusion Act 1909 - USA The International Opium Convention 1912, The Hague This was the first federal drug prohibition law that was passed in the USA. Brining in opium to the USA was made illegal. It is the first international drug control treaty which aimed to ban the use of opiates for nonmedical purposes. The unauthorized usage of it was made illegal. Convention for Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs 1931, Geneva, Switzerland An early attempt at drug control that also divided drugs into different classes with different levels of control. The Paris Protocol 1948 This made the manufacture of drugs chemically similar to prohibited drugs. This had been ignored in previous legislation and thus offered a loophole to drug manufacturers. 'Just Say No' movement 1984 In a nationally broadcast message to the American people on September 14, 1986, first lady Nancy Reagan (wife of then president Ronald Reagan) launched her "Just Say No" campaign, an effort to raise drug abuse awareness. (It has been heavily criticized recently) The Council of Europe convention on promoting public health policy in drug control This convention was held in order to publicize public health and drug control. 2007 2008 World Drug Report This report was written by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime which gives details about the trafficking, production and consumption of some drugs such as but not limited to heroin, cocaine and cannabis.
Russia appeals to UN Security Council 2012 Russia suggested to the UN Security Council to treat drugs as a threat to international security Previous Attempts: Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs: The international treaty that was made in 1961 aimed to prohibit the production and supply of nominally narcotic drugs and drugs with similar effects except for ones under license for purposes such as medical treatment and research. It could not ban the newly discovered psychotropics since it was limited to drugs with cannabis, coca, and opium-like effects. UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances: This UN treaty was signed in 1971 Vienna, Austria. The purpose of it was to control newly discovered psychoactive drugs and also looked at both the medical value and the abuse potential. US Drug War: Then-president Richard Nixon declared a war on drug describing the drugs as the America s public enemy number one. The United States now spends $51 bn per year in its war on drugs. The US keeps a criminal justice approach as well as the UN. According to www.drugpolicy.org they continue to promote ineffective eradication and interdiction policies in countries where drugs are produced. UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs produces a new 10-year drug strategy: A meeting was held between June 8 to 10, 1998 in a special session. The purpose for this meeting was to develop a global plan to control drugs. It was believed that the US Drug War has failed. Possible Solutions:
Decriminalization: Most countries tried dealing with the substance abuse as a criminal problem instead of a health problem. Portugal is a good example for the latter. Portugal has decriminalized drugs in 2000 and the health of drug users have improved according to the Home Office analysis. The image shows the trends in adult drug use in Portugal between 2001 and 2012. They also have developed new policies on treatment and harm reduction. Treating substance abuse as a criminal problem is still the dominant method. Most recently in the Philippines President Duterte urged citizens to shoot and kill drug dealers who resisted arrest, and reiterated that the killings of drug suspects were lawful if the police acted in self-defence. The UN called his war on drugs a crime under international law and Duterte has threatened to separate the Philippines from the UN. Bibliography: Palmer, Jason. "Coca Leaves First Chewed 8,000 Years Ago, Says Research." BBC News. BBC, 02 Dec. 2010. Web. "Get the Facts on Substance Abuse." DrugAbuse.com. N.p., 28 Jan. 2016. Web. Gillmor, Dan. "America's Self-defeating 'war on Drugs' Dan Gillmor." Opinion. Guardian News and Media, 08 Nov. 2011. Web. 2007. London: Waterlow Legal, 2007. Web. McCarthy, Barbara. "A Brief History of War and Drugs: From Vikings to Nazis." News from Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera, 25 Nov. 2016. Web. "Get the Facts on Substance Abuse." DrugAbuse.com. N.p., 28 Jan. 2016. Web.
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"Philippines War on Drugs: '1,900 Killed' amid Crackdown." BBC News. BBC, 23 Aug. 2016. Web.