Dangers of Drug Abuse by Dr. Hardin B Jones (Detailed Summary) Plus Two

                                                                 

                                                  Dangers of Drug Abuse

                                                                                                                   - Dr Hardin B Jones 

Detailed Summary

In the beginning, Dr Hardin B Jones says that with the notion of preventing physical and mental diseases, drugs have been discovered. This made people to think that any disease whether it is infective or psychic can be cured by taking a pill. For instance, if there is a sign of nervousness, people take pep pills. In order to mislead the public, medical journals promote people to buy tranquilizers, amphetamines and mood-altering drugs. These are the reasons why the drug is abused by people. If a person abuses the drug, he will lose his ability to solve “life's situations” through “perseverance”, “self-discipline” and “mental effort”.

Hardin says that it is not good to criticise the medical field for drug abuse because the medical field has a great history from Hippocrates' period onwards. Hippocrates, a Greek physician, is considered as the father of medicine. Based on the symptoms of the disease, body “constitution” and “habits” of the patients, he gave “remedy” to his patients. His principle is practised by modern physicians. That is, a physician should prescribe apt medicine to cure a particular disease. The positive effect of the drug is that it has “restorative” effects. The negative effect of the drug is that if a healthy person takes drugs without any disease, it will destroy the healthy functioning of the brain and the body.

Hardin then tells that one should make a distinction between medicines and sensual drug. Sensual drugs are those drugs which are not needed for the body. It will only provide “a strong sense of pleasure” by stimulating the pleasure centres either directly or through chemical mimicry. It is the brain which controls “sensations, moods, thoughts and actions” of an individual through a series of chemically controlled processes. Sensual drugs alter these chemical processes which in turn affect the healthy functioning of the brain. These changes are apparent in the case of mechanisms that control pleasure and satisfaction.

When an individual starts drug abuse, he is less satisfied in the amount of drug which he is consuming. He urges for more intake. In severe addiction, the pleasure mechanism fails. There is a misconception that drug can give relief to sorrows and relief but does not give relief to sorrows.

A person who is addicted to drug begins to suffer depression, physical problems and show personality changes. They can't even know what is happening around them and to whom they are talking. His mind will be always disturbed. Hence his mental condition can be compared to “paranoia”. He does not know why he is disturbed. He becomes suspicious and introvert. He feels that everyone is looking at him strangely because he cannot realise whether an individual is smiling or angry with him. The addict even feels that he is “dead inside”. That is why often drug addicts press their arms or legs deeply to realise that they are alive on the reality which they have created. This prompts them to get more and more “drug-induced sensations”.

The reason why drug addicts cannot stop drug addiction is that the drug's harmful side effect is not immediately apparent. The only symptoms which will the drug addicts show are “incidental delirious” effects and “death from overdose”. In extreme cases, drug addicts will face health issues. Even drugs directly affect the brain which alters mental mechanism. This causes the drug addict to behave in a strange way. More than that the drug addicts harm himself.

Drugs cause many diseases. If the drug addicts use dirty needles and solutions which are used for injecting drugs, it will cause “abscesses” in the arms and veins, liver disease, venereal disease and kidney and brain infections. Sniffing cocaine and amphetamines degenerate the nose tissues. Marijuana and tobacco smoking can cause lung diseases. Heavy users of alcohol, volatile solvents, amphetamines and marijuana can permanently damage the liver of the users. If pregnant women consume drugs, their babies become a drug addict and show withdrawal symptoms. Cocaine and amphetamines do hair falling. Even marijuana destroys the cells. The lifestyles of drug users make them more prone to pneumonia, tuberculosis, malnutrition and weight loss. An overdose of sensual drugs leads to respiratory or cardiac failure and death.

Sensual drugs alter the chemical process of the brain cells which can change the cell pathways and hookups. On the basis of the cell damage, the side effect is either temporary or permanent. As the article ends, Dr Hardin B Jones says that this article focuses on the drug's effect on the brain because no one realises drugs effect on the brain.