The use and consequence abuses associated with drugs are not new phenomena. Primitive people used drugs to induce states of intoxication during religious ceremonies. As early as 2700 BC, the Chinese used marijuana under Emperor Shen Neng as prescription for gout, constipation, and absentmindedness. The Egyptians used opium in 1500 BC, as prescription for inducing sleep and curing mental disorder. Its widespread use, however, took place between 1805 and 1832, when morphine and codein (methylmorphine) both opium alkaloids were discovered.
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With the invention of the hypodermic needle in 1843, narcotic addiction spread throughout Europe and America. Among the prominent persons who took drugs without realizing its dangerous effects were American poet Edgar Allan Poe and English poets Francis Thompson, Samuel Coleridge and Thomas de Quincy, author of “Confessions of an English poets Francis Thompson, Samuel Coleridge and Thomas de Quincy, author of “Confessions of an English Opium Eater. ” The Problem of Drug Abuse in the Philippines As early as the 6th century, opium use was known as a practice of the Chinese who settled in the Philippines.
Spanish colonizers engaged in the importation and sale of opium exclusively for Chinese users. In early 20th century, the Americans occupied the Philippines, and came up with the opium policy which was to eradicate use among its residents. In 1903, the American reform commission was organized in the Philippines, it was the first of its kind in the world. In 1942, the Japanese occupied the Philippines. The opiate addicts underwent a 3- year period of abstinence since, the country had been cut off the Indian and Chinese opium supply routes.
From 1950 to 1955, the number of opiate addicts in the entire Philippines was most probably the lowest in the entire Asian region. Between 1950 and 1959, the estimate was 1 out of every 30, 000, most of them Chinese, comprising about 90% of persons arrested. In 1955, the marijuana plant, which is not among the original Philippine flora, was introduced in Pasay City for the purpose of producing marijuana cigarettes. On January 8, 1959, the first marijuana raid was conducted in Pasay City. Since then, marijuana has reached the countryside and has been cultivated widely all over the country.
In 1963, a new trend appeared. Sixty-five percent of those arrested were Filipinos. Heroin and morphine were also gaining popularity over opium use. In early 1970’s, Chinese addiction was on the wane while Filipino drug users had began trying the whole spectrum of drugs from marijuana to heroin with preference for depressant drugs. Drug Addiction Defined Drug addiction is a state of periodic or chronic intoxication detrimental to the individual and to society, produced by the repeated consumption of a drug (natural or synthetic). Its characteristics include: 1.
An overpowering desire or compulsion to continue taking the drug and to obtain it by any means 2. A tendency to increase the dose or tolerance 3. A psychological and sometime physical dependence on the effect of the drug The term drug addiction, however, was changed to drug dependence to emphasize the point that a drug addict is not a criminal but a sick person who therefore needs treatment. Drug Dependence Drug dependence is a state, psychological and physical, resulting from an interaction between a living organism and a drug characterized by behavioral responses that always include a compulsion to take a drug on a continuous basis.
A person may be dependent on one or more drugs. 1. Physical Dependence. This is a condition where a person cannot function without drugs in his system. In the absence of drugs, one develops withdrawal signs namely, restlessness, pain, convulsion, and others. In the early stages of withdrawal, an addict feels restless, weak, and depressed. If the addiction is mild, these may be the only symptoms and may last for only a few days. Among confirmed
