1. The document discusses various addictions that humans can develop, including alcohol, smoking, and drugs. It describes how addictions form physically and mentally, and how difficult they are to overcome once established. 2. Specific details are provided about the health effects of alcohol, smoking, and drug abuse. Alcohol damages the liver, heart, lungs and other organs, as well as the brain. Smoking increases risks of various cancers and lung/heart diseases. Drug abuse often leads to self-neglect, family problems, diseases like HIV/AIDS, and criminal behavior. 3. The document advocates for preventing and treating addictions through community support systems, correct education of youth, and ensuring legal restrictions on substance availability and

1. 13-1
ADDICTION

2. 13-2
Addictions
Humans and Addictions Who Gets Addicted?
Human beings have always had a weakness It is true that some people get addicted
for consuming things that later become a faster than others. Some say it is due to ge-
habit and they cannot stay without it. Among netic factors or the way the person’s body
many things, they have thus smoked tobacco, is made up. But the truth is we do not know.
chewed betel nut, drank liquor or abused Anybody can get addicted to anything.
drugs. They take such substances because it When we are dependant on some substance
makes them “feel good” at first. Later, they and cannot do our daily work or cannot feel
are unable to feel good unless they take the normal without taking this substance, then
substance. we are addicted. No one is safe from any
addictions. The only safety is to stay away
We get addicted to these substances in two from it.
ways:
1. Physically : Our body longs for the The number of things we get addicted to
substance are many. We will learn about three things
2. Mentally : Our mind does not feel that are common around us:
“normal” till we take the substance. 1. Alcohol
2. Smoking
Once a person is trapped between these
3. Drugs
two, escape is difficult.
1. ALCOHOL (Drinking)
Alcohol (drinks) has always been a part of traditional culture and customs. But unlike today,
alcohol and other drugs were used only on special occasions and religious rites. These old tradi-
tions and customs have broken down. Drinking and drug abuse have become huge problems in
many societies. Drinking is the cause of many people dying, family problems and children
malnourished.
Drinking brings joy to
the man but suffering to
his wife and children !
HOW ALCOHOL WORKS
There are five stages of intoxication (getting drunk). Each stage is more intense than the previ-
ous one:
1. “FEELING HAPPY” : The person is sociable, relaxed, talkative, does not feel shy, can-
not judge properly and cannot work properly.
2. “FEELING EXCITED” : Cannot think correctly and so, reacts slowly. The person loses
control of own behavior.
3. “FEELING CONFUSED” : Unclear speech; walks with stagger; vision gets blurred or
“sees double”; gets aggressive & moody
4. STUPOR : Unable to stand or walk; total loss of self-control; urinates (pisses) in pants;
almost unaware of surroundings
5. COMA : Completely unconscious, especially when large amounts of alcohol are gulped
quickly. At times, serious breathing problems, could result in death.
It may be O.K to drink one or two glasses of liquor. DO NOT allow
the liqour to drink your health away.

3. 13-3
How Drinking Affects Our Body
ALCOHOL ABUSE Liver Damage from Alcohol
DAMAGES Alcohol is a poison. The liver works hard
HEALTH to remove it from the blood. If the person
The liver drinks a lot over the years, the liver itself
Liver gets inflammed: becomes poisoned. The damage is more if
- puffiness of face the person does not eat well.
- general swelling but
especially in the ankles Liver Cirrhosis
- enlarged abdomen
due to fluid collection
- sleeplessness
The heart
- heart gets enlarged Swollen Veins
(big)
- palpitations Loss of Muscles
- shortness of breath
- lots of night sweating Yellow Skin
- increased pulse rate Swollen Belly
and blood pressure
Dark Urine
The lungs
- gets breathing
diseasse White
- chronic bronchitis and Stool (shit)
pneumonia Swollen Feet
The Central Nervous System
- confused thinking and
speaking · Swollen Veins : The damaged liver is like a clogged filter.
- decreased or loss of Blood cannot pass through it well, so it must find other ways
memory to get back to the heart. Hence, one sees swollen veins in
the body (especially from belly to chest) of an alcoholic.
The Stomach
- acute gastritis because · Swollen Belly & Swollen Feet : Since the blood is dammed
up by the liver there is more pressure in the veins. Clear
of increased acid pro-
fluid from the small blood vessels begins to leak out and
duction swelling of those parts happen. The damaged liver also fails
- blood vomiting; loss of to produce protein normally and cannot prevent fluid from
weight and loss of ap- leaking out of the veins, causing the belly and feet to swell
petite up.
- anaemia (very pale)
· Loss of Muscles: Muscles of the body are mostly protein
The brain and when liver is damaged, muscles are the ones that get
- brain cells get de- wasted away. It makes the alcoholic look very skinny.
stroyed
· Yellow Skin: A sick liver also cannot remove bilirubin (a
- brain structure yellow dye) from the blood. Hence, the alcoholic has a very
changes yellow, jaundiced look.
- blood flow to brain
lessens · Dark Urine : The urine of the alcoholic is also very yellow.
- blackouts- unable to
remember what hap- · White Stool (shit) : On the other hand, the stool (shit) of an
pened during a drink- alcoholic is white in colour. This is because bile from the
ing period liver gives our stool its normal colour. In people with dam-
aged liver, the bilirubin cannot be added on to the bile and
hence, the bile does not have the colour to give to the stool
and the person’s shit remains white.
Alcohol helps you lose your body, your health, your money, your friends and family.
It helps you lose all that is yours. STAY AWAY !

4. 13-4
WHO HAS A DRINKING PROBLEM ?
Do you know someone who:
Drinks in order to get drunk ?
Needs a drink as soon as he / she gets up in the morning?
Feels an urge to get up at night in order to drink?
Drinks until he / she finishes the bottle?
Finishes up his / her drink before others have done so?
Personality has changed ever since started drinking ? (become
moody, irritable, hard to get along with, quarrelsome, easily
angry, tense, forgetful)
Has lost other interests (work , family, sports, music etc.) ever since he
/she started drinking?
Is cutting down on food because of alcohol?
Is in really great money problem because of drinking?
One or more “YES” answers show tell you that the person has a drinking
problem. He need help quickly.
How To Help A Person with a Drinking Problem ?
First the person must himself realise that his drinking is a prob-
lem ! He must realise that his drinking is harming his health and
hurting the happiness of those around him.
Once the person honestly accepts this and wants to do something
about it, then only they can be helped. Some are then able to sim-
ply stop drinking. But most often people need help and support to
stop. Family, friends and others who understand how hard it is to
stop must help this person. The best to help are those who used to drink were heavily but
have stopped now. Talking to such people can inspire courage in alcoholics that they can
also give up.
Drinking is not so much a problem of individuals as it is of the family and of the community.
The community must be helped to realise this and thus help those
who want to give up and change.
As a health worker, you can organise a meeting to discuss
the problem of alcohol in your community and what action
can the community take.
Women’s groups can be made aware of the need to tackle
the problem of drinking among men since it usually affects
women the most.
It is very important to give correct information to young
people in the community in the community as they will be the
ones who will take up drinking in the future.

5. 13-5
2. Smoking
In most parts of the world, smoking of tobacco is a fairly recent
custom. Since smoking has been proved to cause lung cancer, to
harm unborn babies of women who smoke, and are generally
dangerous to health, people in rich countries now smoke lesser
than before.
As a result, the big cigarette companies push their products in
poor countries through lots of advertising and sales campaigns.
As a result, more people in poor countries, even women, have
started smoking. The World Health organisation has called smok-
ing “the biggest preventive health problem in the world today”.
Effects of Smoking
Smoking
Damages
affects babies
of pregnant
children of
women who
those who
smoke
smoke
eats into the
family food
budget
India Goes Up in Smoke !
In the past 20 years, the average number of cigarettes smoked per person has
fallen by over 40% in the United States of America. In India cigarette demand
keeps increasing and hence, cigarette production. We made 91,413 million
sticks of cigarettes last year and in 2001-2002 I is expected to cross 100,000
million sticks.
450 crores of rupees is spent every year on advertising tobacco products in
India !!
Over 2000 people die every day of tobacco related illnesses in India !
India spends 13,517 crores of rupees to treat nearly a million people dying of tobacco-
related illnesses every year. (Hindustan Times)
Every person who smokes is a walking advertisement for children to follow.
Smoking in buses, trains, open spaces is banned and can lead to jail.
Make sure that the law is followed in your area !

6. 13-6
Smoking Your Health Away
Smoking is Dangerous :
a. To Your Own Health:
Cancers : Smoking increases the risk of cancer of the lung, mouth,
throat and lips.
Lung Diseases : It causes serious diseases of the lungs – includ-
ing chronic bronchitis. It is deadly for those who already have
these diseases or have asthma.
Ulcers : Smoking causes stomach ulcers or makes them worse.
Heart Disease: Chances of dying from strokes or heart diseases increases
among smokers.
b. To Your Family’s Health
Affects Children : Children of parents who smoke get affected. They
have more cases of pneumonia and other breathing illnesses than those
children whose parents do not smoke.
Affects Non-Smokers : Those who do not smoke but have to take in the
smoke of others who do, have a greater chance of getting lung cancer
and heart disease.
Affects Babies : Babies of mothers who smoked during pregnancy are
smaller and grow more slowly than babies whose mothers did not smoke.
Bad Example : Parents, teachers, health workers , leaders & others who
smoke set a very bad example for children and young people. It increases
the chance that they will start smoking too.
Smoking Costs Money : Cigarette by cigarette, the costs add up to a
lot. If money spent on tobacco are spent for food instead, children and
whole families could be healthier.
STOP SMOKING AND STOP OTHERS
FROM SMOKING !
You have a righ to breath clean air. Anyone who smokes when others object to it
or where non-smokers are present, is breaking the law. Assert your right and tell
him to stop. You can have a right to call the police if the person does not stop
smoking even after your protesting.

7. 13-7
3. Drug Abuse
In addition to smoking and alcohol (which are legal in most countries) , many people in different
parts of the world are using “illegal drugs”.
Drugs &
The Northeast region Drug Addiction Lead to :
Drugs are a problem in society. In
many of our northeastern states, self- neglect
drugs are a menace. It has not only
destroyed the lives of many of our
young people but been the cause of
much suffering in homes and society.
With their minds altered due to drugs,
youth have wasted their lives away.
AIDS, the much-feared disease has
come hand in hand with drugs and
we always hear of crimes related to family problems,
drugs. We must understand drug aggression and violence
abuse better in order to help our
young people and improve our soci-
ety.
Why Do People rise in crimes;
thefts and
Take Drugs? disorder
People start taking drugs to escape the
hardships, forget the hunger, or calm
the pain in their lives. But we see our
young people taking to drugs because
: Diseases like
it is the “done thing” and they HIV and AIDS
have to “fit in” with their
friends.
out of boredom
they are frustrated.
they are curious to try out new
things. Using Medicines as Drugs.
they want to “feel good” and Even where “hard” drugs like heroin, opium, etc.
do not know how else. are not easily available, some medicines are used for
they take it because it is avail- drug abuse. In our country we can get many medi-
able. cines over the counter from pharmacies. It becomes
easy for young people to experiment and use them
Once a person starts, it is difficult to wrongly. The most popular medicines being abused
stop. If they try to stop, they become here in the northeast are cough syrups (makes you
very miserable, sick or violent. In or- sleepy and numbs your senses) and pain injections.
der to get more drugs, they will often
commit crimes, go hungry or neglect We need to educate our young people about the
their families. Taking the drug be- problems of drugs abuse. But we also need to de-
comes the MOST important thing. mand that there must be good government systems
Thus, drug use becomes a problem for not to allow that medicines that can be abused to be
whole families and communities. sold without a doctors’ prescription.

8. 13-8
Drugs Can Change How You Feel
Drugs can be swallowed, injected, smoked, chewed or sniffed. Different
drugs create different effects on the body and mind.
Some drugs like alcohol, opium, morphine and heroin may at first
make the person feel calm and relaxed, but later they will cause him to
behave strangely, lose self-control and even become unconscious.
Cocaine makes the person feel energetic and happy, but some time later he will feel
tired, irritable and depressed.
Yet some other drugs like marijuana, LSD etc makes a person imagine things that
do not exist or create dream-like fantasies.
Once you take these drugs, you can become “hooked” or addicted and will keep needing it.
Our Youths Fall Into The Drug Trap Drugs and HIV/AIDS
One kilo of heroin costs one crore rupees! In the northeast, addiction through injec-
Produced from opium (that comes from tion of the drugs into the vein is common.
Poppy plant), it is banned by almost all Addicts are on the run all the time – they
countries. But the poor in poor countries hide in secret places where police, soci-
farm this plant for some money and oth- ety and the militants cannot see. Sharing
ers sell it at very high prices outside. Since the syringe of drugs, there is no time and
it is banned, it has to be smuggled out in no chance to clean the syringe. Along
small quantities. with it has come the HIV virus with the
deadly AIDS disease. It has spread so
For this the dealers try to rope in young rapidly that an estimated eighty percent
boys and girls who are ready to do the job of all drug users who inject are found to
for a small margin. Not only the dealer be HIV positive. The result is that HIV
wants people to carry the drugs for him has spread rapidly and threatens the new
but it is in his interest that the same young generation.
people use the drugs also. Young people
are encouraged to “try out” the drug a cou-
ple of times. Soon the person is “hooked”
and unless s/he takes the next dose, the Violence & Drugs Cycle
person faces many symptoms like severe Many militant groups sustain their
headache, giddiness, scary sounds and armed movements from the illegal
images, etc. The person now has to comes smuggling of drugs across borders of
back for more. countries. In most cases the security
forces and border police look the other
The dealer is now sure of the addiction. way for a margin. In fact, large smug-
The next dose of drug is given only if the gling groups are said to favour militancy
addict gives cash, very often stolen from as it helps their business. To keep their
parents, friends and petty crimes. In some business going they need continued in-
cases, in exchange for a dose, the addict stability and they spoil all attempts at
has to do an errand for the dealer that is to restoration of peace. It is also the fault
procure or deliver the next batch of heroin of the government that they cannot bring
to an address. Thus starts a never-ending peace. Prolonged instability has contrib-
life of addiction. uted to the problem of Drugs in the
northeast region.

9. 13-9
Know the Answers
ADDICTION
Mark whether “right” or “wrong”
1. Addiction is a disease which affects the person physically and mentally.
2. Drinking is good for our liver and keeps our body healthy.
3. Driking is avery easy habit to give up.
4. Smoking is the least dangerous of all addicitons.
5. People smoke only to get rid of their tension.
6. Drugs is a habit only of the rich people living in cities.
7. Drugs are needed by young people to make them feel good.
8. Young people take drugs because it is freely available.
Fill in the blanks:
1. Common substances which people get addicted to are _________________, ___________
and _________.
2. Addiction affects a person _______________, ___________________and ____________.
3. The _______________is the most important organ to be affected by too much drinking.
4. The most common medicines to be abused as drugs are _____________ and ___________.
5. Injecting drugs are dangerous because it spreads the ____________disease.

10. 13-10
My Notes