Drug Addiction †Essay Essay

Drug addiction is a pathological or supernormal condition which arises due to frequent drug use. The disorder of addiction involves the patterned advance of acute drug use to the development of drug-seeking behavior, the vulnerability to relapse, and the decreased, slowed ability to respond to naturally rewarding stimuli.CausesDrugs cutn to cause addiction include penal drugs as well as prescription or everywhere-the-counter drugs, harmonize to the definition of the American Society of dependency Medicine. Stimulantso Amphetamine and churlo Cocaineo Nicotine Sedatives and hyp nonicso Alcoholo Barbiturateso Benzodiazepines, particularly flunitrazepam, triazolam, temazepam, and nimetazepamo Methaqualone and the related quinazolinone sedative-hypnotics Opiate and opioid analgesicso Morphine and codeine, the devil naturally occurring opiate analgesicso Semi-synthetic opiates, such as heroin (diacetylmorphia), oxycodone, hydrocodone, and hydromorphoneo Fully synthetic opioids, s uch as fentanyl, meperidine/pethidine, and methadone HEROIN-The German drug company Bayer named its new over the counter drug Heroin in 1895.7 The name was derived from the German word heroisch (heroic) due to its sensed heroic effects upon a user.7 It was chiefly developed as a morphine substitute for cough suppressants that did not have morphines addictive side-effects. Morphine at the time was a popular volunteer(a) drug, and Bayer wished to find a similar simply non-addictive substitute to market.8 However, opposition to Bayers advertising as a non-addictive morphine substitute, heroin would soon have one of the highest rates of dependence amongst its users.9Diacetylmorphine is use as a recreational drug for the transcendent relaxation and impetuous euphoria it induces. Anthropologist Michael Agar once described heroin as the better whatever drug.23 Tolerance quickly develops, and users need more of the drug to hand the same effects. Its popularity with recreational d rug users, compared to morphine, reportedly stems from its perceived different effects.24 In particular, users report an intense rush that occurs while the diacetylmorphine is existence metabolized into 6-monoacetylmorphine (6-MAM) and morphine in the brain. Diacetylmorphine produces more euphoria than other opioids upon injection. One of the more or less common methods of illicit heroin use is via endovenous injection (colloquially termed slamming or shooting up). effects-Large doses of heroin can cause sinister respiratory depression, and the drug has been used for suicide or as a murder weapon. cost-PriceThe European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction reports that the retail price of brown heroin varies from 14.5 per gram in bomb calorimeter to 110 per gram in Sweden, with most European countries reporting usual prices of 35-40 per gram. The price of white heroin is reported only by a few European countries and ranged among 27 and 110 per gram RISK-For intraveno us users of heroin (and any other substance), the use of non-sterile needles and syringes and other related equipment leads to several(prenominal) serious risks o the risk of contracting blood-borne pathogens such as human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis o the risk of contracting bacterial or fungal endocarditis and maybe venous sclerosis o abscesses Poisoning from contaminants added to cut or slew heroin Chronic constipation Addiction and increasing tolerance animal(prenominal) dependence can result from prolonged use of all opioids, resulting in withdrawal symptoms on cessation of use Decreased kidney function (although it is not currently known if this is due to adulterants or infectious diseases)47CRACKHEADS GONE crimsonTony had a promising future as a professional athlete. at one time he stands in front of a rundown house in Atlanta. My momma always told me, you can be anything you want, he says. This is what I brought my being down to. He holds up a pebble of cra ck between tack and forefinger. This is the most important thing in my life. If I had to choose between you and the blow, Id forget you. Miami Slim, a greying black cleaning woman who has been addicted to cocaine since 1981, recalls her shame at sitting in a room with $7,000 of crack on the table and being unable to order her five-year-old son 50 cents to buy an ice cream. These are just both of the characters from Crackheads Gone Wild, an American DVD that takes the gonzo documentary genre made ill-famed by the 2002 video Bumfights (a series of tramp-fighting vignettes) to distressing new extremes.It presents uncensored genuinely stories of crack addicts in Atlanta while drawing on the voyeuristic appeal and entertainment value of reality TV. Like Hollywoods upcoming action-romp Snakes on a Plane, the title alone plays on a brazen marketing nous. And it even has its own snappy logo an spokesperson of a zombie- manage bug-eyed crackhead. The DVD has sold 60,000 copies sinc e release in December, primarily from gross sales through its website, crackheadsgonewild.com. Its creator, Daryl Master Mind Smith, a 30-year-old graduate from North Carolina of import University with a degree in marketing, maintains his film is intended to raise awareness of the crack problem in American cities. But we also tested to make it entertaining, he says, otherwise no one would want to encounter it and the message wouldnt get across.To this end, there is footage of a couple having hinge upon in a park while simultaneously taking hits complete their crack pipes. Smith claims he didnt solicit the footage. We just walked up on them. They didnt care. I never gave anyone more than $5 or something to eat to film them. They wanted to do it because they wanted wad to know their stories. One white female addict, clearly ravaged beyond her years, makes an ardent plea for to a lower placestanding on a street corner but is chthonianmined by a man performing a jerky spr ing behind her as he takes a hit off his pipe. A woman, posting a message on the films website under the name punkin1980, says she recognised the man as the father she hadnt seen in five years. It saddend (sic) me to look at him like that. Wherever he is now, I just want him to know that punkin still and always provide eff him. Smith defends himself In my mind, the exploitation was done for a good reason.What I was doing was exploiting the part of life that people choose to ignore. I just post it out there for people to see. Fuelled by mainstream rap culture and shows like MTVs Jackass, there is a burgeoning market for such films. One series of DVDs consisting of nothing more than amateur footage of street fighting is sold under the title Ghetto Brawls. Bumfights which racked up $5 million in sales worldwide, feature alcoholic vagrants who were plied with booze and encouraged to perform stunts that included having their teeth extracted with pliers. Its makers were interpreted to court in a civil trial in 2003 for soliciting bombardment and promoting illegal fights. They received small fines and probationary sentences. There seems little rule that those behind Crackheads Gone Wild will end up in the courts.Smith says he obtained release forms from everyone who appears in the video and wont use footage from those that refused. He says he knew some of the people he shoot over a period of years and watched them slowly deteriorate. Many of these people are highly intelligent. I have footage of a lady who has a masters degree in education and used to range on Capitol Hill. She got hooked on drugs and now shes homeless. The point of the painting is do not even try crack or this is what it will reduce you to. You will not have any control over your life and you will live and die for the drug.