The Salvation Army
Caribbean Territorial Training College

Cadet Joshua Alexander Poyser
Topic: Drug Use & Abuse

Drug abuse is the excessive and self- damaging use of habit forming drugs/ substances resulting in addiction or dependence and serious physiological and/or psychological harm. Countries and regions across the world have struggled with the use and abuse of drugs within its populace, the Caribbean being no exception. In some instances these practices have led to criminal activities and violence, especially gang- related violence. Drug abuse usually starts with mere experimentation and develops into social exclusion, degradation of family values, greed, stress, and inadequate life and social skills. The consequence of illicit drug use typically extends to crime related instability and insecurity, the creation of health challenges and can even contribute to the spread of diseases such as HIV that impacts both social and economic development.
History
Since the dawn of history, humans have sought ways to relieve the daily strains of life, bringing forth and making popular the practice of ‘substance abuse’. The ancient people of Mesopotamia as well as those of Ancient Greece, Rome, India, Assyria, Etc. produced beer and opium for recreational uses which was surely a form of drug abuse but was not seen as such as it was socially acceptable at the time. Over the Atlantic, the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans experimented with ‘peyote’, ‘cannabis’ and ‘mescaline’ (all plants containing natural hallucinogens) to induce visions. Soon they began trading with coca leaves which could be purified to make cocaine.
During the second millennium, world trade became more prominent, and so the transport of illicit drugs by ship became popular and would later become known as ‘Drug Trafficking’ which, from as early as the 1970’s has plagued the West Indian islands