9781422270585

THE YOUNG ADULT DRUG LIBRARY: AN EDUCATION FOR TODAY

BY AMY STERLING CASIL

MASON CREST M I A M I

PO Box 221876, Hollywood, FL 33022 (866) MCP-BOOK (toll-free) • www.masoncrest.com

Copyright © 2024 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America First printing 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Series ISBN: 978-1-4222-4762-4 Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4222-4771-6 ebook ISBN: 978-1-4222-7058-5 Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file with the Library of Congress Developed and Produced by National Highlights, Inc. Project Manager: Andrew Morkes Cover and Interior Design: Tara Raymo • CreativelyTara Layout: Priceless Digital Media, LLC Publisher’s Note: Websites listed in this book were active at the time of publication. The publisher is not responsible for websites that have changed their address or discontinued operation since the date of publication. The publisher reviews and updates the websites each time the book is reprinted.

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Introduction............................................................... 6 The Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous and LSD ............ 10 Chapter 1: What Are Drugs?.......................................15 Brittney Griner and Differing International Perspectives on CBD .................................................. 34 Chapter 2: Facts, Figures, & Opinions.........................37 Breaking Your Back But Continuing to Abuse Drugs ......46 Chapter 3: The Negative Physical Effects of Drugs.......49 Becoming Severely Disabled After a Drug Overdose ......60 Chapter 4: The Negative Mental Effects of Drugs.........63 Jeni’s Story: Connecting With Culture to Heal .............. 74 Chapter 5: Treating Addiction to Drugs.......................77 Series Glossary of Key Terms.....................................89 Further Reading.......................................................92 Internet Resources...................................................93 Index....................................................................... 94 Author’s Biography and Credits.................................96 KEY ICONS TO LOOK FOR: Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text while building vocabulary skills.

Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Educational Videos: Readers can view videos by scanning our QR codes, providing them with additional educational content to supplement the text. Examples include news coverage, moments in history, speeches, iconic sports moments, and much more! Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains terminology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field.

Drug abuse remains a major problem in the United States and in other countries. In 2019, 13 percent of people aged 12 years and over reported that they had used an illegal drug in the past month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Abuse of prescription drugs, such as painkillers, is also a serious issue. Abusing drugs can have serious effects on one’s physical and mental health. It can also be deadly. One example is the rising number of drug overdoses, which have been fueled by the growing use and spread of the deadly opioid

Be sure to double-check any "facts" that you receive from friends about drugs with your parents, school counselors, and other trusted sources because your friends' information may be incorrect.

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Drug abuse continues to be a major problem in the United States and in many other countries.

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fentanyl. Nearly 100,000 Americans died from fentanyl overdoses between June 2020 and June 2021, according to the CDC. As a young person, you may have a lot of questions about drugs, addiction, and therapy as a result of the constant flow of information from your friends, parents, teachers, coaches, social media, and the news media. It can be confusing, because some of this information is accurate, and some is incorrect. Your questions might include: How are drugs grown or manufactured? What are the negative physical and mental effects of drug use and abuse? What are the legal penalties for possessing illegal drugs? How do you know whether someone is addicted to drugs? What are some treatment options for people who are addicted to drugs? The Young Adult Drug Library series provides answers to these and other questions about illegal and misused prescription drugs, addiction, and therapy. Each title spotlights a major drug or type of drug (such as painkillers); discusses the negative physical and mental effects of the addiction on the addict, as well as its effects on family and other loved ones; and provides an overview of treatment strategies for the addiction. Stories of those who are battling drug addiction are also featured in order to humanize these issues and to help readers better understand that anyone can become addicted to drugs, but also that recovery is possible.

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Group therapy and other treatment strategies can be very effective at helping drug abusers become sober.

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THE FOUNDER OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS AND LSD Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is one of the best known self-help organizations in the world. One of its co-founders was a man known as “Bill W.,” William Griffith Wilson. Mr. Wilson co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous in 1934 after he became sober from his alcohol addiction. Before becoming sober, physicians told Bill W. that he would either die from alcoholism or have “wet brain,” a severe medical condition formally called Wernicke Korsakoff Syndrome (WKS) that is caused by years of extreme alcohol consumption and poor nutrition. WKS causes severe physical and mental disabilities, and it is ultimately fatal. Alcoholics Anonymous is a peer-support group that uses the 12 steps toward sobriety and recovery established by Bill W. and his cofounder, “Dr. Bob” Smith. The two established AA as an organization with the simple principle of acting as “a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.” AA’s principles and 12 steps now inform many other 12-step organizations, such as Narcotics Anonymous and Gamblers Anonymous. Although Bill W. became sober in 1934, throughout the 1930s and 1940s, he continued to

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The Young Adult Drug Library: Facts & Figures

Alcoholics Anonymous programs and support groups have helped many people stop abusing alcohol. According to its website, “Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about their drinking problem. There are no age or education requirements to participate.”

The Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous and LSD

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suffer from depression. He often told others that although he had been able to stop drinking alcohol, he still experienced incidents of depression. Early in his AA journey, Bill W. became friends with a British philosopher named Gerald Heard, who also suffered from depression. Gerald Heard was familiar with LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) and other hallucinogenic drugs. In 1938, a scientist named Albert Hofmann had invented LSD in his lab, with the intention of helping people who suffered from severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Although LSD caused people to experience unusual visions, early researchers thought it might help people with alcohol withdrawal hallucinations and tremors, called “delirium tremens.” Throughout those early years, scientists, philosophers, and others grew interested in LSD and its potential mental, physical, and spiritual benefits. Bill W. received counseling for his depression, and because he learned through his friend Gerald Heard that LSD had been originally developed to help people with severe alcoholism, he became interested in taking the drug. In 1956, Bill W. traveled to Los Angeles, California, to take LSD at the Veterans Administration Hospital under the supervision of Gerald Heard and Sidney Cohen, who were both LSD researchers. After only minutes, Bill W. felt better, but after traveling home, he reported that he felt “exceedingly well.” In his personal notes, Bill W. wrote, “I can make no doubt that the Eisner-Cohen-Powers-LSD therapy has contributed not a little to this happier state of affairs.” Following his first LSD treatment, Bill W. took LSD several more times.

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The Young Adult Drug Library: Facts & Figures

Many cultural events took place in the 1960s and 1970s that influenced the way the public perceived LSD, including news stories about “bad trips” that caused some young people to try to jump out of windows, and steady “War on Drugs” propaganda that associated any type of drug use with one’s moral failings. AA developed a strong culture of total abstinence from anything but caffeine, tobacco, and sugary foods. Today, researchers and advocates are revisiting the story of Bill W. and how he improved his own lifelong depression by taking LSD under medical supervision. LSD is once again being researched for its potential mental health benefits, including the way it may be able to help some people to recover from addiction to other drugs that are harmful to their health. Research is also being conducted on the mental health benefits of psilocybin mushrooms.

The Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous and LSD

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WORDS TO UNDERSTAND

abstinence: in recovery, the state of not using a certain substance or drug cartel: an association of manufacturers and suppliers that oversee the production, distribution, and sale of drugs cryptocurrency: a digital currency that can be used as money but isn’t tied to a specific nation or government indigenous: referring to a person whose ethnic and cultural background is native to a country or region; not an immigrant or settler or their descendant opioids: a type of drug that is refined from the opium poppy or lab-based processes that imitate natural opium or morphine paraphernalia: objects and equipment that are used to prepare and take drugs, including needles, pipes, bongs, vaping devices, and other devices psychoactive: referring to a substance that affects one’s mental abilities and perceptions

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HEROIN

WHAT ARE DRUGS? Are Drugs Made? Around the world, most illegal drugs, and many of the pharmaceutical drugs that are made and consumed, come from plants. Marijuana comes from the flowers of the cannabis plant. Heroin is refined from the juice of opium poppy pods. Cocaine comes from the leaves of the coca plant. Some mushrooms contain psychoactive substances, along with peyote, a type of cactus, and ayahuasca, a psychedelic drug distilled from a vine. Drug production starts with agricultural cultivation of the plants that can then be harvested and refined into drugs. Some drugs are consumed in their basic plant form, including marijuana flowers and the juice of the opium poppy. Indigenous people in Peru chew the leaves of the coca plant for energy. Other drugs, like cocaine or heroin, are refined and concentrated from basic plant materials to increase their potency.

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Cannabis can be grown indoors (as pictured) or outdoors.

Other drugs are synthetic, which means that they are made from chemical precursors that are manipulated in a lab. Examples of this type of drug include stimulants like methamphetamine and ecstasy. There is also a new category of drugs called “novel (new) psychoactive substances” (NPSs). These drugs can be refined from plants, or they can be lab created synthetic substances. Some examples of NPSs include “bath salts,” or cathinones, synthetic cannabinoids, and the plant-based substances kratom, salvia, and khat. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) prepares annual reports on drug use and supply around the world. Cannabis is the most widely produced and sold drug, according to its World Drug Report 2022 . “Cannabis cultivation remains a global phenomenon,” the UN reports. Most marijuana

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The Young Adult Drug Library: Facts & Figures