Psychology

Whether they are used for purposes of recreation or medication, drugs have always been a comprehensive part of human life. An infant is administered its first dose of drugs almost at birth. We suffer aches, illnesses and pains through our life and take medication for the same.

What makes a drug illicit Is it the fact that the authorities ban the usage of the same or the fact that one is free to misuse the power of the medical prescription and turn something legal into illegal Introduction to drugs could come through friends, peers, influence of cinema, desire to emulate the lifestyle of a rock star, easy accessibility to prescriptions from a doctor  and any of these could appear more attractive to an individual of personality type  A as compared to an individual of personality type B and so on. This could possibly mean that the kind of drug one opts for is therefore, more often than not, the kind of drug ones mind decides is suitable for one. Experience and studies also show that the social strata that one comes from often ends up dictating what kind of drugs one begins to use as an adult  principally due to the affordability of the same.

This brings us to the question  When taken in excess, what makes prescription drugs licit Does the fact that the drug is prescribed by a doctor for medicinal purposes make it OK to take as and when one pleases

Why some people use illicit drugs
The illicit nature of most things works as an attraction to most human minds  to be doing something thats socially, parentally or otherwise considered wrong and to be able to get away with it, is for many, thrilling. The possibility of making that one phone call to someone with a name as non-descript as Jack, deciding a rendezvous, not stopping in one place too long to be able to pick it up, sometimes far exceeds the thrill of actually using the drug.

As one has noticed around the turn of the century, all things that are retro seem to be coming back into fashion  be it clothes, flashy cars, hairdos, etc. - similarly, it would seem that the concept of and the desire to get high as part of ones lifestyle, seems to have returned. It almost seems like theres an entire lot of new-age hippies surfacing all over the world. The usage of drugs like marijuana, LSD, mescaline, ecstasy and its stronger form MDMA, seem to be on the rise universally.

It has been widely believed that the people most likely to get addicted to illicit drugs are the ones that have low self esteem andor imagined or real problems relating to unemployment, ill-health, depression or other mentally debilitating diseases, a feeling of being not given ones due by family andor society, etc. Would it not seem, however, that it also depends on what kind of drug one can afford to buy and use and what one is exposed to vis--vis the social circle one moves in In India, most of the rag pickers are addicted to base quality heroin available on the streets. That it would seem, given the layering of society that India is made up of, the lowest form of usage of illicit drugs. For example, the rag picker would not be able to afford the one-gram of cocaine and the user of the cocaine would possibly never be exposed to the base quality heroin.

Apart from the fact that the illicit nature of the drug makes one want to use it, the other perceivable reason that cannot be ignored is the feel-good factor that is attached to the usage of drugs. Cocaine is supposed to give you the confidence and lucidity of speech (depending of course on how much one consumes), ecstasy and LSD are supposed to take you beyond yourself and unify you with not only the greater world around you, but creation itself. Ideas that are luminous with intrigue, the desire for the unknown and an opportunity to explore so much more beyond what one considers to be the normal realm of ones existence.

The culture of working endless hours has also been a contributing factor towards the usage of illicit drugs. They seem to give the user a way out  a relief from the stress and mental and physical pressures of a job with no fixed hours. Marijuana is used so as to be calm and in a zone. The adage Work hard and party harder seems to have become more and more popular in the recent past.

And some people dont
In a country like India, where there is such a vast divide between an individual from the lower middle class and the upper class, one of the principal reasons for some people taking drugs and some not, is exposure to the same.

An individual from the lower middle class or even most from the upper middle class would not belong to the peer circles that are typically and socially known to use drugs  one of the main reasons for this being that they are more concerned about their 9-5 jobs, being able to afford the groceries for the month and maybe taking their families on a modest holiday.

Some people are just not interested in accessorizing their lives with superior externally induced experiences or in the simulation of a glamorous lifestyle. And some people have an innate fear of addiction.

Conclusion
We have, over the years, watched films and documentaries showing the lives of Jim Morrison and more recently, Whitney Houston and Amy Whinehouse. Famous people doing drugs, suffering, yet glorified amply by the media. It almost seems a shame that their deterioration is also viewed as being glamorous and does not work as a deterrent to most people using drugs.

Studies from all over the world have signified that social class and socio-economic status vastly influence substance use and related disorders. An article in Medical Care (February 1983, Volume XXI, No. 2) by Richard E. Johnson (Ph.D.) and Clyde R. Rope (Ph.D.) investigates the relationship between a set of people from belonging to different demographics and their social, psychological and health-related reasons for the usage of non-prescription drugs.

Other studies also indicate that, apart from factors like economics, psychology and social influences, another contributing factor is that there are certain personality types that are more addictive and some that are not.

Conclusively, it would appear that the reasons an individual takes to using illicit drugs are as listed and all other sub-related factors  the individuals exposure to the culture  visual or real references to drug usage, the individuals socio-economic and socio-psychological status, the individuals financial ability to access the drugs and the individuals desire to want to use drugs.