Drugs Information, Prevention, Needle Exchange
Drugs
Recreational drug use is the use of psychoactive drugs for recreational purposes rather than for work, approved medical or spiritual purposes, although the distinction is not always clear (often spiritual use is considered recreational).
Some forms of "recreational" drug use are in fact self-medication to treat pain, pain-related problems, depression, social phobias and other disorders-so terms such as "unsupervised drug use", "non-, semi-, and sub-therapeutic drug use", and "allotherapeutic drug use" may also sometimes be appropriate.
Psychopharmacologist Ronald K. Siegel refers to intoxication as the "fourth drive," arguing that the human instinct to seek mind-altering substances has so much force and persistence that it functions like the human desire to satisfy hunger, thirst and the need for shelter
Drug Abuse
Drug abuse has a huge range of definitions related to taking a psychoactive drug or performance enhancing drug for a non-therapeutic or non-medical effect. All of these definitions imply a negative judgment of the drug use in question (compare with the term responsible drug use for alternative views). Some of the drugs most often associated with this term include alcohol, amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cocaine, methaqualone, and opium alkaloids. Use of these drugs may lead to criminal penalty in addition to possible physical, social, and psychological harm, both strongly depending on local jurisdiction. Other definitions of drug abuse fall into four main categories: public health definitions, mass communication and vernacular usage, medical definitions, and political and criminal justice definitions.
Worldwide, the UN estimates there are more than 50 million regular users of heroin, cocaine and synthetic drugs
Needle Exchange
A hypodermic needle-exchange program is a sometimes controversial social policy, based on the philosophy of harm reduction where injection drug users can obtain hypodermic needles and associated injection equipment at little or no cost. These programs are called "exchanges" because many require exchanging used needles for an equal number of new needles. In practice, some programs vary in their stringency; in the Canadian capital Ottawa, for example, participating clinics do not demand used needles before giving out new ones.
In addition to sterile needles, syringe exchange programs (SEPs) typically offer other services such as: HIV and Hepatitis C testing; alcohol swabs; bleach and sterile water; aluminum "cookers"; citric acid powder (an imperative agent: enables heroin to dissolve in water); containers for needles and many other items. There was a survey conducted by Beth Israel Medical Center in New York city and the North American Syringe Exchange Network, which showed among the 126 SEPs surveyed, 77% provided to material abuse therapy, 72% provided voluntary counseling and HIV testing, and more than two-thirds provided supplies such as bleach, alcohol pads, and male and female condoms.