Consciousness and Altering Consciousness Through Drugs

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In the complex society we live in today, more and more people find the need to interfere with their emotions and mental states for a number of reasons. Most likely, the person takes a substance that alters his consciousness and thereby interfering with the mood, thought processes, their perceptions and behavior.. The paper is based on a 1995 film “Basketball Diaries” which follows the life of Jim Carroll, a talented high school basketball player whose life is free-falling into the pit of Heroin addiction. A combination of frustrations ranging from his sick friend, being thrown out of the team and dropping from school sees him end up in the streets of New York. There he deals drugs, robs stores, betrays friends and play tricks all in a bid to feed his heroine addiction. Jim started doing drugs at a tender age and after sometime it became an addiction. As a result of his usage of drugs, Jim displays signs of drowsiness and his mouth is dry most of the time. His addiction problem causes him to enter a dependant stage where before playing basketball he must take a dose of heroin. His mental functioning capabilities are displayed as not being able to think straight and make clear judgments as evidenced by his declining skills in playing basketball. This is a result of crowded thoughts from the use of drugs as indicated by Jeffery (2007).When in the team, Jim comes out as aggressive and rushes during the matches which cause constant collusion with others.

The film “Basketball diaries” is set in high school environment in the city of New York where Jim and his friends are in the school’s basketball team are arguably the best team in the city. Jim and his friends are hooked to heroin while a friend of theirs is hospitalized with leukemia. The situation is worsened when their basketball coach runs into Jim and his colleagues in the court doing drugs, a predicament that sees them thrown out of the team and out of school and they end up in the streets. There Jim struggles with his heroin addiction and also experiments with sex. Reggie, a former heroin addict who has since reformed, bumps into Jim’s life in the height of his frustrations and makes guides him in attempt to fight his heroine addiction.

In the film and the society Jim is living in, the use of heroine is a common thing with the youths. The order of the day in the streets is either making money by peddling heroine or buying the drug to be considered ‘cool’ among peers. Socializing among the youths in the society Jim lives in revolves around abusing heroin as shown by the way Jim and his friends meet and the only thing that keeps them busy and brings a feeling of commonness among them is engaging in the abuse of heroin. Nikki (2008) in her book says that night clubs which are normally places where people meet to have fun and which according to Jim and his peers, visiting them is the ultimate show of the height of enjoyment, are marred with massive use of heroine thereby signifying the degree accorded the drugs as a source of fun. Rich people on the streets are also the drug lords. A combination of these factors contributes to the eventual addiction to heroine among Jim and his basketball colleagues.

Growing up in a school which has a strong linkage to the catholic doctrines, Jim and his colleagues feel that strict life keeping them from enjoying the ‘sweet’ things in life and with some freedom. For a combination of reasons and motivators, Jim and his friends start experimenting with several drugs including alcohol before finally being hooked to heroin. One of the reason for experimenting with the drugs points at sheer curiosity that the friends had when growing up as also was the case with Julie (2005). This curiosity motivates Jim and company to start experiment with several drugs in a bid to get a feel of the much hyped effect of abusing drugs. They start with sniffing glue and soon get the courage to try alcohol. The curiosity doesn’t stop there and they soon start doing heroin. The sudden feeling of relaxation and euphoric rush, which is coupled by crowded thoughts which are manifested as suppressed awareness of personal problems, serves as an encouragement and further fuels their curiosity as they proceed to intravenous administration of the drug.

Another viable reason that leads Jim into abuse of heroin is in the way peers feel the urge to venture into the mainstream culture. As statistics show, one out of every four individuals aged 14-23 in America, experiments with an illicit drug at some point in the age bracket. This is further fueled by the fact that the culture tends to display those doing drugs as ‘cool’. Jim follows this idea of wanting to enter the class of the ‘cool’ peers by abusing heroin. Once in, he gets the feeling and continues to abuse the drug until he becomes dependent. As a further means of fitting in the mainstream culture, Jim and company start to steal in the schools they play basketball with.

Growing up in the middle of Brooklyn, Jim was exposed to a lot of societal malice. One other reason that fueled the abuse of heroin by Jim and his friends, and probably the most obvious one, is the availability of the drugs. Despite the available laws banning the usage and selling of heroin, the streets are a beehive of activities with the business of selling drugs. The fact that the drugs are readily available could have impacted in a big way in the eventual continued abuse of the drug by Jim.

As Jim’s heroin addiction and the resulting actions of violence precipitated by the use of the drug deepens its roots, his mum tirelessly struggles to get his son from the problem even when he ends up on the streets. This shows how the society despises the issue of drug abuse. This however does not refute the fact that they have tolerated the persistent problem owing to the continued sale and use of the drugs in the open. This however does not go for every one. There are those, like Jim, who look at the use of the drug as a means of deriving excitement and to fit in a certain desired culture of individuals. The drug lords are among the richest in the business world. This is an indicator that more and more people continue to purchase drugs despite the high prices attached to the purchase.

The law in America bans use and abuse of heroin. But there is still continued massive abuse of the drug as indicated by the society Jim lives in. Stern laws and measures have been clearly spelt out concerning the dealing and use of such drugs. However, the necessary mechanism to follow up the problem is very much wanting. More and more young people continue to abuse the drug and not many arrests are made been on those peddling the drugs. This in a way shows that there is a reluctant will to end drug abuse, probably necessitated by political influences on the matter and the high profile of the drug lords who control the supply of the drugs (Humberto 2000).

Jim didn’t realize the intensity of his addiction problem until the use of heroin gets him kicked out of the basketball team and even from school. It begins to dawn on hi that the problem had reached alarming stages when he found himself on the streets of New York robbing stores and stealing from people violently in order to get money to sustain his heroin addiction. With the growing frustrations and the persistent pressure from his mother to denounce the practice, Jim decides to try and reverse the situation after he meets Reggie, a former heroin addict, who assists him in trying to quit drugs. Jim takes the first step by steering clear off his negatively influential friends before proceeding to seek medical help from a practitioner. The doctor identifies his situation as have reached the mental and physical dependence stage and therefore suddenly quitting the drug would lead to withdrawal syndrome which have devastating effects including depression, anxiety, insomnia, severe body aches among other unpleasant dangers. Jim is advised to embark on a gradual reduction of the dosage with the first step involving changing the method of administration from injection to, which has risks of overdose, to safer means like nasal (snorting). After treating the withdrawal effects for six months, Jim was the subjected to medical treatment known as Methadone Programs. He was also advised to join an organization of individuals fighting heroin addiction. Here the members share their stories and chat the way forward in fighting the dependence on drugs.

It is only normal that we are bound to experience individuals who suffer this problem and we are obligated to assist them get on their positive footing. My first assistance to such an individual would be positive encouragement to help him/her overcome the frustrations that come with the addiction and help them realize and accept that they have a problem. The next step would be to propose to them to immediately seek treatment from qualified a practitioner. A follow up to the efforts of seeking medical healing would be to offer emotional support while having in mind the difficulties in quitting heroin addiction and that not all individuals are successful in their attempt. The other step would be showing a lot of continued and sincere understanding of what they are going through, for instance the withdrawal syndrome, understanding that heroin user’s cat thinks straight among others. As a show of respect to them I’d treat them as before to avoid suspicion that they are receiving unnecessary attention (Andrew 2004).

Drug and substance abuse is not a new phenomenon in the society we live in today. It has been there for ages with a number drugs and substances being abused the most abused being alcohol. The society elicits mixed reactions concerning the abuse of drugs with the church and other organizations shunning the behavior while on the hand, the youths are fed with information that seems to point out that the abuse of drugs helps you fit in the ‘cool’ class of individuals. The information is relayed through the music they listen to, the abuse of drugs by famous personalities whom they look up to and the media including the internet. While the dangers of abusing drugs are clear to many, there is still wide spread use of illegal drugs. This points a finger to the authorities who ought to step up the fight against drugs by first eliminating the root sources of these drugs and prosecuting the offenders.

Reference

Jeffery, S.N. (2007). Essentials of Psychology: Concepts and Applications. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Nikki, S. (2008). The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star. New York: VH1.

Julie, O. (2005). Heroin: A True Story of Drug Addiction, Hope, and Triumph. Glendale, AZ: Maverick House.

Humberto, F. (2000). The Little Book of Heroin. Berkeley, CA: Ronin Pub.

Andrew, M.D. (2004). The Natural Mind: A Revolutionary Approach to the Drug Problem. Corpus Christi, TX: Mariner Books.

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Consciousness and Altering Consciousness Through Drugs

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