Removing the 'Magic' from Drugs
By-Diyanth Samarasinghe

Following training courses, young people in Sri Lanka are demonstrating that the subjective influence of alcohol and other drugs, and the behavior they allegedly induce, can be changed by undermining widely held beliefs on their effects. Support is thus emerging for the view that the “magic” or pleasurable experience commonly ascribed to drugs have little to do with their chemical action.

When efforts are made to discourage the use of school and other drugs because of the risk associated with them, it is usually assumed that they give pleasurable experiences. However, pharmacological studies question whether this is so (1-3). The alleged effects are evidently linked to factors other than the pharmacological properties of the substances.

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Experiments on the chemical effects of drugs demand strict control procedures (4), yet in most studies it has not been possible to eliminate the learnt cues to which subjects have become conditioned over many years. These cues may operate at a sub-threshold level even when subjects do not consciously recognize that have been given alcohol.

Whether the currently attributed effects of alcohol are induced or other influences can also be assessed by examining reaction to it in subjects who have different expectations of its effects, although this is no longer easy. Beliefs about the effects of alcohol which used to be restricted to Western cultures have spread very widely.

In order to study the influences that social attributions, expectation, rituals and the relaxation of norms can have on experiences generated by alcohol, it is now necessary to create an artificial milieu. Such an investigation, now going ahead in Sri Lanka, is part of a campaign aiming to apply the scientific evidence about the pharmacological effects of drugs in efforts to combat their use.

Demystification: removing the “magic”

The demystification of alcohol and other drugs is the major component of a broad-based preventive campaign. One strategy, aimed mainly at young persons who are not regular substance users, is to encourage them to challenge assumptions about the allegedly pleasurable effects of drugs. It is also hoped to involve the same people in changing the social reality that leads to unrealistic about drug.

The first step to train groups of 10-20 young persons for one or two days who was to work in drug prevention. They then conduct activities in their villages or other areas and report back from time to time for review and monitoring. When the participants are asked what they perceive to be the effects of alcohol, certain answers are almost invariably given. The commonest are that it can produce enjoyment, relaxation, good sleep, aggressiveness, reawakening of old enmities and forgotten worries, and crying. The participants are then asked what part alcohol itself plays in producing these effects, and what part is played by a permissive environment, social beliefs, and expectations surrounding its use.

The discussion is guided so as to bring out contradictions in the beliefs about changes caused by alcohol. Participants often point out that alcohol is alleged both to make one forget worries and problems and to revive old and forgotten worries and grudges. People who occasionally take alcohol report that their sleep is fitful and unsatisfactory after doing so, although it is generally thought that alcohol is conductive to sound sleep. Participants also report that drunken behavior is related more to the social environment than to the consumption of alcohol.

At this stage the participants have begun to doubt whether alcohol has the special effects they previously attributed to it, and realize that mirth, jollity and fun are mainly a reflection of what the immediate environment permits or encourages. They also see that it is usually the weaker members of society, often women, who are the victims of supposedly alcohol-induced violence. It is then pointed out to the participants that regular alcohol users may not set out to deceive others but may act automatically because a behavior pattern has become established during repeated drinking sessions in specific circumstances. The subjective experience of pleasure following the use of alcohol is also explained in this way. The participants begin to see that the consumption of alcohol is only becomes pleasurable when the socializing group has trained the novice to recognize it as such. The participants are encouraged to see that a relaxation of strict social norms is in itself very enjoyable, whether or not it is preceded by the drinking of alcohol. A discussion is then held on the desirability of limiting this relaxation to the drunken state.

The focus then moves to the possibility of modifying social beliefs, norms and practices relating to the use of alcohol. It is explained that by changing the social image of alcohol as a magical substance the desire of young persons to experiment with it could be reduced. It is also pointed out that, in nearly all instances of young people trying out alcohol or other drugs, true experimentation does not take place. Drug-using friends usually ensure that the novice feels positive enough to try substance repeatedly, whatever the sensations generated by the drug itself. The participants are asked to try and change social perceptions of alcohol in their home area. Discussion centers on practical measures and the assessment of results. It is usually agreed that attempts be made to teach others in the community to identify factors contributing to the positive perception of alcohol, and that a process of questioning and challenging them be initiated.

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A significant segment of the Sri Lankan population feels that the use of alcohol is as unwelcome alien habit.

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Practical measures suggested by the participants are examined through role-playing, and problems and solution are identified. Arrangements made for review, follow-up trouble-shooting sessions, and evaluation depend on the interest and potential shown by the participants. The young campaigners have a role quite different from that of promoting established values. They are asked to give primarily education, rather than moralistic, responses.

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Strong Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic influences help to demystify alcohol.

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The main impediment consists of resistance to change in perception and habits. The beliefs and rituals surrounding the use of alcohol are continually reinforced through the mass media, and consequently it is very difficult for people to begin questioning them. Resistance also comes from the powerful group using alcohol to secure benefits and privileges. Instead of the tolerant indifference towards customary anti-alcohol efforts, a campaign challenging the allegedly positive effects of alcohol evokes a more marked response, often antagonistic. Some people pursuing a moralistic or religious campaign against alcohol find the education approach problematic. A denial of the belief that alcohol magically converts humans into beasts is inconsistent with the horrific power that they attribute to it.

The cultural background tends to favor the campaign in some ways. A significant segment of Sri Lankan population feels that the use of alcohol is an unwelcome alien habit derived from western culture during the period of colonial subjugation. Strong Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic influences help to demystify alcohol. Furthermore the ready involvement of young people in drug prevention work commonly reflects their discovery of the dire economic impact of alcohol, tobacco and other substances on poor families. The challenge to existing perception appeals to the young, whose enthusiasm for the campaign has been impressive.

Amelioration

Even where the campaign has not produced a change in broad social rituals the effect on the campaigners has been considerable. In normal circumstances a young person who, under social pressure, takes alcohol or any other drug for the fist time, is likely to do so repeatedly. Some of those who have been through the program report having been in situations where they felt obliged to drink alcohol. However, they find the experience unpleasant or inconsequential, and are able to reject alcohol on subsequent occasions because they understand the nature of the experience.

A few campaigners, having felt obliged to take alcohol on festive occasions, have used these opportunities to explain to their drinking friends that they were not feeling particularly good after doing so. In addition, by demonstrating that alcohol did not cause them to lose their inhibitions they made it difficult for their friends to display their usual drunken behavior. Perhaps the most striking result of the campaign has been that several social drinkers have given up alcohol, having concluded that its effects were not, in fact, pleasant.

In a few locations the campaigners have already begun to produce small improvements in the response to alcohol use by the wider community, among them a degree of control of drunken behavior in public where offensive outbursts had previously been allowed. Women are realizing that drunken violence is not beyond conscious control to the extent they previously imagined. However, it is not known whether domestic alcohol-related violence has declined.

In a few localities, group of children and young people have taken ridiculing the rituals and aura surrounding alcohol. They have replaced words and phrases conventionally associated with the use of alcohol, such as “feeling high”, with pejorative or challenging alternatives. Some of these activities go beyond those discussed in the training session and have evolved quite spontaneously.

The campaign seems to have a highly protective effect on the campaigners, and to produce benefits in the wider social context. The mystification surrounding the drug experience has been diminished. Support for local campaigns in the mass media and the formal education system could strengthen them greatly. Despite the opposite view that is generally propagated, many people have discovered that their own experiences are not, in fact, particularly pleasant.

Many people find if difficult to accept that alcohol and other drugs may not, in themselves, have highly enjoyable effects. Yet people habitually do many other things by choice which are quite uncomfortable. The power of social teaching and that of habit, often go unrecognized. Attempts to reverse social beliefs that promote drug use can produce substantial benefits and should be undertaken more vigorously.

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Women are realizing that drunken violence is not beyond conscious control to the extent previously imagined.

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Reference:

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Dr. Hans Olav Fekjaer for providing the theoretical stimulus for the present work. The activities described were made possible by the Alcohol and Drug Information Centre, Colombo.