Many people seem to believe that drug dependency requires medical intervention followed by either a short or long term programme of residential rehabilitation, in a setting far away as possible from the reach of drugs because the traditional view favours the option of ‘flight’. The physical discomfiture which accompanies withdrawal is commonly recognised as a symptom of a disease requiring medical treatment. The fear of these symptoms is sometimes so overwhelming that even parents are known to offer the addict money for another ‘shot’ of heroin, because they are under the mistaken belief that this is the only way he can keep himself comfortable and alive. However, none of the above traditional options of treatment or rehabilitation havebeen shown to be beneficial.
It is also commonly believed that drugs are used because of the following reasons:
* availability,
* curiosity,
* ignorance,
* peer pressure,
* to become socially acceptable,
* to cope with grief,
* to relax,
* to have fun.
There are many more similar reasons put out by the average user. Opinions and beliefs such as these have trapped people in a drug using lifestyle:
* A drink improves my appetite.
* I can sleep well if I take a drink before dinner or heroin before I sleep.
* I am able to mix well socially, if I take a drink or heroin.
* After a hard days work a drink relaxes me.
* When my friends use a drug, I feel left out if I don’t.
* Doctors say that a drink is good for the heart.
* I want to improve my sexual performance.
* I take a drink or use heroin to get over my troubles.
* I can think creatively when I smoke.
These are only a fraction of the opinions and beliefs which prevent people from making intelligent decisions based on scientific reasoning. With the passage of time, it has become increasingly clear, that if we are to help drug users to get over their difficulties we should address ourselves to the core issues and reach out beyond the user, to the community as a whole.
For centuries many people have become conditioned to the use of a drug for relaxation, merriment, celebration, in fact they have been under the illusion that happiness and drugs go hand in hand. They have become conditioned to the belief that drug use is a pleasurable activity. Today much research work has been done to prove that drug use is made pleasurable through a host of social and psychological factors rather than the chemical effect of the drug itself. Many people have as a result of this belief, lost the art of having fun without drugs and have fallen prey to self seeking commercial enterprises which promote these beliefs and opinions. Few people have the understanding that we do have the inner resources to be happy, relaxed, and even to celebrate without a chemical crutch. Many of us have lost faith in ourselves and as a result expose ourselves to unnecessary stress, physically, mentally and financially by resorting to the use of drugs.
So the main thrust of helping drug users get over their difficulties is to break down social opinions and beliefs on which attitudes and values have been built over time, leading to drug centred behavioural patterns. To do this we no longer work with the so called ‘‘addicts’’ alone. We cannot have one set of values for those who say they have lost control over their lives and another for users who say they are in control. The dividing line between the two groups is so fine that it does not appear to be a worthwhile risk. Nor can we make allowances for those who use licit drugs as against those who are using illicit drugs. Because, users by virtue of their drug use validate the belief that it is a pleasurable experience. Fathers who smoke and drink cannot fault their sons for using heroin. Parents who use alcohol in their homes, at parties and functions are sending out a message that drug use is socially acceptable and the norm to be followed.
We have launched a long term programme to enable the community to understand that there is no real division between licit and illicit drugs; hard and soft; use and abuse. Whatever the drug, what we are seeking to change is the drug using lifestyle. Our trained Helpers are trying to develop an awareness within the community that all dependence producing psychoactive chemical substances are damaging to a healthy lifestyle, and through this understanding aim at a change in social attitudes and values. Society as a whole must begin to understand that each and everyone has a role to play in demand reduction. From the ash tray we place in our drawing rooms (to encourage the smoking habit) to the alcohol we serve at party time; from the champagne we drink to celebrate to the alcohol we use to drown our sorrows; to the ‘bite’ we provide to go with the ‘drinks’, we who belong to this so called enlightened society must begin to look at our own behavioural styles and our role in promoting drug use as socially acceptable.
A change in social behaviour will take place, only if decision-making and coping with skills are raised to a high level. These skills having nothing to do with academic prowess or high intellectual capacity. We have met with outstanding intellectuals who continue to use drugs even after understanding that drug use is foolish and without meaning.
The role of the drug demand reduction worker is therefore clearer than before. But the task is daunting. Awareness programmes should be intensified to become as potent as the messages sent out by commercial sectors which are busy misleading potential users and those who are already in their net. For the misleading potential users and those who are already in their net. For the latter category, effective support programmes which develop coping and decision-making skills are critical for gaining control over their lives. In a free world, everyone has the right to use any substance as long as he is not trespassing on the rights of another. The important question that must be asked is: How many of us are capable of taking an intelligent decision based on facts and scientific reasoning? Or do we continue to permit opinions and beliefs to fashion our behaviour? For trained Helpers, it is their unenviable task to break down these opinions and beliefs that support the continued use of drugs inspite of modern research and understanding. If the Helper can reach people before the habit sets in, then his task should be that much easier. A habit once established needs whole hearted commitment on the part of the ‘victim’ to break it down.
To do all of this we now have a band of helpers who have been trained for outreach work as well as to give long term support to those who contact us with difficulties arising from alcohol and heroin use. Users, parents, wives, children, friends, contact us for guidance and support. For every individual who contacts us, the route to change is different. Each according to his level of personal growth, his capacity to change, will receive a gentle stimulus to strive.
The Sumithrayo plan to train more Helpers who will be able to meet with our local needs. This will be a very cost efficient approach and much more suited to our local culture and socioeconomic context. By the end of this year, when the new building is completed, we will be able to handle on a regular basis the requests for training programmes which reach us from many parts of the island. Our new building will house a residential training facility which is meant to cope with a felt need in the community.
Children are losing themselves in a world of evil foreigners, big-chested women and the need to prove themselves through violence, says an academic study. They are spending too long playing fantasy video games.
The games are being taken more seriously than many adults realise, says
Ken Parsons, a senior sociology lecturer at the 
Manchester
Metropolitan University: “Playing a game can be, and more often than not
is, a serious undertaking - on its outcome rests their feelings of self-esteem
and competence.
“To put it in adult terms, playing a game is a child’s true reality - this takes it beyond the boundaries of its meaning for adults. In this sense, there is a danger that children and young people may become addicted to sex, addicted to sexism, addicted to violence.”
In a sample of 61 teenagers - 36 boys and 25 girls aged 13 to 16 - questioned at youth clubs in Crewe and Dundee, about a quarter feared they were becoming addicted to the games, with about 10 per cent spending more than 30 hours a week in front of the computer screen. One in 20 said they could not live without constant gratification of “beat ‘em up” computer games, such as Street Fighter and Duke Nukem 3D.
The video-fantasy girl, Lara Croft, who stars in Playstation’s Tomb Raider, had become a craze among impressionable adolescents as a “sex symbol with attitude.” Dr. Parsons said: “These games encourage sexism and condition children to view the world in a way that they see on a computer screen.
‘Men are never rescued by women. Themes of female sex symbols, female kidnapping, female rescue and submission pervade many children’s experiences.”
He identified three kids of game fantasies such as Zelda 3 and Dungeon Keeper, brain teasers such as Super Mario Brothers, and blaster games such as Interstellar Assault, Killer Instinct and Fighters, Megamix. The games chiefly feature terrorists, prizefighters, police teams and robotic detectives. Foreigners were invariably baddies and women were acted upon rather than initiating action, said Dr. Parsons.
The study found that a third of parents - who generally pay for the games, costing up to £45 each - are concerned that their children lack physical fitness, and 10 per cent expressed concern at the antisocial behaviour that such games encouraged.
A third of the teenagers had been encouraged by their families to reduce their playing time, one in five had experienced physical strain through playing too much, and 26 per cent admitted they were “too attached” to games and found it difficult to stop playing.
The software in which Lara Croft stars is a bestseller, grossing more than £1 million in the first six months after its launch in October 1996. Dr. Parsons describes her as a “gun-wielding baddie-blasting sex symbol, whose very large breasts are designed to be out of proportion with the rest of her body.”
Her female competition includes Q-Bee, a bee woman, who is advertised as being “sexy in her ultra-cute costume.”
Lara Croft’s pin-up picture has appeared as a centrefold in Loaded magazine. The character has spawned a television series and a record, and it has been rumoured that a secret room exists within the game where the player can peel away her clothes.
- The Times
Twin towers has been blown!
But the owner foreign,
isn’t worrying.
At his leisure the rebuilding,
at his price the re-renting;
for which, there’s government undertaking.
This is all in the name,
of economic liberalisation;
the path to growth,
through naive privatisation.
No risk for the private emissary;
no choice for the government treasury
The monsoon rains have blown!
Researchers are studying,
the roads are flooding.
Transport, railways, roads, need rethinking;
people, delayed, stranded, frustrated, drinking.
As a result, productivity, is sinking
We look for a responsible person.
Minister says, “no allocation”;
treasury says, “no utilisation”.
If you are like me,
an ordinary bee,
what is lacking, is consolation.
CB, PB, AS, all three around the table.
There are others who are willing and able,
But they have no seat with a label.
“Balance the Budget!”
“Cut the deficit!”
“We want to get that ESAF loan!”
So capital expenditure is cut to the bone,
And infrastructure, left completely alone.
Now terrorists can stay at home;
the country, doesn’t need to be blown.
It will disintegrate, all on its own.
Continue to Plus page 6 * That trying task: finding suitable men
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