I had a startling assignment in my Criminal Law class. One of the most famous criminal law cases is about whether men who killed and ate a boy while stranded can avoid being convicted of murder because of necessity, needing to do it to survive. (Spoiler: they are convicted.)
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As I read the case, I felt like I could relate a little bit, or at least imagine myself in that difficult situation. On the other hand, when I researched cases about drug deals last semester, I don't think I imagined myself in their shoes at all. Even though I know and see people who regularly do drugs, it's hard for me to conceive why someone would consume or sell something that could create so many legal, social, and health problems for them. And yet when I read an inconceivable case about people stranded on a boat contemplating cannibalism, I find myself imagining being on the boat, and reassuring myself that I would of course be noble and die of hunger first.
I think that I am more separated from some modern and local social circles than I am from people starving on a boat in the 1800s. And I don't think that I am the exception. Perhaps I'm flattering myself, but I think I have interacted in quite a few social circles that I am not really a part of. I served as a missionary in Guatemala, have extended family who have had drug and legal trouble, interact with refugees in humble circumstances, and occasionally talk to the homeless people I see.
But consuming drugs still seems totally irrational to me. It doesn't seem like just a different utility function (difference in preferences), but like something totally crazy and incomprehensible.
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What might I learn from this? Well, one idea is that drugs are addictive beyond what I can understand. But this doesn't explain why the rich don't start taking drugs in the first place. And of course there are tragic stories, often with youth, of even well-off people who lose everything to drugs. (I say rich because it made a nice title and provokes thought about the social circles we are most affected by, but it includes pretty much everyone without substance abuse issues and excludes most celebrities; a more accurate title might be What Non-Addicts Will Never Know). I imagine that certain pressures, like peer pressure and financial pressure, play a role.
I think that a large part of the population (drug addicts) is misunderstood by the more productive part (non-addicts) of society which holds all positions of power. How can we help people to achieve deeply meaningful lives when they feel driven to satiate a desire for drugs, and we don’t understand that drive? I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic, please comment!
Hmmm...really interesting topic! I'm with you; I've never understood drugs and don't think that it would ever be tempting to me. In a bigger sense, though, I think that all addictions serve as an escape from the realities of hard life. People (especially if they don't have the Savior to fill the void) tend to turn to all sorts of different carnal experiences for comfort and escape. So, in that sense, I think that anyone who has ever experienced any addictive behavior--whether drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography, spending money, food, etc.--can at least relate to people with addictions on some level, even if the particular behavior seems non-tempting.
ReplyDeleteThe key to helping those with addictions we don't understand may perhaps be to examine our own experiences with addictive behavior of any sort; I suspect that the underlying causes are the same.
If I were to guess, I might hypothesize that the poor tend to turn to drugs more often than the rich simply because the rich have the financial means to afford less physically risky comfort behaviors--fine food and lots of it, wine, spending (a lot of wealthy people have an addiction to buying, even when they don't really want stuff), etc.
Of course, drugs are expensive too, but I think the difference is that they don't start out expensive. The first drugs offered (the "hook") are either free or of the very cheap variety. It's only after the unfortunate person is addicted that it becomes expensive, and at that point it's too late to escape.
Anyway, really thought-provoking. I enjoy your blog!
Thank you! I had not thought of drugs as a cheaper option, but I agree. And that is interesting about the variety of less visibly destructive but still non-beneficial habits that we all have a bit of.
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