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THEWORLDWIDE
EPIDEMICOF
DRUGAND
ALCOHOL ABUSE
In this issue we unveil the real causes and the
solution to the most harmful social
and health crisis facing the world today.
by
Oonald O. Schroeder
E
ACH YEAR
millions slide
down the slippery slope
of alcohol and drug
abuse into addiction, illness,
crime and death.
In the United States alone, JO
to 12 million men and women–
and their loved ones and fami–
lies- are crippled by the rav–
ages of alcoholism. Additional
millions abuse alcohol at im–
mense cost in health and in lost
productivity.
In Canada, it is said, "Alcohol
increases business- for hospitals,
ambulance drivers, doctors, nurses,
undertakers and grave diggers"
(E.C. McKenzie).
Alcohol abuse, heroin and other
dangerous drugs have swept
through Europe like a brushfire.
Soviet culture, too, is paying enor–
mous social and economic costs.
Developing nations are plagued
with drug problems- both ancient
and modern. In this part of the
world hundreds of millions crave
addicting agents to ease their
miseries and problems in life.
These methods of coping are
unhealthy solutions!
lt
is time we
understood why- and found the
way out of today's greatest social
plague besetting this supposedly
enlightened 20th century.
May 1982
Worldwide Fallure
Why this worldwide failure? Why
do millions around the world not
possess the emotional and physical
resources to cope with human prob–
lems and difficulties?
Why do so many turn to drugs or
alcohol as solutions to life's prob–
lems? Why do so many
experim~nt
with potent pills, powders or chem–
icals to cope with boredom or to
find excitement in life?
It doesn't matter whether na–
tions are materially prosperous or
poverty stricken.
lt
doesn't matter
what their economic system or
political ideology. Or their reli–
gion--or lack of it. The fact is, gov–
ernments East and West, educa–
tional systems primitive and mod–
ern, and major religions have all
failed to stem the tide of drug and
alcohol abuse! Isn't it time we
understood why?
Something is missing in the cul–
tures, values and knowledge of all
nations today. lnstead of being
taught to look for and deal with
true causes of human problems,
millions have been educated- liter–
ally conditioned by their cultures–
lo look to drugs and chemicals to
solve almost every problem.
Drugs and alcohol are never real
or lasting solutions to human emo–
tional problems. Certain medica!
drugs and painkillers may serve at
times to save human lives, but they
are not the solution to most person–
al and emotional problems.
Chemical shortcuts to cope with
personal anxieties and difficulties
may seem to give temporary relief
from suffering or distress. But if
persisted in, their side effects result
in serious-sometimes irreversi–
ble-physical, mental or emotional
penalties. Many drugs temporarily
allow one to avoid facing and deal–
ing with the true causes of prob–
lems. The drug-taking, in turn,
only creates additional serious
problems.
The Real Drug Connectíons
Drugs made from vegetative
sources have been with man from
earliest recorded history. But with
the 20th century, revolutionary
human developments opened the
way for the modern drug abuse
explosion.
The modern drug explosion was
fueled by the rapid development of
the pharmaceutical industry, by
international communications and
travel, by growing prosperity· in
many nations. And by massive pop–
ulation migrations to cities. Cul–
tural constraints that once limited
traditional drug usage in develop–
ing nations have dramatically
broken down under the impact of
more permissive Western in–
fluences.
After World War I1, fiercely
competitive pharmaceutical compa–
nies spent heavily to dev.elop and
promote new "wonder" drugs to
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