The History of Drugs

Since the beginning of time, mankind has used drugs to ease pain, heal wounds, and alleviate mental issues. The use of cannabis and opium in ancient times was for a variety of purposes, including medicine, religion, and recreation. Archaeologists have found evidence of opium use in Europe by 5,700 BC. Cannabis seeds appear in archaeological digs at 8,100 BC in Asia, and the ancient Greek historian Herodotus reported Scythians getting high on weed in 450 BC.

Moreover, the use of Peyote, a desert cactus with natural hallucinogens, dates back thousands of years. Some Native American groups traveled days or weeks each year to harvest a year’s worth of the holy cactus in the Chihuahuan desert of Mexico and Texas.

Other drugs have an even longer history. The mescal bean, which was used in a similar way to peyote, has been found in caves and rock shelters extending back to 9,000 years ago. In Peru, the oldest remains of the psychoactive San Pedro cactus date to 6,800-6,200 B.C.

In the South American Andes, coca is the drug of choice and has perhaps been so for 8,000 years. Chewing the leaves of this plant, from which we now derive cocaine, would help to prevent fatigue, hunger, thirst, and altitude sickness. The drug was also used to heighten senses during religious ceremonies. Additionally, mushrooms were common in the Mesoamerican regions, dating between 500 B.C. and 900 A.D.

Since then, in the following centuries, people learned to distill spirits and refine drugs like cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. They experimented with snorting, injecting, and inhaling these new inventions. Yet, given the absence of a pharmaceutical industry and modern laboratory equipment, addiction levels were low. It would take many more centuries for society to engage in the “War on Drugs.”

Increasing Drug Abuse Problems

Soon, however, this situation changed dramatically. Around the time of World War I, extensive drug use in the United States—a combination of morphine, heroin, opium, and cocaine—created a growing fear of drug abuse. The association of opium with Chinese immigrants, cocaine with African Americans, and morphine addiction with careless physicians prompted more and more concern, resulting in the beginnings of restrictive legislation to curb easy access to those drugs.

Additionally, concurrent with an emerging music industry, one of the major cultural and social changes during the last century occurred in the sixties with a sudden, widespread use of illicit drugs, primarily hallucinogens, marijuana, and LSD. Before this time, marijuana was primarily used by jazz musicians, writers, and artists in the inner cities. LSD, which was virtually unknown to American society in the early sixties and still legal until 1966, gained widespread recognition as a result of events such as Woodstock and the public exploits of so-called acid gurus, Timothy Leary and Ken Kesey.

By the end of the sixties, marijuana and LSD use was common across the country, especially among young people. Many books were written to explain or vilify this phenomenon, and many others to justify the use of these drugs.

Other, more harmful drugs followed – cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, and barbiturates, and the idea of using mind-expanding drugs to gain insight into the world gave way to plain recreational and often harmful use. Popular musicians such as Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix died as a result of recreational drug use.

Drugs and Their Classifications

According to Wikipedia, a drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living person, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can occur via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, absorption via a patch on the skin, suppository, or dissolution under the tongue. Overall, there are two kinds of drugs created by pharmaceutical companies, depending on their use.

Medical drugs

These drugs are meant to treat specific diseases, ranging from painkillers to complex cancer medications. Medical drugs are often classified into drug classes—groups of related drugs that have similar chemical structures, perform the same actions, and are used to treat the same disease.

Psychoactive or mind-altering drugs

These are substances that affect the function of the central nervous system, altering perception, mood, or consciousness. These drugs are divided into different groups such as stimulants, depressants, antidepressants, anxiolytics, antipsychotics, and hallucinogens. While originally created to treat patients with mental conditions, these are also the drugs that are the most abused in society as a whole.

Regulation of Controlled Substances

Apart from the typical “over-the-counter” drugs one can get at Walgreens or CVS, most drugs are only available with a prescription. Drugs that have a potential for abuse are called “controlled substances.” Their use is regulated by the federal government, which prohibits the manufacture, distribution, dispensation, and possession of controlled substances unless specifically permitted by statute. The government categorizes controlled substances according to Schedules I through V.

Breaking Down Schedules I through V

Schedule I drugs have a high potential for abuse, with no accepted medical use. These include, but are not limited to, heroin, marijuana, hashish, LSD, and other hallucinogens.

Schedule II drugs have a high potential for abuse, but also have some medical use, and include opium, morphine, codeine, barbiturates, cocaine, and its derivatives, amphetamines, phencyclidine (PCP), and other narcotics.

Schedule III, Schedule IV, and Schedule V drugs have some potential for abuse, but less than Schedule I and II drugs, with Schedule III drugs having the most potential for abuse and Schedule V the least.

Moreover, Schedule III, IV, and V drugs include chloral hydrate (IV), certain barbiturates (III and IV), benzodiazepines (IV), glutethimide (III), other depressants and narcotics (III and IV), amphetamines (III), and other stimulants (III and IV).

The federal penalty for the manufacture, sale, or distribution of small amounts of Schedule I and II drugs, for the first offense, is from 5 to 40 years’ imprisonment and can incur hefty fines. Penalties are doubled in many cases for the manufacture, sale, or distribution of larger amounts of Schedule I and II drugs.

In addition to the manufacture, distribution, or sale of controlled substances, federal law prohibits unauthorized possession of controlled substances. Penalties for simple possession include up to one year’s imprisonment and/or a fine. Special sentencing provisions apply to the possession of crack cocaine, while special federal penalties apply to the sale or distribution of controlled substances to persons under age 21 or within 1,000 feet of school, college, or university property.

Designer Drugs

While the levels of drug abuse increased in the later decades of the 20th century, the variety of drugs equally increased with the emergence of designer drugs – the earliest in this category being LSD which was synthesized from ergot fungi.

Other examples include performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids to improve physical performance. Since the late 1990s, there has been an increasing number of synthesized drugs which has caused a new class of controlled substances known as a temporary class drug.

Smart drugs, also called Nootropics, were launched on the market, purportedly to improve memory, concentration, thought, mood, and learning, specifically in students and even children. Such drugs include methylphenidate, which is more commonly known as Ritalin and is used for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. However, when sold illegally on the streets at high doses, this drug can become highly addictive.

Recreational Drugs

A recreational drug can be defined as a drug taken for its psychoactive nature, and with the assumption that, when taken intermittently and in limited quantities, they are not addictive. These drugs can be synthetic or naturally available. A few common examples of recreational drugs include cocaine, morphine, and marijuana.

Ketamine is a drug used for anesthesia and is also used as a recreational drug, both in powder and liquid form, for its hallucinogenic effects.

Cannabis is the most commonly consumed controlled recreational drug in the world (as of 2012). Its use in many countries is illegal, but in some countries is allowed when only used for personal use. It can be used in the leaf form of marijuana (grass) or in the resin form of hashish. Marijuana is a milder form of cannabis than hashish.

Spice represents a relatively new type of “designer drug” that has recently emerged on the recreational drug use market. It has been suggested that Spice may have been manufactured in China, but it remains unclear where and how the production of these herbal mixtures actually takes place.

Additionally, there are several legal intoxicants that are used recreationally. Next to tobacco, the most widely used of these is alcohol.

Medical Marijuana

Medical marijuana comes from the Cannabis Sativa plant. It’s used to ease symptoms caused by certain medical conditions.

According to the Mayo Clinic, cannabis sativa has chemicals called active compounds. They act in the body in ways that may ease certain symptoms. The best known are delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). THC is the part of marijuana that acts on the brain and affects mood, behavior, and thoughts, called psychoactive.

U.S. federal law does not allow the use of whole-plant cannabis sativa or its parts for any purpose. But CBD from the hemp plant is legal under federal law. It has less than 0.3% THC.

Despite federal laws forbidding the use of cannabis, many states allow THC to be used for medical reasons. Healthcare professionals in those states can suggest medical marijuana, what dose to take, and what type to use, but they can’t prescribe it.

Studies report that medical cannabis might help some conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, ALS, HIV/AIDS, Crohn’s disease, MS, and Glaucoma, and cancel symptoms such as severe nausea.

Addiction Facts

According to the 2023 United States National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 48.5 million (16.7%) Americans (aged 12 and older) battled a substance use disorder in the past year. Specifically:

Alcohol

In 2023, an estimated 28.9 million Americans aged 12 and older battled an alcohol use disorder or 10.2% of this population.
Over half of all American adults have a family history of problem drinking or alcohol addiction.
Around 10.5% of U.S. children (75 million) live with a parent with alcohol use disorder, based on a 2017 report by SAMHSA.
An estimated 88,000 people die from alcohol-related causes annually.
Alcohol is the 5th-leading cause of preventable death in the United States.

Cocaine

About 1.3 million Americans 12 years old or older (0.4%) struggled with a cocaine use disorder in the past year.
298,000 people aged 12 and older received inpatient treatment for a cocaine use disorder in the past year. 542,000 received outpatient treatment.

Heroin

About 587,000 people aged 12 and older (0.2%) had a past-year heroin use disorder in 2023.
Around 23% of people who use heroin will become addicted to it.
Based on 2021 data, the yearly number of heroin overdose deaths has tripled since 2010.
Around 372,000 people surveyed in 2023 received inpatient treatment for heroin use disorder in the past year. 832,000 received outpatient treatment.

Prescription drugs

The most common types of prescription drugs misused in the past year were pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants, and sedatives.
Around 5.3 million people age 12 and older had a past-year substance use disorder involving pain relievers or about 1.9% of this population.
2.3 million Americans aged 12 or older (0.8%) had a substance use disorder involving tranquilizers or sedatives within the past 12 months.
1.7 million Americans 12 or older (0.6%) suffered from a past-year substance use disorder involving prescription stimulants (e.g., Adderall, Ritalin).

Marijuana

19.2 million (6.8%) Americans aged 12 or older battled a marijuana use disorder in the past year.
43.6 million Americans (15.4%) aged 12 or older surveyed used marijuana in the past month.
479,000 Americans 12 or older received inpatient treatment for marijuana addiction in the past 12 months. 1.7 million received treatment at an outpatient center.

Treatment Statistics

With such widespread and alarming drug addiction statistics, the need for effective treatments cannot be overstated. Still, these programs generally are only dealing with the tip of the addiction iceberg. For example, in 2023, an estimated 54.2 million people aged 12 and older needed treatment for a substance use disorder in the past year, but only 23% of those received the treatment needed.

40.1% of Americans 12 or older who could not get the treatment they needed in the past year said they did not seek treatment because they thought it was too expensive. 55.9% said they were not ready to cut back or stop using, and 37.1% said they didn’t know where to go or how to get treatment (respondents could cite multiple reasons).

At the same time, the results of most treatment programs are questionable. The relapse rate for substance use disorders is estimated to be between 40% and 60%. In 2023, around 4.5 million Americans 12 or older (1.6%) received treatment for alcohol use disorder in the past year, and Alcoholics Anonymous is rated as one of the most successful addiction programs.

More Americans now die every year from drug overdoses than they do in motor vehicle accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rise of heroin-related deaths has been particularly sharp.

Nearly three-quarters of Americans consider drug addiction to be a serious problem in this country. Sixty percent of the public knows someone who has struggled with substance abuse, and 62 percent consider the problem to be widespread.

War on Drugs Results

According to a recent report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, the global war on drugs is a failure and should be replaced by decriminalization strategies grounded in science, health, security, and human rights. In the 40 years since President Richard Nixon declared war on drugs, the Commission concluded that those war strategies have not worked.

The War on Drugs’ punitive effects continue to this day. In the last 50+ years, the number of people convicted of drug-related crimes has risen more than 500 percent, now making up almost half of the federal prison population.

Within America’s prisons, the policies have perpetuated cycles of poverty and unemployment in low-income communities while disproportionately impacting people of color. Black people are more than 3.5 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than their White counterparts, despite both groups using the drug at similar rates, and African Americans and Hispanics now make up more than 60 percent of the prison population.

Are There Solutions That Work?

More and more, in the face of failing drug policies and medication-based treatment programs, there are bright spots in this overwhelmingly serious problem.

Many churches have organized faith-based addiction treatment programs that are reported to have better results than most secular programs. These programs offer Christian options for recovery while allowing others to explore their beliefs during recovery.

Participants do not need to come from a religious background to be in these programs, however, they do need to be open to faith in the process. These programs are tailored to what each patient needs, whether that may be individual counseling, group meetings, faith discussions, or any other relevant addiction treatment.

Education-based addiction treatment programs are equally more successful. One example is Narconon, a precise, step-by-step regimen that addresses all aspects of addiction to assist individuals in overcoming its adverse effects for themselves and those around them.

A study entitled, “A Simplified Method for Routine Outcome Monitoring after Drug Abuse Treatment” (R.D. Lennox, Ph.D.; MA Sternquist, MS, and A. Paredes, MD, published in the journal Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment 2013:7, 155-169) found that six months after completing the Narconon program, 73.5% of graduates had not used any illegal drug while 94% were arrest‑free.

For more information about drugs, drug abuse, and treatment programs, go to drugfreepeople.com.