Throughout the world, the drug trade compounded by sex trafficking fuels the expanding AIDS epidemic. Americans think irresponsibly around this issue. As we fault poor people in the US for living where they are forced to live, we blame and penalize other countries for producing drugs to meet a demand and a distribution network largely dependent on Americans. We not only share responsibility today for creating a market for drugs, but we have had a history of supporting the development of drug cultivation in foreign countries, like CIA support for the Nationalist Chinese in Burma in the 1950s and Afghani rebels in the 1980s who fostered drug production in those countries. Addiction is about more than William S. Burroughs, or stopping time, or medicating, feeding, finding, or healing the Self.
Addiction fuels the drug trade which rots societies both from inside and out.
Uncovering the mechanism of addiction is essential for finding new ways to reduce demand. The stakes are high and wide. One of the more interesting findings proved that drugs can act as stressors. This fact becomes compelling when considering the background of many drug users. Although I am not aware of research to support this idea, it seems possible that many adult drug users may have already become habituated to the stress of abusive experiences as children.