Nonmedical use of drugs

The nonmedical use of drugs presents social problems with important pharmacological aspects. 

The enormous social importance of this subject warrants discussion here. 

The drives that induce a p erson more or less mentally healthy to resort to drugs to obtain chemical vacations from intolerable selfhood will be briefly considered here, as well as some account of the pharmacological aspects of drug dependence. 

The dividing-line between legitimate use of drugs for social purposes and their abuse is indistinct for it is not only a matter of which drug, but of amount of drug and of whether the effect is directed antisociaUy or not. Normal people seem to be able to use alcohol for their occasional purposes without harm but, given the appropriate personality and/or environmental adversity, many may turn to it for relief and 

A further issue is whether a boundary can be drawn between the therapeutic and nontherapeutic use of a therapeutic drug and, some would argue, if it can be drawn, should it be The matter has been highlighted by the use of SSRI antidepressants, e.g. fluoxetine (Prozac), not to treat depression but to elevate mood — make a person feel better than well (see nonmedical use, below). 

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The issue with nonmedical use of drugs today, however, is not only the usual risk involved with the use of any psychoactive drugs but also the increased danger posed by a host of new psychoactive products. Some of these have been developed for legitimate therapeutic purposes, hut many of them are spin-offs with unknown effects and, in some cases, known and harmful effects. As pharmaceutical... 

The Harrison Act was unusual in that it was actually a tax law, and for the next fifty years American drug laws followed this model, indirectly making the use of certain pain medications a criminal act. The law taxed the nonmedical use of drugs like morphine and cocaine, strong painkillers to which up to 5 percent of the American population was addicted in 1900. The tax for nonmedical use of these drugs was far more than the cost of morphine or cocaine. People who used the drugs without paying the tax were subject to criminal prosecution. 

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