Talk:Drug abuse

message: getting high does not equate to drug abuse as far as i know. just thought someone mgiht wanna change that. idk how. thanks.
Getting high now redirects to Drug use
Maybe it should be to Recreational drug use
Laurel Bush (talk) 12:09, 21 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: getting high redirects to this page

message: in the intro there is the phrase "Use of these drugs may lead to criminal penalty in addition to possible physical, social, and psychological harm, both strongly depending on local jurisdiction"
now "physical, social, and psychological" are 3 things,   you can't say "both strongly" right after that !?! which two of the three depend on local jusrisdiction ? obviously only "social, and psychological"  , this phrase should be fixed 72.0.197.209 (talk) 02:08, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  "possible physical, social, and psychological harm" 

message: This portion seems to be heavily POV, lacking in citations, and the sytnax used is very conversational.  Heavy revisions should be considered.
----  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Plumlogan (talk • WEED IS GOODcontribs) 17:14, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Common Knowledge

message: OK, one more time.
You have cited one medical dictionary. That's fine, but, as you know, different medical authorities have different definitions. Different legal regimes have different definitions. The fact that you have worked out how to google for medical articles and dictionaries must be fascinating for you, but finding one source that fits your pov and then deleting everything else is not acceptable.
Please, stop.
Discuss radical changes to the article on the talk page, and try to reach consensus instead of pushing your pov without discussion. Guttlekraw 15:31, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Your comments are bizarre.  My definition comes from a book, not from google, and this is not about my POV nor deleting anything, but citing sources and merging content.  Nothing has been "deleted", but exists in various states of disarray on both talk pages.  Is there a reason you cannot help contribute to this article, and instead continue to revert to unsourced, pre-merge versions?  --Viriditas  | Talk 21:58, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: The point is that there are many different definitions in play. An easy example for you to understand is this: US law considers ANY use of hash to be drug abuse. UK medical definitions do not. Therefore, the application of the term 'drug abuse' to drug use is a matter of opinion. Where we do it, we need to cite in whose opinion the drug use is abuse. Guttlekraw 03:26, 13 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't seem to be the one having trouble understanding, as you seem to fail to note the cited statements you keep changing. --Viriditas  | Talk 04:21, 13 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: You are wasting everyone's time by not reading. The point is that you cite one source, and claim that it is the only one worth presenting. Guttlekraw 19:35, 15 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Your edit history demonstrates that you are a troll, so I will ignore your comment which is clearly erroneous, as this has been discussed many times. --Viriditas  | Talk 02:04, 16 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: citations

message: Included a definition as used by NIDA at one of their websites .
emphasised the sociological nature of the term "drug abuse" to distinguish it from the more medical "substance abuse"
My hope is that this definition is fairly neutral.
Some copy editing and correction of factual errors.
Placed sociology of drug abuse at beging of article rather than end in accordance with emphasis on "drug abuse" as a sociological term.  Also, I believe flow of article is improved if scope of problem is introduced before solutions.
There were too many notes.  I cut several of them which related to common knowledge, kept a few that related to specific facts.
Both this article and substance abuse could use a lot of work.  Perhaps a request for peer review?  Osmodiar 07:47, 13 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: NIDA is not a neutral source, and as such has been explicitly avoided by all parties.  The definition of drug abuse has many contexts, and this article is addressing the medical definition, as displayed in the outline, however the sociological and legal definitions need to be expanded.  This article has already been mistakenly placed on peer review by Guttlekraw and promptly removed.  Peer review is not for content disputes, but for improving articles that are approaching the status of a featured article. --Viriditas  | Talk 02:07, 16 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  Do you have any support for this claim regarding NIDA?  Perhaps you are confusing them with ONDCP. -- Osmodiar 03:36, 16 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: There are many problems with NIDA, a few of which are discussed on that page.  Most notably, the retracted NIDA-funded, Ricaurte-McCann Ecstasy study  and UCSF AIDS researcher Donald Abrams' previous difficulty in getting NIDA support for a proposed study on marijuana smoking by patients with HIV-related wasting syndrome  have illustrated some of the issues with NIDA. Thoric and I have made mention of some of these problems,     and we are in agreement that NIDA is politically biased.  Some critics claim that NIDA only supports research that promotes the administration's point of view, fails to fund projects that could undermine or disprove its research, opposed medical marijuana research, and used images drawn from advanced medical technology to create misleading anti-drug campaigns.  Peter Cohen, a professor at the Centre for Drug Research at the University of Amsterdam has also pointed out problems with NIDA, as has UCLA public policy professor Mark Kleiman and City University of New York pharmacologist John Morgan, both of whom describe the previous NIDA director (Alan Leshner) as the "propaganda minister in the war on drugs".   Kleiman also described NIDA's educational campaign as "astonishingly dishonest".  Sociologist Craig Reinarmanm, who studies drug policy at UCSC claims that NIDA's agenda has been profoundly shaped by a drug-war ethos. Charles Grob, who studies hallucinogens at UCLA describes  NIDA as "science in the service of politics".  Alan Marlatt, a psychologist at the University of Washington, who formerly served on NIDA's National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse, states, "I got the message that it will fund things showing harm, but when it comes to benefits there's no chance."   William Miller, who studies addictive behaviours at the University of New Mexico claims that in order to gain funding, one must emphasize the damaging effects of drugs.  At a NIDA presentation in 2003, brain scan expert Stephen Kish observed that NIDA repeatedly overstated the certainty of their data, and that NIDA had been misleading the public and Congress in regards to the issue of ecstasy-related brain damage.  In regards to NIDA's position on LSD, critic Neal M. Goldsmith states: "Overall, the data sets upon which the government's "war on drugs" is built come off here as woefully inadequate - subject to political agendas and thus miscontructed and misdirected from the start."   Nick Sandberg claims that pharmaceutical industry influence led NIDA to halt studies on ibogaine, a drug that has the potential to treat addiction, but I have not been able to verify Sandberg's claim.  Most damaging of all, a July 2004 Scientific Integrity in Policymaking report issued by the Union of Concerned Scientists documented alleged incidents of political litmus tests for NIDA appointees.  While being considered for a position on NIDA's advisory council, Dr. Claire Sterk was questioned by a White House staffer about whether she supported "faith-based" drug treatment program, or voted for President Bush.  In 2002, Dr. William R. Miller of the University of New Mexico, professor of psychology and psychiatry, and pioneer of a leading substance abuse treatment, was questioned by a NIDA advisory panel about whether his views were congruent with those held by President Bush and whether he had voted for Bush in 2000.   Rather than focusing on Miller's scientific qualifications, a White House liaison to the Department of Health and Human Services grilled Miller about his views on abortion, capital punishment, and other topics.   --Viriditas  | Talk 12:47, 16 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, that is nice that you and Thoric feel the NIDA is politicaly motivated, but you still have not provided any evidence of this.  The statement at  and  which reads: "Also note that NIDA does not list alcohol as a substance of abuse" is patently false.  NIDA most certainly does list alcohol as a drug of abuse, as well as nictotine, androgens, and all the usual suspects.  Your other links all seem to point out the faulty 2002 Ricaurte MDMA study.  You seem to be basing your view of NIDA based on the mistake of one resercher who received NIDA funding.  Your threshold for evidence when it supports your viewpoint seems rather low. I assume you do not have much of a science background. -- Osmodiar 08:04, 16 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: (Note: Osmodiar's reply was made in response to a different version of my commments found here:  Due to an edit conflict, my updated changes were saved after his response.) I have posted more than one example, and my science background as well as my viewpoint is irrelevant.  Please stick to the discussion at hand.  --Viriditas  | Talk 08:20, 16 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  You also just did extensive editing of your comment above what I wrote after I replied. The point remains: your view of the NIDA as biased is not well supported.   I am also curious why you consider Mosby's to be the authoratative definition of the term?  It seems a rather arbitrary choice. -- Osmodiar 08:45, 16 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Due to an edit conflict resulting from your reply, I was unable to save my comments in time (For accuracy, I have now noted the original revision you were replying to below your comments.  Feel free to change your comments if necessary). The extensive editing was actually made before you replied, but saved after your comments.  Again, this is not about my "view".  I have never said that I consider Mosby's as an authoritative source, but it does describe the literal, neutral definiton of drug abuse.  NIDA's definiton seems to vary greatly, often times as a substitute for substance abuse.  Perhaps you could post a link to the definition you offered? Ok, just saw the link to your definition, above.  We certainly should include multiple definitions if possible, but NIDA's definition seems to change depending on which page you view.  The definition, "the use of illegal drugs or the inappropriate use of legal drugs...the repeated use of drugs to produce pleasure, to alleviate stress, or to alter or avoid reality (or all three)" differs from the definiton offered here, which is basically the definition of substance abuse, and the definition offered here, where in relation to the Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10), NIDA defines drug abuse as: 1. the use of prescribed or over-the-counter drugs in excess of the directions, and 2. any nonmedical use of drugs (It should be noted that the assessment in question explicitly excludes alcoholic beverages).  The latter definition is synonymous with Mosby's and Medline, both of which I have previously referenced. --Viriditas  | Talk 10:10, 16 May 2005 (UTC)

text: Again, I'm going to ask you to stop trolling.  I am the one who asked for multiple defintions to be included (Talk:Drug_abuse#Proposed_outline) and you are the one who continues to revert without consulting the talk page.  Accusing me of your own actions is trollish. --Viriditas  | Talk 14:54, 24 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: NIDA keeps a clear focus specifically on drugs of abuse, and while they may list alcohol in a couple places, it is markedly absent from most of their documents, Science-Based Facts on Drug Abuse and Addiction for example, as well as this chart Drugs of Abuse (the chart, not the right sidebar). --Thoric 14:13, 14 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  changes 

message: I've added the footnotes back in.  Osmodiar, you might be interested in Template talk:Inote. --Viriditas  | Talk 10:44, 16 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Footnote removal 

message: Veriditas, your comment in the edit history that Mosby's is published by a global company is, as usual, completely irrelevant. The point, again, is that in the US drug abuse is typically defined by reference whether the drug is legal or medically indicated, whereas in Europe, typically, it is defined as use of a drug in such a way that the user cannot function normally. These are important differences, and you completely fail to address this, instead wanting to present the notion that there is only one definition, that everyone agrees to. Guttlekraw 14:35, 24 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm going to once again ask you to stop trolling.  My comment was in direct response to your contention that Mosby was a US based definition.  What you seem to be having trouble understanding is that the Mosby definition is a neutral medical defintion that is not controversial, whereas NIDA is controversial.  This has been covered in talk, and again, you keep ignoring issues that have already been covered by bringing them up again and again.  Your allegations are false as usual, as my outline specifically calls for multiple definitions where they are appropriate.  The medical definition of drug abuse, as offered by Mosby is the primary, neutral definition. --Viriditas  | Talk 14:45, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

text: I see citations for the version Viriditas is using; I see no citation for the claim that "in Europe, typically, it is defined as use of a drug in such a way that the user cannot function normally".  I'm going to return this article to the properly cited version until some authoritative citations can be found which indicate that the definition is significantly different in Europe. Jayjg (talk) 18:44, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

text: Citation is indeed the issue, and is why your other paragraph was removed as "original research".  An insistence on citations tends to stop people from inserting their own opinions. Jayjg (talk) 14:49, 26 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Veriditas, missing the point as ususal

message: Can both of you please chill out and discuss this on the talk page? Veriditas, I don't have an axe to grind here, but it does seem that there are more than more nuance to this - could there be a compromise in here somewhere? There's nothing sacred about Mosby, it's just a US medical text. Take her easy, Intrigue 15:05, 24 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Calm down

message: Can we please change this ghastly neologism to symptoms? JFW | T@lk 01:12, 25 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: *The term crept back in. "Nursing diagnosis" is a not a concept used by the medical community outside of the nursing profession.  Probobly not appropriate for a general article. Osmodiar 12:29, 26 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Nursing diagnosis classification is not a new phenomenon. The work begun at the First National Conference on the Classification of Nursing Diagnosis, held in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1973, eventually led to the founding of the organization now called NANDA International [formerly, the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association] NANDA's Classification of Nursing Diagnoses was the first nursing terminology recognized by the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the first included in the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS).  NANDA defines nursing diagnosis as a "clinical judgment about individual, family or community responses to actual or potential health problems/life processes". The term "nursing diagnosis" is included in the regulatory or statutory language of the Nurse Practice Act in forty-one of the fifty States and the District of Columbia and in the 2002 Model Nurse Practice Act of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. The establishment of a nursing diagnosis constitutes one of the standards of nursing practice as enunciated by the ANA and has been a part of the ANA's definition of nursing since 1982...medical diagnosis refers to a disease; a nursing diagnosis refers to a human response to an actual or potential health problem or life processes. Although nursing diagnoses are complementary to medical diagnoses, nursing diagnoses are not dependent upon medical diagnoses... --Viriditas  | Talk 21:19, 26 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Viriditas asked me to take a look at this article (particularly wrt nursing diagnoses), I've decided not to edit the article since it's a fairly charged issue so I'll just offer my opinion here and anyone who wants to incorporate that into the article can do so. Nursing diagnoses are the only thing in the section titled "signs and symptoms", but nursing diagnoses aren't really the same thing as signs and symptoms. If there is a section in the article for "nursing care for drug abuse" as a second level heading like "medical treatment" under "Approaches to managing drug abuse" then that would be an appropriate place for them. However; the whole nursing section should not be too much larger than the "medical" or "therapy" sections. If you were to just include a few diagnoses as an example, I would suggest that anxiety (item 1), noncompliance (item 9), and disturbed thought processes (item 4) are probably the most relevant. If there's not a subsection on nursing care, then I don't see that the nursing diagnoses are all that relevant and could be removed. Matt 02:07, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

text:  Right. My point is that "nursing diagnosis" is a concept used only by nurses. If this was a nursing article, then it would be appropriate.  On the other hand, "signs" and "symptoms" are concepts well understood by all healthcare providers, includeing nurses.  Also, "nursing diagnosis" is an amalgamation of medical and social issues. Its inclusion here can only serve to confuse.  And finaly, the section does not fit in the suggested outline. Osmodiar 03:16, 27 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nursing diagnoses 

message: OK, I kept the Moby definition, added the NIDA one, and added a note about historical definitions. Let me know what you think, and please, can we talk about this, instead of revert warring? Guttlekraw 09:16, 25 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Let's try one more time

message: Ver. Please stop. Your rampant POV pushing is beyond what I can tollerate. Removing a statement that is a fact from another article, that I don't think you disagree with, and which is relevant, without discussion, is vandalism. Please stop it. Guttlekraw3 06:07, 26 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Is this "statement that is a fact from another article" cited there?  Wikipedia cannot use one Wikipedia article as a citation for another in this way, we need to have the original primary sources. Jayjg (talk) 14:51, 26 May 2005 (UTC)

text: This does look bizarre Jayjg - it is not original research, it is well documented. Intrigue 05:23, 30 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: The statement in question does not concern drug abuse but drug prohibition, and Guttlekraw's content lacked verifiability and amounted to original research.  As such, it has not been included in the article.  --Viriditas  | Talk 05:51, 30 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm more and more convinced that you are a lunatic. Are you really saying that there is no relationship between societal views of what drug abuse is and the laws they enact to govern drug use? Guttlekraw3 06:59, 31 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: You've been repeatedly asked to stop engaging in personal attacks, and that is official policy.  You've also been reminded that original research is not permitted. --Viriditas  | Talk 07:29, 31 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Please stop your biggotted reverting

message: Viriditas wrote "Reverted edits by Guttlekraw3 to last version by Viriditas. You've been repeatedly asked for more than a month not to alter cited source content. Your other changes are not supported."
:Don't worry - no cited content was altered. Which 'other changes are not supported'? Not supported by what? Try to focus on content. Thanks. Guttlekraw 12:29, 31 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  I agree that there was no need for V. to revert most of your changes.  In particular, the changes to the introduction and harm reduction sections did not substantialy change the meaning of the article.  However, a couple of your changes seemed problematic.  The article is about drug abuse.  In this context it is appropriate to use the specific term "drug abuse" rather than the more general terms you replaced it with in a couple of locations.  --  Osmodiar 13:34, 31 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  I disagree.  Guttlekraw/Guttlekraw3/Intrigue/All your basses are belong to us/etc (all the same user waging edit wars, personal attacks, and sock puppetry on multiple articles at this time) is not editing in good faith.  He redesigned the introduction to allow for his term "use" in place of abuse, but Wikipedia is not a usage guide.  He also deleted the reference to the definition being used in the past by WHO, which is explained at the link provided.  Lastly, he replaced the word "drug abuse" with "drug use" (something he has been doing for two months on multiple articles) with a misleading edit summary of " no cited content was altered" when in fact, he changed fn2, the cited Mosby definition, from "drug abuse" to "any drug use" when the cited definition doesn't say that; he changed fn4, from a letter published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, to read "illegal use of drugs" instead of "drug abuse" as the article states; he changed fn6 to read "drugs" instead of "drug abuse" as cited in Mental Health Practice.  And he changed the meaning of fn7. This has been going on for two months, and is making it very difficult to work on the article.  I collaborate on many articles, and I've never experienced anyone inserting their POV like this before. --Viriditas  | Talk 02:42, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)

text: Please do not change cited sources because you think it's important to promote your pet theories.  If you have cites, great, let us use them, but until then, please refrain from changing the meaning of cited sources. --Viriditas  | Talk 02:47, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)

text: Looking at this more closely, the problem is that the article strays quite a long way away from 'drug abuse' as it defines it, and talks about the US govt's war on drugs, the cost to society of drugs (no figures on hospital usage etc disagregate 'drug use' from 'drug abuse' etc etc). I think the broader term is better, or leave it out and put it in an article about drug use in general. Guttlekraw 13:48, 31 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: A big problem is that no one really agrees on the definition of "drug abuse" and that problem is not limited to wikipedia.  In fact, it is even mentioned in one of this articles references.   The definition found at that link actually does a reasonable job of outlining some of the problems with the term.  This article does seem to lack focus. -- Osmodiar 14:36, 31 May 2005 (UTC)

text: The article gives a wide enough definition that it does not stray away from it.  As for "drug use", what do you mean?  Use of illegal drugs?  Abuse of legal drugs? Legal use of legal drugs?  That's an immense topic. Jayjg (talk) 14:43, 31 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Question re edit summary

message: User:Jaygj replaced my "Beyond the sociological issues, almost any drug use can lead to either addiction, chemical dependency, or adverse health effects, such as lung cancer or emphysema from cigarette smoking.	" with:
"Beyond the sociological issues, abuse of almost any drug can lead to either addiction, chemical dependency, or adverse health effects, such as lung cancer or emphysema from cigarette smoking."
This version seems to imply that it is only 'abuse' that can lead to adiction or adverse health effects. That is plainly not true. Medical use of strong pain killers have the same risk. Is there any sense in which this version is better? Guttlekraw 15:14, 31 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I've restored the appropriate term, "drugs of abuse", which you removed. --Viriditas  | 
Well done! You have collaboratively reached a factually correct version - doesn't that feel better than reverting? Guttlekraw 05:38, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Jayjg's revert

message: # (cur) (last) 14:20, 31 May 2005 Jayjg (actually, the focus is on drug abuse; they (harm reduction workers Guttlekraw) aren't worried about the societal cost of diabetics taking insulin. Also, drug use generally does not lead to addiction, only abuse.)
# Talk 02:49, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Harm reduction focuses on reducing the harm of drug use, in general, it is often applied to drug abuse, because drug abuse is a substantial part of drug use, but the methodology is indiscriminate. For example, it is applied in the medical application of drugs, and to non-abusive use of legal drugs. Harm reduction is absolutely applied to the use of insulin, and to alcohol, cigarettes and over-the-counter painkillers. Guttlekraw 05:38, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: As this article is about "drug abuse" shouldn't the discussion of harm reduction here be limited in scope to its application to drug abuse.  All the rest seems appropriate for the main harm reduction article. -- Osmodiar 05:48, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Harm reduction

message: I am talking about the opening paragraph, your stealth reverting is not helpful. Guttlekraw 09:41, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: That wasn't a revert but a rewrite with the addition of content that you deleted in an actual revert.  This page is not about substance abuse. --Viriditas  | Talk 11:14, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Viriditas, how about discussing your POV on the talk page, instead of continually reverting anyone who you disagree with?

message: Guttlekraw3, you have violted the 3RR more than three times in the last 24 hours in the form of simple and complex reverts, especially with your recent replacement of the substance abuse information that I moved to substance abuse.  --Viriditas  | Talk 13:07, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: What?! I have not reverted anything! I am currently working on some major revisions of the article. I suggest we discuss issues on the talk page - there has been no reversion at all! Guttlekraw 13:09, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reverts 

message: This is interesting, in the context of policy, but, although the guy is an MD, he made this statement in his capacity as Drug Policy Director in the Nixon Administration. It has never been used as a medical or diagnostic definition, often as a political one. Guttlekraw 13:21, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Your [[Jerome H. Jaffe]] stuff

message: Whether the subject in the news is legal or illegal drugs or even a chemical spill, the media never, ever shows the chemical structure of the subject. This is censorship and it has keeps the public uninformed. A major marketing component of drugs (legal or illegal) is the mystery surrounding them. If the public could look at a structure each time it was brought up in the news correlations would be made, and the public would start to say, "oh yeah, that looks like such in such, so I am not surprised that this drug acts this way".
Just try to get a TV station or newspaper to include the structures, you will hit a brick wall.
When the FDA dropped the requirement of showing structures in medical journal ads, all the drug 
companies dropped including the structure for their new drugs.
They do not want comparisons, they know it hurts sales. It would be the same with illegal drugs.
71.114.163.55  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.114.163.55 (talk) 02:44, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Please focus, these are not reverts, they are edits, some of them after you have also edited. Please try to stick to the facts. Instead of playing games and claiming I am reverting, tell me WHAT it is you disagree with. In most cases, when we look at the evidence, you're simply wrong. Guttlekraw 13:53, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: You reverted my changes at least five separate times, by re-adding material that had been removed. That's a violation of the 3RR.  It doesn't matter that you tried to game the system with complex reverts by including reverts inside of edits.   --Viriditas  | Talk 14:00, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lack of Chemical Structures in Media 

message: ===Guttlekraw's suggestion===
====Medical definitions====
The 1969 edition of the World Health Organization's ICD manual defined drug abuse as "persistent or sporadic excessive drug use inconsistent with or unrelated to acceptable medical practice", modern editions have not used the term (at least in the case of ICD, because of it's ambiguity ), preffering to reffer to the cluster of symptoms previously called 'drug abuse' as 'substance abuse'.  
In the early 1950s, the first edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders reffered to both alcohol and drug abuse as part of Sociopathic Personality Disturbances, which were through to be symptoms of deeper psychological disorders or moral weakness . By the third edition, in the 1980s, drug abuse was grouped as part of 'substance abuse'
Although the two most used diagnostic tools in the world (the DSM and the ICD) no longer recognise 'drug abuse' as a current medical diagnosis, the Handbook on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, defines drug abuse as "nonmedical use of drugs, both drugs that have and those that do not have generally accepted medical value".
Because of ambiguity in the meanings, the World Health Organization presently prefers to use the terms harmful use and hazardous use in place of drug abuse to distinguish between the health effects of drug abuse rather than the social consequences.
===Viriditas' suggestion===
====Medical definitions====
According to the Handbook on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, drug abuse refers to the "nonmedical use of drugs, both drugs that have and those that do not have generally accepted medical value".
In 1969, the World Health Organization defined drug abuse as "persistent or sporadic excessive drug use inconsistent with or unrelated to acceptable medical practice."  
In 1975, psychiatrist Jerome H. Jaffe expanded the definition, as "the use, usually by self-administration, of any drug in a manner that deviates from the approved medical or social patterns within a given culture".  According to Jaffe, the term "conveys the notion of social disapproval, and it is not necessarily descriptive of any particular pattern of drug use or its potential adverse consequences". 
----
::Frankly, I preffer the first, because it begins by dealing with what the two most commonly used diagnostic tools in the world have to say on the subject (that they used the term in the 50s and 60s and now use it as a sub-category of substance abuse). It then goes on to list another text that does still use it, and what the World Health Organization has to say on the subject, that they preffer other terms. I moved Jerome H. Jaffe into 'political and criminal justice', because the deifnition he provides was not a clinical one, it was given when he was working for the Nixon administration, and was never used medically, only politically. Viriditas' version does not mention the fact that the WHO stopped using the term, or why, which seems a major ommission. What do you think? Guttlekraw 05:00, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Regarding the Handbook on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, frankly, I think it's being generous to even mention it. Compared to the DSM and the ICD, it is hardly a heavy hitter. It didn't even have a stub article until I just wrote one. Guttlekraw 06:33, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

text: Previous editors have inserted a great deal of inaccurate, original research into the article, much of which cannot be verified.  Please remove anything you feel is inaccurate and leave a message on the talk page. --Viriditas  | Talk 10:44, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

text: I've reorganized the entire Definitions section again. The WHO is as much a political body as it is a medical authority, so I feel it is misleading to leave it in the 'Medical definitions' subsection. However, the WHO is the producer of the ICD, the commonly used diagnostic reference, so it's not fair to put the WHO material strictly under 'Political definitions'. There's politics in the AMA and APA definitions, as well, so I'm not sure these subcategories are really ideal. However, I've left them in for now. I haven't removed anything except for a couple of redundant statements. Given the reorg and new material, the side-by-side suggestion above is moot, at this point. — mjb 21:01, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Two medical sections side by side for discussion

message: ====Medical definitions====
According to the Handbook on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, drug abuse refers to the "nonmedical use of drugs, both drugs that have and those that do not have generally accepted medical value".
In 1969, the World Health Organization defined drug abuse as "persistent or sporadic excessive drug use inconsistent with or unrelated to acceptable medical practice."  
In 1975, psychiatrist Jerome H. Jaffe expanded the definition, as "the use, usually by self-administration, of any drug in a manner that deviates from the approved medical or social patterns within a given culture".  According to Jaffe, the term "conveys the notion of social disapproval, and it is not necessarily descriptive of any particular pattern of drug use or its potential adverse consequences". 
----
::Frankly, I preffer the first, because it begins by dealing with what the two most commonly used diagnostic tools in the world have to say on the subject (that they used the term in the 50s and 60s and now use it as a sub-category of substance abuse). It then goes on to list another text that does still use it, and what the World Health Organization has to say on the subject, that they preffer other terms. I moved Jerome H. Jaffe into 'political and criminal justice', because the deifnition he provides was not a clinical one, it was given when he was working for the Nixon administration, and was never used medically, only politically. Viriditas' version does not mention the fact that the WHO stopped using the term, or why, which seems a major ommission. What do you think? Guttlekraw 05:00, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Regarding the Handbook on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, frankly, I think it's being generous to even mention it. Compared to the DSM and the ICD, it is hardly a heavy hitter. It didn't even have a stub article until I just wrote one. Guttlekraw 06:33, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

text: Previous editors have inserted a great deal of inaccurate, original research into the article, much of which cannot be verified.  Please remove anything you feel is inaccurate and leave a message on the talk page. --Viriditas  | Talk 10:44, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

text: I've reorganized the entire Definitions section again. The WHO is as much a political body as it is a medical authority, so I feel it is misleading to leave it in the 'Medical definitions' subsection. However, the WHO is the producer of the ICD, the commonly used diagnostic reference, so it's not fair to put the WHO material strictly under 'Political definitions'. There's politics in the AMA and APA definitions, as well, so I'm not sure these subcategories are really ideal. However, I've left them in for now. I haven't removed anything except for a couple of redundant statements. Given the reorg and new material, the side-by-side suggestion above is moot, at this point. — mjb 21:01, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Viriditas' suggestion

message: According to the Handbook on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, drug abuse refers to the "nonmedical use of drugs, both drugs that have and those that do not have generally accepted medical value".
In 1969, the World Health Organization defined drug abuse as "persistent or sporadic excessive drug use inconsistent with or unrelated to acceptable medical practice."  
In 1975, psychiatrist Jerome H. Jaffe expanded the definition, as "the use, usually by self-administration, of any drug in a manner that deviates from the approved medical or social patterns within a given culture".  According to Jaffe, the term "conveys the notion of social disapproval, and it is not necessarily descriptive of any particular pattern of drug use or its potential adverse consequences". 
----
::Frankly, I preffer the first, because it begins by dealing with what the two most commonly used diagnostic tools in the world have to say on the subject (that they used the term in the 50s and 60s and now use it as a sub-category of substance abuse). It then goes on to list another text that does still use it, and what the World Health Organization has to say on the subject, that they preffer other terms. I moved Jerome H. Jaffe into 'political and criminal justice', because the deifnition he provides was not a clinical one, it was given when he was working for the Nixon administration, and was never used medically, only politically. Viriditas' version does not mention the fact that the WHO stopped using the term, or why, which seems a major ommission. What do you think? Guttlekraw 05:00, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Regarding the Handbook on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, frankly, I think it's being generous to even mention it. Compared to the DSM and the ICD, it is hardly a heavy hitter. It didn't even have a stub article until I just wrote one. Guttlekraw 06:33, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

text: Previous editors have inserted a great deal of inaccurate, original research into the article, much of which cannot be verified.  Please remove anything you feel is inaccurate and leave a message on the talk page. --Viriditas  | Talk 10:44, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

text: I've reorganized the entire Definitions section again. The WHO is as much a political body as it is a medical authority, so I feel it is misleading to leave it in the 'Medical definitions' subsection. However, the WHO is the producer of the ICD, the commonly used diagnostic reference, so it's not fair to put the WHO material strictly under 'Political definitions'. There's politics in the AMA and APA definitions, as well, so I'm not sure these subcategories are really ideal. However, I've left them in for now. I haven't removed anything except for a couple of redundant statements. Given the reorg and new material, the side-by-side suggestion above is moot, at this point. — mjb 21:01, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Medical definitions

message: Checking references, Mosby's does not use, suggest or refer to "disapproval" as that was added by the editor.  Further, the quote given by Leon Wurmser actually says the complete opposite of what the editor claims it says when read in context of the original paper.  Both have been removed. --Viriditas  | Talk 10:41, 13 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reference check 

message: #Introduction
##durg abuse can destroy your life
###Problems with defintions
###Issues with abuse potential for listing as schedule I or II (i.e., cannabis does not seem to meet this requirement) (Related article: Cannabis rescheduling in the United States)
###Crime or disease?
#History of nonmedical drug consumption (Main article: History of drug use)
#Basic science, clinical, social issues
##Moderation vs. abuse
##Addiction (Main article: Drug addiction)
##Crime (Related article: Prohibition (drugs))
#Commonly abused drugs 
##Alcohol (Related article: Alcohol abuse)
###General risks (diseases)
###Neuroscience
###Adverse effects on organ systems, from prenatal to adult (Related article: Alcoholic beverage)
###Benefits (Related article: Alcohol consumption and health)
##Cannabis
###General risks (diseases)
###Neuroscience
###Adverse effects on organ systems, from prenatal to adult 
###Benefits (Related article: Medical marijuana)
##Opiates
###General risks (diseases)
###Neuroscience
###Adverse effects on organ systems, from prenatal to adult 
###Benefits
##Cocaine and other stimulants
###General risks (diseases)
###Neuroscience
###Adverse effects on organ systems, from prenatal to adult 
###Benefits
##Inhalants
###General risks (diseases)
###Neuroscience
###Adverse effects on organ systems, from prenatal to adult 
###Benefits
##Other drugs
###Anabolic steroids
###Secondary stimulants
####Nicotine
####Caffeine
#Management and treatment (Main article: Substance abuse)
##Pharmacotherapies
##Other therapies
###Harm reduction
###Acupuncture
###Entheogens
#References
Restored the outline from the archive. --Viriditas  | Talk 11:23, 13 July 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Sorry for the confusion.  I was referring to the benefits and risks of the drug itself.  An assessment of the benefits can shed light on the risks of harmful use (abuse) and misuse. --Viriditas  | Talk 12:39, 14 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposed outline 

message: I note repeated use above of benefits. Abuse can bring benefits? Laurel Bush 09:32, 14 July 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Sorry for the confusion.  I was referring to the benefits and risks of the drug itself.  An assessment of the benefits can shed light on the risks of harmful use (abuse) and misuse. --Viriditas  | Talk 12:39, 14 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Response to outline

message: Proposed new opening sentences/paragraphs:
:There are now widespread, well-established, medical, social, educational and criminal justice programmes designed to prevent or remedy drug abuse. Clear definition of what is or is not drug abuse remains, however, quite elusive.
:Legislation creates lists of drugs which are considered to have abuse potential, and criminalises unlicensed production, supply and possession. It does not establish, however, any clear definition of abuse, and some drugs which a generally considered to have abuse potential (such as alcohol and tobacco) are often exlcuded from this kind of legislation. Laurel Bush 11:25, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Laurel, go ahead and make whatever changes you think are needed.  If you have to remove content, try to make a note and leave the content here on talk or in your edit summary so that others can review it.  The page needs a lot of work, so please, have at it!  --Viriditas  | Talk 11:36, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

text: Laurel, I'm not sure which "opening sentence" you are referring to, here.  Can you specify? --Viriditas  | Talk 06:00, 23 July 2005 (UTC)

text: I don't see any problem with the use of "therapeutic", especially since it is referenced and is used as a current definition.  Regarding the issue you raise in regard to "legal therapeutic use", I believe you are referring to "accepted clinical use", not drug abuse itself.  I have reverted the following content added to the lead:Drug abuse is taboo use of any substance which a society recognises or classes as a drug. Abuse may attract severe penalties (including death) and forced engagement with programmes designed to limit or eradicate the abuse..  For example, even Mosby's recognizes that "taboo" use of cannabis for therapeutic purposes is not abuse, however there may be controversy over other drugs such as LSD which some claim can be used for therapeutic purposes but is not recognized as such by the medical community.  --Viriditas  | Talk 06:19, 6 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposed new opening sentences 

message: This article has certainly come a long way and gone through many revisions... though based on the proposed outline above, there is still quite a bit missing ;)
Here is the original stub of the article, just to show the evolution... (and also to make sure that the original message doesn't get lost in the shuffle):
:Drug abuse is the irresponsible use of psychoactive drugs, most often referring to those who have developed a dependence on drug use due to drug addiction.
:There is some controversy to the inclusiveness of the definition.  Anti-drug advocates classify recreational drug use as drug abuse, but this tends to be a social stigmatism based on legal status.  Scientifically there is little difference when comparing recreational use of alcohol to that recreational use of marijuana.  Both can be used responsibly and likewise, both can be abused.
:Hard drugs (such as cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and alcohol) are the most likely to be abused due to their addictive nature, and can be difficult to use responsibly.  They lend themselves easily as tools for escapism purposes -- that is to allow people to hide from their problems.
:Due to the legal status of most drugs, drug abuse tends to go unnoticed (and hence untreated) until it is quite far gone, and the road to recovery has become a long, hard battle.  Fortunately, since the two most harmful and abused drugs are still legal in most countries (alcohol and tobacco), workable models for responsible use, and addiction recovery can be designed and built.
:--Thoric 20:57, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Article certainly progressing nicely 

message: Is there an article that talks about the effect, methods and substances used in sniffing? As in sniffing glue or carburetor fluid.
:Yes, the term for the substances is Inhalants, and the slang term for sniffing is Huffing (redirects to Inhalant).  --Thoric 15:59, 2 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sniffing? 

message: I updated the information on ReVia, since naltrexone is no longer marketed that way. I also removed the "Unfortunately" from the next line to bring in a NPOV. Many addiction medicine experts don't prescribe naltrexone because they don't think it works (despite the indication). Until someone proves that the drug is actually useful (and researchers haven't quite done that yet), we should simply say it's not being prescribed very much without making a value judgment. 
Also added a brief section on abstinence-based treatment, which gives better outcomes for treatment of certain addictions (harm reduction also leads to better outcomes for some of the other addictions). Drgitlow 04:12, 11 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pharmacotherapy 

message: I can see what the article substance abuse should do (I guess) but doesn't really say much at all that isn't said on the Drug Abuse page - in which case why not merge that one (substance abuse) into this one, and then have links to specific medical issues (eg pharmacotherapy or whatever, or pages on the drugs themselves with subheadings.
Just a suggestion - i looked briefly thorugh the talk pages to see whether this had come up before.
cheersCas Liber 01:53, 11 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Substance abuse vs drug abuse

message: I believe most of the external links currently linked from the article, as well as the ones being repeatedly inserted, are not appropriate.  I will try to go through the ones already there and prune out those that do not provide useful information.  (If you have been adding links recently and would like to defend their insertion, please explain why you're adding them below.Ichibani 00:09, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links  

message: Hey I got this small piece of infomation.   Do you think it is useful?  And where shall we put it?SSBM Pro 04:36, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Do we need this or not? 

message: See Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Medicine#Drug_abuse_mess for discussion. Mikael Häggström (talk) 08:50, 29 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Merge to Drug addiction 

message: "Drug abuse makes central nervous system (CNS) effects, which produce changes in mood, levels of awareness or perceptions and sensations."
That sentence does not make sense. I am not sure on how to reword it though
Lordofhyperspace (talk) 05:40, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Poor sentence 

message: Surely this is POV? Certain drugs will be illegal in certain countries while elsewhere they won't be. We have to reflect a world view on this article. For instance, alcohol consumption is illegal in some countries and i'm pretty sure that this is not included in the figure, and rightly so. Maybe clarification of which drugs is needed, as opposed to the word "illicit". Sillyfolkboy (talk) 00:54, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: That was exactly what I was thinking when I read the line. SO I tried the two sources that were referenced; one is gone, the other is from the US consulate in Mumbai, India, which already shows the problems of the term "illicit". Illicit by American laws? Indian laws? Respective to the country is currently residing in? Respective to the country they are (a) citizen(s) of? etc. And the text didn't even try to define the term "illicit". That way, I'm sorry to say that the term makes no sense at all. I took out the line, since nobody has asnswered to this post in a year, so I just assume nobody seems to care too much.--Flosch (talk) 12:48, 14 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  "An estimated 4.7% of the global population aged 15 to 64, or 185 million people, consume illicit drugs annually" 

message: It seems in the article that any drug being consumed just for pleasure is being 'abused'.  Where is any official medical acknowledgment here of recreational and social use?  The forces of law and order are fine, but they are the same ones who made beer UNCONSTITUTIONAL in the USA.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.193.144.79 (talk) 04:36, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: We need to reflect what is not bring our own opinons in. Thanks, SqueakBox 02:14, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Abuse of the word 'abuse'

message: Young people are more than addicted to alcohol consumption. It is a concerning issue to see that young people consume alcohol like cocaine, marijuana and cigarretes, to some it is not easy for a day to pass without them consuming alcohol. The possible effects of people who consume alcohol thus is violence, crime and finacials crisis.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.33.11.13 (talk) 13:55, 14 February 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Alcohol as a drug not alcohol by Baboloki Semele 

message: I think there should be a specific article about drug abuse in the LGBT community. I'm not saying this in a negative or discriminatory way, but many researchers have in fact found that the problem of drug abuse is at least 20-25 % more common among gays, lesbians or transsexuals.   ADM (talk) 18:45, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: We should indicate that correlations of LGBT people having any higher rate likely correspond to Catholic violence of gender and sexual minorities over centuries. See, I can inject an editorial influence over articles too.  -- Banjeboi 23:54, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

text: See "Party and play", which is more specifically about meth use in the LGBT community. -- œ™ 04:41, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Drug abuse in the LGBT community

message: I added this because the Commission had a very broad mandate and was addressing the term in public health, public policy, drug law and other contexts. It's also based partly on surveys to determine what "drug abuse" meant to the general American public as well as to various interest groups within and without government. Also the language of the Controlled Substances Act, which established the Commission, is why "substance abuse" entered the common US legal and public vocabulary. This is an historically and socially significant quotation and definition.  Moss&Fern (talk) 14:18, 11 December 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse quote 

message: The History section should be more than US history and should cover more of US history. The 1973 Report I quoted from has a long section on changing vocabulary and I should be able to look up later something about when the term entered the common US vocabulary.  Moss&Fern (talk) 14:28, 11 December 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  History section should be more than US history 

message: Fresh information on the USA scenario, which can be used to update this Wiki article:
 
--BatteryIncluded (talk) 16:04, 29 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  FY 2011 U.S:   Demand Reduction Efforts