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Etiology of drug addiction and Patterns of drug use
1. Ministry of Higher Education
Kandahar Medical Faculty
MPH Program
Etiology of Drug Addiction &
Patterns of Drug Use
Prepared By: Sayed Ahmad Zia Nickbeen
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2. Outline
• Etiology of Drug Addiction:
1. Economic Factors
2. Social Factors
3. Cultural Factors
4. Theory of differential Association
• Pattern of Drug Use:
1. Initial and experimental Use
2. Casual or recreational Use
3. Dependent Use and drug addiction
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3. Etiology of Drug Addiction
1. Economic Factors:
• The manufacture, sale and transport of most of the drug is
either completely banned or is licensed to restrict their use
in every country.
• This ban or restriction imposed by local laws has given rise
to illicit trafficking and smuggling of drugs.
• The greater the restrictions on drugs, the higher is the
profit of the persons indulging in their illicit trade.
• The illegal of valuable “Cash Crops”.
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4. Con…
• So long as these unlawful sources of production
and supply of drugs are not snipped, the evil of
drug addiction can not be checked.
• As already stated, addiction flourishes among
economically well- developed groups although it
is seen among those living in slums to some
extent.
• They take drugs to forget economic and other
worries.
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5. Con…
2. Social Factors:
• Knowledge and awareness about drugs is
given to people through social contacts, books
and novels.
• Glamorization of the use of alcohol attracts
minds especially those of youth.
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6. Con…
3. Cultural Factors:
• In some communities, it is a part of their culture
to take alcohol during meals.
• The upper classes of society use expensive drugs
or cannabis e.g., charas, bhang, tan, ganja etc.
• Drug addiction is noticeable among beggars,
mujawars of dargahs, malangs and darveshes in
habiting takyas and shrines of saints.
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7. Con…
• These pseudomystics profess that they get the
power of meditation and concentration through
the use of bhang, charas, etc.
• It is a common sight to find at various shrines
groups of people dozing, lying reclining or
sometime dancing after the use of some type of
drug.
• Their indulgence is well known, ignored and often
accepted and defended by the public at large.
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8. Con…
4. Theory of differential associations:
• According to souther-land, an act is learnt from others
during social interaction with them.
• Drug addiction is learnt from addicts in community life.
• Like a contagious disease, the drug habit spreads from
a man to man and a woman to woman.
• Thus drug addiction develops in people through the
process of differential association.
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9. Patterns of Drug Use
1. Initial and experimental use:
• The most frequently cited reasons for motivation of
drug use are curiosity, the desire for new and
pleasurable experiences and wish to be able to move
in high circles of the society.
• In most cultures males are more likely to begin
taking to drugs than females.
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10. Con…
• The drugs that influence brain function are taken
1. to allay anxiety, or fatigue
2. to forget worries, economic problems and social
difficulties
3. to enhance sexual capacity
4. to meditate and attain mystical state
• In the initial stages the user gets the desired effect with
small doses of the drug but as he gets ‘hooked’, his
body requires larger and repeated doses to get the
same effect.
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11. Con…
2. Casual or recreational use:
• Drugs may be taken casually for relaxation and
relief from normal frustration and boredom.
• They are also taken casually to kill pain or bring
sleep.
• Some of the drugs taken casually are habit-
forming and may create addiction.
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12. Con…
3. Dependent use and drug addiction:
• Addicts come from all social classes and from all races.
• They are a real problem for their country and their own
families.
• All efforts should be made to reform these addicts
through concerted efforts of international bodies,
Governments and social workers world over.
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13. Reference:
1- Siddiqui M Irfanullah, Public health and community
medicine, 8th ed, 2016, Pp689-690, Time Treaders,
Karachi Pak.
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