Why People Take Drugs

Why People Take Drugs

This brings me to the question of why people take drugs. That is the million dollar question and the reasons differ. One answer, however, is a lot simpler than many psychologists, doctors, social workers, parents, and newspapers would have it. At first, at least, we do it because we like it and we like it because it’s nice. It starts out that way at any rate. I am not suggesting that drugs are good for us and I am not advocating their use. What I am doing is setting the record straight … Taking heroin may be foolhardy and ill advised but initially users do have credible motives. We are not all deranged lunatics who enjoy living in squalor facing daily disasters ranging from getting arrested to dying.

Most people first experiment with heroin because they are curious. Heroin has always had its own mystique. The property of musicians, pop stars, writers and wicked faceless men whose souls are lost, it attracts publicity and publicity creates glamour. Glamour sells. It sells cigarettes, alcohol, cars, consumer goods and it sells heroin. Quite what we bought I am not sure. Rebellion, danger, excitement, talent, a wild reputation, some strange distinction as a bad lot, but we wanted something and we got it.

It has often been compared to a lover and if we continue that metaphor you could say that involvement with drugs is, for many people, like a relationship. Attracted, fascinated at first you seek out the object of your desire and blunder into involvement. Only later do things start to go wrong.

Ditto with drugs. Only when it is too late does the light at the end of the tunnel go out.

(Stewart, 1987)

Source: Stewart, T. 1987, The Heroin Users Pandora Press, London. As cited in Helfgott, S. 1996, Helping change: The addiction counsellors training program, WA Drug Authority, Perth. Overhead 5.7

A First Experience of Heroin

The needle slid into my arm gently, firmly, easily, uneventfully. I watched intrigued, waiting for something to happen. He pulled it back slightly and drew out the plunger a little. Blood shot eagerly into the barrel like a tongue of flame and quickly dispersed into a small mushroom. I have, ever since, thought of getting that line as exploding a personal atomic bomb.

OK. Loosen that tie, Quick! I fumbled at the cord and it loosened. Confidently he pushed the plunger in. Quite fast, his eyes flicking quickly from my face to the job in hand. I watched holding my breath as the contents of the barrel, with its dark red core, disappeared miraculously into my body.

‘You have to put it in fairly fast’ he said ‘so you get a good hit’. He was pulling back on the plunger again. Fresh blood was flowing into the syringe.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked, in the seconds before the smack hit.

‘Just flushing’, he replied. ‘You don’t want to lose any!’

I murmured a wordless response as the smack came on. The rush is so hard to describe it’s like waiting for a distant thunderstorm to move overhead. A strange foreboding. A bizarre awesome calm. It’s in your blood, moving towards your brain, relentlessly, unstoppable, inevitable.

A feeling starts to grow like a rumble from the horizon. The feeling swells, surging, soaring, crashing, screaming to a devastating crescendo. The gear smashes against the top of your skull with the power of an uncapped oil well. You would not be able to bear the intense ecstasy. It is all too much.

Your body may fall apart. The rock that is in your head shatters harmlessly into a million sparkling, tinkling smithereens. They tumble at a thousand miles an hour straight back down over your body, warming, insulating, tingling, denying all pain, fear and sadness. You are stoned, you are high. You are above and below reality and law.

‘Are you OK?’ he asked again.

My chin was on my chest, my eyes closed, I suppose.

‘I’m just great’. I murmured. ‘I’m fine. It’s fantastic. It’s wonderful. I want to do this forever.’

(Stewart, 1987)

Source: Stewart, T. 1987, The Heroin Users Pandora Press, London. As cited in Helfgott, S. 1996, Helping change: The addiction counsellors training program, WA Drug Authority, Perth. Overhead 5.8

Opiates

You’re very, very, lethargic, relaxed, almost to the point of falling asleep, but not really asleep. It’s like being in a dream and being awake at the same time. Your eyes will be closed but you’re fully conscious … It’s more like lying back, half asleep, in a dream sleep and it’s very, very, – mystical almost. It’s like crawling into a psychic cloud. Everything is cushioned for you.

Very, very little that’s negative gets through to you. I don’t know, I think it’s very relaxed, very pleasurable. Very low anxiety level, very low desire level. I guess the high – uh you feel full. You know whatever kind of hole you might have in your being –

I think people do, everyone feels lacks of one sort or another – you know it fills in all these spots.

(Zinberg, 1984)

Source: Zinberg, N. 1984, Drug, set and setting Yale University Press, New Haven. As cited in Helfgott, S. 1996, Helping change: The addiction counsellors training program, WA Drug Authority, Perth. Overhead 5.9

Cannabis

Well, because I can do more things with grass. When I’m straight there’s too much goin’ on … in my head. If I wanted to kiss a girl while I was straight, there’d be too much going on in my head for me to really get into the kiss, whereas with grass I can get into the kiss … I can really feel the kiss, the energy in the mouth, and that’s all I feel…More into body feelings rather than thinking, ‘well, am I doing this right, will she like this, will I like this?’ Everything just happens naturally, and you are only in that experience, not in another and not in your head. You can even feel what the other person is feeling, in her body. You can feel with your body when her body is close to orgasm and then you begin to feel it too. There’s something like a merging of body feelings, and every touch, every movement, is like magnified a hundred times … The only problem is that usually after such an intense experience I just want to fall asleep. But that’s OK, too. There’s this sense of timelessness. Nothing exists but this moment.

(Zinberg, 1984)

LSD

I usually do psychedelics when I have something I want to work out. Sometimes I pleasure-trip. It’s a definite aid to my personal growth. I probably trip once or twice a month. Prior to tripping, I do a needs assessment. What’s my need in relation to the drug? I want to make sure if it’s a good reason – I don’t do psychedelics when I feel I need to escape because that’s when I know I won’t have a good trip. To make sure if I need a recovery period, like if I’m going to have time or not … Sometimes I’m affronted by my sense of responsibility, and it bothers me (laugh). But, yeah, I’m very careful that there’s enough time to do it right, and I’m not going to interrupt the pleasure of that trip. I usually get off late afternoon, to experience that change into night. I’m basically a night person. I like tripping at night. I never trip alone.

(Zinberg, 1984)

Cocaine

For years, cocaine has enjoyed a reputation as a party drug. Its psychoactive effects fit this image well: central nervous system stimulation that leads to euphoria, exhilaration, increased energy, and reduced fatigue … But parties are not the only situations in which cocaine is used. Many users emphasise its energising effects, some its euphoria, and others the more subtle sexual effects. In general, our interviews suggested that cocaine’s ability to boost energy and enhance mood made it a welcome treat on almost any occasion. Our respondents reported at least ten uses for cocaine: to party in varying private and public situations, to socialise in small or large groups, to enhance sex, to open up and talk through problems, to work, to entertain clients or work associates, to diet, to fortify themselves for arduous tasks such as long car trips, to get high, and to be alone.

(Waldorf, Reinarman, & Murphy, 1991)

Source: Waldorf, D., Reinarman, C., & Murphy, S. 1991, Cocaine changes: The experience of using and quitting Temple University Press, Philadelphia. As cited in Helfgott, S. 1996, Helping change: The addiction counsellors training program, WA Drug Authority, Perth. Overhead 5.12

Resource Kit for GP Trainers on Illicit Drug Issues

Part B2 AOD Background: Making Sense of Drug Use