Is This The Real Reason Why Britain Is Addicted To Drug Addiction?

Have you ever noticed that if ecstasy use goes down, then cocaine use might go up, or if they go down then cannabis use rises, and when cannabises use decelerates, alcohol abuse seems to compensate it? Why?

3. The latest British Crime Survey estimates that 47 percent of victims of violence believe alcohol played a part in their crime.

From: www.mpa.gov.uk...
Why?

The government thought 24hour licensing would create a European drinking culture. Instead our one of Near Death Experiences is very much alive, with violence (and police hours) merely shifted to earlier hours of the morning.
www.telegraph.co.uk.../news/2008/02/23/ndrink123.xml
Even according to this more favourable article the overall depth of the problem seems largely unaffected. news.bbc.co.uk... Why?

ENTER: Rat Park
Back in the 70’s a scientist researching the effects of heroin on rats looked at their filthy, cramped cages and thought to himself: “If I was one of those rats, all I would want to do is get high all day” (as the conditions are so bad).
So what he did is create an experiment entitled “Rat Park” en.wikipedia.org...

In it he gave rats the best conditions he could think of, they had toys, space, mixed foods, even the temperature was right. The rats went in addicted to morphine and were given a choice of two waters (one with morphine the other without).
Amazingly the rats actually choose to get themselves of the morphine by gradually drinking more of the tap water.

So what does this say about life in Britain in general? Does it not answer why everyone is trying to high one thing or another? Perhaps it would explain why those with the most alcohol-drug problems tend to be at the more deprived ends of society, as opposed to the higher?

In Which Case: Why Is Life In Britain Like What Life For Rats Is In A Rat Cage?

I can think of few reasons…
Of a wage of around £6.20 an hour
1. 20% goes on national insurance
2. Up 40-50% of my younger Tesco colleagues wages is going on either rent or a mortgage (unless they’re living at home which obviously has its own problems when your like 20+).
3. X on Petrol Tax, and stress enjoying our countries proud tradition of traffic jams.
3. Other costs like Council Tax, car repairs, kids general life costs ect.

What do you think; agree with me or not?

Further Reading: From: the-mouse-trap.blogspot.com...

reply to post by Liberal1984

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Very good post. However I believe that its a bit simpler. Living conditions across the pond are much more advanced there- but we are catching up pretty fast.

Drug addiction is really a response to the problems having to with dealing in an insane society structure and often the spiritual solution to this epidemic eludes those who in need of such an escape. Drugs work very quickly to numb it all out- then dealing with the negative side-effects of self medicated therapy quickly escalates into addiction.

Once the addict becomes sober- it does not take long to realize that nothing has changed and things are even worse than when they entered rehab- the only difference being they were high before and now they are not- the same solution comes to mind because it is fast, easy and relatively cheap given the alternatives. The cycle continues.

Societies the world over have little to no tolerance for drug addiction and it is treated as a malady not unlike child molestation and is often credited with increasing behavior and/or being the cause of this abhorrent behavior in the first place.

This is another prime example of society wanting/desiring the negative side-effects of a social disease remedied and/or eradicated. If Britain was a more advanced, enlightened example of how society works best- they would not be so plagues with a social disease that is actually very easy to remedy. They would be further along in addiction recovery rather than the reverse.

Britain is addicted to addiction because they are not addicted to recovery. Britain is addicted to judging the negative side effects of addiction rather than being addicted to the cure to end suffering.

Excellent thread. I hope more people participate.



[edit on 24-3-2008 by dk3000]

People have always loved to get intoxicated, right back to ancient Egyptian times and before.

You'll also find that adolescents (unless they are incredibly fortunate) have always started off at a low level in the salary scales.

Of course the relative cheapness of drugs makes them attractive for some, it was always so.
Fortunately most drugs used recreationally are fairly low risk and unless grossly abused pretty harmless to all concerned.
'Most people' do not end up addicts or social misfits or with 'problems' from using.

It's worth remembering that there are huge numbers of well documented cases of the very affluent indulging & some end up publicly flushing their lives down the lav through their over-indulgence in various substances.

As for the 24hr drinking 'culture'?

Where?

As far as I can make out out of the 50,000+ pubs in England and Wales only 400 have taken 24 hour licences (half the number of all licences allowed, the rest are hotels).

The UK's 24hr drinking culture has always revolved around buying booze at the supermarket and doing it at home - something that has been going on long before this Gov came into power.

Originally posted by dk3000


Well a spiritual solution would make people feel more content with their lives wouldn’t it? And if it didn’t, that’s why it wouldn’t work (in line with Rat Park).



Well it does cause bad behaviour that wouldn’t be experienced if that person wasn’t drunk-high. E.g. you and me probably both know people who are never violent (unless they’re drunk).



You can say that about any problem. Surely the cure is work out why people are unhappy with their lives, and tackle it. You advocate spirituality, I say that’s fine, but I would advocate a more broader approach; that’s all.

Originally posted by sminkeypinky

Yes, but it’s no exaggeration to say the further back you dip into the past the worse (on average) peoples lives get. Someone on benefits today is a very rich caveman; they never even have to worry about starving to death!



My town, dare I suggest you’re town? Or if not the next nearest major settlement.



Extremely interesting statistic!!! So in other words the government can be very confident that’s its 24 hour drinking legislation has made almost no difference because it’s been adopted by almost nobody.
What idiots? They create all that trouble for themselves over 400 pubs.
It’s also very interesting because it means all that Tory criticism is of the ball. If they were fitter for rule, they might be asking difficult-speculative questions over the state of our culture, rather than just legislator.

Likewise if things have got worse since 24-hour drinking legislation, it’s because they would be same without the legislation.
Why? I have yet to encounter anyone’s argument that says those rats weren’t trying to tell us something.

How to make peoples lives better…]
1. Mandate more living space in home planning applications, especially on green sites which should at least remain green enough to support a garden or allotment (and all the extra wildlife they, and people’s food scraps can support).
2. Invest more in film-entertainment? BBC route? After all if people aren’t working or drunk then they’re often watching TV?
3. More free time

4. Less tax?

Two of those are kind of expensive; so does anyone have any other-better ideas?

Very, very interesting thread. Starred and flagged (even though that doesn't seem to be general practice on AbovePolitics for some reason).

Drugs are an escape. I believe it's as simple as that. Sure, we have a food store on each and every corner, mobile phones that let us surf the internet, and fast cars but our modern world leaves many of the important things lacking. Family and community have unravelled, stress is rife, materialism is beyond reprise, and there's rarely such thing as an 'honest living' anymore. No wonder so many are turning to drugs. I'm thankful that I'm strong enough to resist.

Spirituality used to provide that escape - where and when life was hard in the past. Our ancestors turned to their gods in times of drought and famine. Now we turn to drugs, because there's no-one left to listen to our cries. In a sense, drugs have filled the void left by a lack of spirituality.

The most common reason reason why people use recreational drugs, and have done so since the dawn of mankind, is because they make people feel good, help people to party longer and some highten people's sense of awareness etc.
Pick any one or any combination and there you have it in a nutshell.
Anything else is mere semantics.