In a previous blog, I’ve described how the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) in the USA has described addiction as a brain disorder. They have frequently described drugs as ‘hijacking’ the brain. I pointed out that drugs do not have the power in themselves to ‘hijack’ anything.
Many of society’s reactions to the so-called ‘drug problem’ are based on the premise that the problems faced by individuals and communities are caused by the drug. However, contrary to what is commonly assumed, psychoactive drugs do not produce fixed and predictable psychological effects that are dependent purely on their chemical properties. Moreover, drugs themselves do not produce societal problems.
