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Epidemiology of Inhalant Abuse - Archives - National Institute on ...

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<str<strong>on</strong>g>Inhalant</str<strong>on</strong>g>s in Perú<br />

Roberto Lerner and Delicia Ferrando<br />

INTRODUCTION<br />

Drug use and abuse is a problem that seems to haunt all societies. Every<br />

culture deals with mind-altering substances that allow people to escape<br />

routine life. Technology and c<strong>on</strong>tinuous change, the loss <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> traditi<strong>on</strong>al<br />

values, and the ec<strong>on</strong>omic and social marginality experienced by many<br />

have led to massive and dysfuncti<strong>on</strong>al drug use. It is within this changing<br />

world that heroin, cocaine, and synthetic substances have become<br />

increasingly available in the streets. This increased use <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> illicit<br />

substances has created serious public health problems with ec<strong>on</strong>omic and<br />

geopolitical c<strong>on</strong>sequences. Many societies, sensing impending doom and<br />

anticipating social disintegrati<strong>on</strong>, have reacted in a frenzied fashi<strong>on</strong> in<br />

trying to solve the drug problem. These approaches to the drug problem<br />

have been more akin to religious wars than to rati<strong>on</strong>al problem-solving.<br />

BACKGROUND<br />

The history <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> drugs and their relati<strong>on</strong>ship to society have been studied<br />

from a variety <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> viewpoints. The most serious approaches take into<br />

account multiple variables and try to place drug use patterns within the<br />

c<strong>on</strong>text <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> culture, analyzing the ways informal and formal c<strong>on</strong>trols,<br />

shared social representati<strong>on</strong>s, the media, and the State influence drug use<br />

(Bachman and Cope1 1989; Escohotado 1989; McKenna 1992; Musto<br />

1973). More recently others even have tried to rethink the answers<br />

society has been giving to drug problems, c<strong>on</strong>sidering alternatives to the<br />

current legal status <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> psychoactive substances (Benjamin and LeRoy<br />

Miller 1993; Trebach 1987).<br />

In n<strong>on</strong>e <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the comprehensive studies about drugs, however, do inhalants<br />

appear as a significant issue. This matter has been <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> interest to clinicians<br />

and scientists since the pi<strong>on</strong>eering report <strong>on</strong> inhalant use and abuse<br />

published by Clinger and Johns<strong>on</strong> (1951). However, it was not until the<br />

late 1970s that a serious effort to understand inhalant abuse was<br />

undertaken systematically by drug abuse researchers (Crider and Rouse<br />

1988; Sharp and Brehm 1980; Sharp and Carroll 1978). In Latin<br />

America, most <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the investigati<strong>on</strong>s c<strong>on</strong>ducted into inhalant use and<br />

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