Roar Mikalsen - HUMAN RISING - radiofri..

Brechter sier dette om avhengighetsproblematikken forbundet med kokain: “Cocaine
addiction differs from opiate addiction, and from alcohol and barbiturate addiction, in at
least two respects. A cocaine user, even after prolonged use of large doses, does not, if
deprived of his drug, suffer from a dramatic withdrawal crisis like alcoholic delirium tremens
or like the opiate withdrawal syndrome. The physical effects of cocaine withdrawal are
minor. This has led many authorities, mistakenly, to classify cocaine as a nonaddicting drug.
However, cocaine withdrawal is characterized by a profound psychological manifestation —
depression — for which cocaine itself appears to the user to be the only remedy; cocaine
addiction in this respect resembles tobacco addiction more closely than it resembles opiate
addiction or alcoholism. The compulsion to resume cocaine is very strong.
Moreover, cocaine addiction can lead to a severe psychosis while the user is still on
the drug. This is in contradistinction to the opiate withdrawal syndrome and to the delirium
tremens of alcoholism or barbiturate addiction, which set in hours or days after the drug is
withdrawn.” (Edward M. Brecher med flere, The Consumers Union Report - Licit and Illicit
Drugs, kapittel 4.(fotnote))
Som vi ser er kokainavhengighet et reelt fenomen. En uheldig vane kan oppstå og
være vanskelig å kvitte seg med. Men hvor vanlig er egentlig kokainmisbruk? Jacob Sullum
forteller: ”Of the 28 million or so Americans who have used cocaine, only about 1.7 million,
or 6 percent, have used it in the last month. For crack, said to be more addictive than
cocaine powder, the percentage is about the same. And past month use is not necessarily a
sign of a serious drug habit (unless everyone who dringks a beer now and then is an
alcoholic). In a 1993 survey of young adults, only 7 percent of past-month cocaine users
were taking the drug every day. The picture is similar for users of prescription-type
stimulants generally and metaamphetamine in particular: Only a small percentage have used
them in the last month, and only a small percentage of past-month users take them every
day. (…) *E+ven over the long term, problem users are far from typical. A 1994 stydy, based
on a nationally representative sample, estimated that 17 percent of cocaine users and 11
percent of other stimulant users had ever experienced ‘drug dependence.’” (Jacob Sullum,
Saying Yes; In Defence of Drug Use (Tarcher/Penguin Books 2004) s 215-16.)
Vi ser her Sullum anslå at rundt 17 prosent av alle som bruker kokain, på et eller
annet tidspunkt vil utvikle en vanebruk som er omfattende nok til å defineres som
”avhengighet.” Dette er det samme tallet som rusforskerne Anthony, Warner og Kessler kom
frem til i 1994, og som Reuter og MacCoun legger til grunn for sine vurderinger i Drugwar
Heresies (s 18).
Jeg skal derfor ikke her påstå at kokainavhengighet ikke utgjør et problem for mange
brukere. Men vi må i denne sammenheng også være klar over at mange av de som defineres
som avhengige (fordi de bruker et rusmiddel relativt ofte), ikke nødvendigvis selv ser på
bruken som en belastning.
De aller fleste kokainbrukerne har derfor et rimelig avbalansert forhold til rusmidlet,
hvilket Sullum sier mer om her: ”Contrary to the widespread impression that occasional
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