First Short Quiz – Titillating Treasure-Hunt Tidbits

[johnkarls]

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First Short Quiz - Titillating Treasure-Hunt Tidbits

[“Treasure Hunt” because most of the answers are contained in the items posted in the immediately-following “Reference Materials” Section of www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org for our July 8 meeting.]

1. How many “Bibles” on addiction has Prof. Emeritus David Courtwright written over his career?

2. Have most drugs been used historically by governments in order to maintain order or social control? For example -- (A) opium to numb Chinese coolies? (B) wine to numb Roman soldiers? (C) gin to numb the English working class after the advent of the industrial revolution? (D) cigarettes included with the K-rations of World War II U.S. soldiers? (E) alcohol in India causing Gandhi to campaign against it?

3. Is there a big difference vis-à-vis social control between such SUBSTANCES and mere ACTIVITIES such as distracting “the masses” with sporting events? For example -- (A) the Roman gladiators? (B) America’s gladiators, primarily from our inner-city ghettos, who perform in the NFL/NBA/etc.?

4. Is Coca Cola a combination of caffeine and kola, the two most-massive stimulants known to pre-industrial cultures?

5. Are today’s most-powerful synthetic drugs (starting with LSD which was worshipped by the Hippies of the 60’s and the Flower Children of the 70’s) inventions of the U.S. military to kill as quickly as possible (now instantly) the pain from battlefield wounds?

6. Would Aristotle (whose greatest contribution to philosophy was his concept of “The Golden Mean”) argue that virtually every “vice” is a “virtue” if enjoyed in moderation? [Consider, for example, “workaholics” and “nymphomaniacs.”]

7. So how does a government attempt to control the excessive use of substances or excessive engagement in activities that can be harmful if taken beyond Aristotle’s “Golden Mean”?

8. Are libertarians correct that every human being has the right to kill her/him-self in any way s/he sees fit??? And “freedom” includes the “freedom” to harm yourself???

9. Or are there social costs to such destructive behavior, not only in terms of the public education that has now been wasted on the addict but also in terms of the medical costs of caring for the addict? Not to mention the cost to others, such as being killed by drunken drivers?

10. Indeed, wasn’t “Prohibition” (the constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages 1920-1933) spearheaded by wives who wanted to protect themselves and their children from a substance that would corrupt and incapacitate their husbands/fathers?

11. Does Prof. Courtwright record that the first legislative attempt to control addiction was The Harrison Narcotics Act (effective 3/1/1915) which merely required that a nominal tax be paid on, and records be kept of, coca- and opium-based narcotics? And that the intent was to keep such narcotics within legitimate medical channels?

12. Is it really possible to regulate effectively destructive behavior that exceeds Aristotle’s “Golden Mean”?

13. In other words, haven’t “pleasure seeking” and “pain avoidance” been long-since programmed into the human brain?

14. And isn’t the “limbic” area of the brain, which deals with emotions and memory, what has been essential as the brain learns to associate “pleasurable” experiences with survival and “painful” activities with danger/death?

15. And for those of us who are dog lovers, do even the youngest puppies seem to have an inborn “computer ap” (what us Old Geezers would call an “instinct”) that fears, and reacts instantaneously to, any hissing sound, anything overhead, etc.? And doesn’t a dog’s old “wolf instincts” crave the safety of a cave where you can only be attacked frontally? Which is why you should avoid eye contact from a frontal position with many breeds, since such eye contact is the prelude to a “fight to the death”?

16. But back on point, aren’t individual human beings always going to crave certain substances or activities, even if a particular individual craves work or craves ice cream -- both of which are examples of activities/substances which can be addictive?

17. Does it help to provide non-prescriptive pain killers (e.g., aspirin, Tylenol) that have virtually-no addictive qualities?

18. Does it help to try to restrict the supply of pain killers that are notoriously addictive?

19. Does it help to try to ignore addictive behavior in order to prevent something else that is very dangerous -- for example, providing free “clean needles” for addicts in order to curtail the transmission of AIDS?

20. Does it help to try to control cravings with such substances as methadone and buprenorphine?

21. Won’t “human nature” always be susceptible to new SUBSTANCES even if education re old substances is maximized -- for example, vaping just when we thought that tobacco had been substantially discredited?

22. And won’t “human nature” always be susceptible to new ACTIVITIES when their historical fore-runners are still running rampant -- for example, computer “gaming” destroying young lives at home while resorts with casinos (Las Vegas – Monte Carlo – etc.) are still the most-popular “vacation” destinations?

23. And won’t there always be a “crusade” against the newest threat?

24. For example, did the New York Times run an editorial on 4/21/2018 entitled “An Opioid Crisis Foretold” which lavishly credited our author, Prof. Courtright, as an oracle with his “Dark Paradise: A History of Opiate Addiction in America” (Harvard U Press 2001)?

25. And who is to say that we won’t have fads based on imports of long-standing addictive substances that have been confined historically to limited areas -- such as betel nuts from Papua New Guinea (think Juanita Hall’s “Bloody Mary” character in Rogers & Hammerstein’s “South Pacific”), ganja from Jamaica, mescal from Mexico, etc.?

26. Aren’t the famous “12 step” programs effective for creating a human resolve to refrain from destructive behavior?

27. BTW, can such programs be dangerous in the case of opioids and heroin because a “back slider” can be overconfident of dosages without realizing there has been a loss of the body’s tolerance? Whereas recent abstinence is NOT a “risk factor” for relapsing alcoholics and marijuana users?

28. In other words, do studies “show recent abstinence to be a fatal risk factor” which “has contributed to the rise of fatal prescription opioid and heroin overdoses, which together claimed more than 24,000 lives in the United States in 2013”?

29. And, as a “coming attraction” for the Second Short Quiz, how have addictive substances (such as “crack” cocaine) affected America’s 30% Permanent Under-Caste on which we focused for our June 3 meeting last month?