"Amongst the perils that threaten youth and the entire society today, drugs are in the first place, which is more dangerous as it is less visible ...They spread like an oil stain, they slowly stretch their tentacles from the major cities to the smaller centers, from the richest and most industrialized countries to the Third World."
"One can but sadly notice that a culture of death is threatening to win over love of life...death due to violence and drugs." "All the structures of psychic life are disturbed by the impacts of these exceptional and disorganised impulses..., drug addiction, more than a body illness, is a disease of the mind."
"Using drugs is always illicit because it implies an unjustified and irrational renouncing of thinking, of will and of acting as a free person...One cannot talk about the right to take drugs nor the right to drugs, because the human being does not have the right to do himself harm nor can he nor must he abdicate his personal dignity, which is a gift of God!"
"One does not win over drugs by using drugs. Drugs are evil and one cannot make concessions to evil."
"One does not win over drugs by using drugs. Substitution drugs are not a sufficient therapy, but rather a veiled way of postponing the problem..."
When he talks about rehabilitation in therapeutic communities, the Pope says that it "is done using methods which rigorously exclude any concession to legal or illegal substitute drugs".
Any psychotropic drug, be it legal - anxiolytic, tranquillizer, benzodiazepine, neuroleptic - or illegal - street drugs - leads to ill-being, depression and to suicide. See table with side effects of psychotropic drugs – Technical Information/Classification .
Voir le tableau des effets secondaires des drogues psychotropes (Fiches / Classification)
No parent would lend his car to his child knowing he/she has not learnt to drive. It would also be unconscionable to let one’s teenager go out without having taught him/her what drugs are. Nowadays availability of these products is such that youth can procure them in all the places they frequent – educational establishments, parties, class dinners, rallies, sport clubs... Parents must inform themselves objectively and scientifically about the products so to educate their children on drugs and provide them with the arguments to refuse them. Let us remember that drug addiction doesn’t just happen to others!
When you consume alcohol and cannabis simultaneously, these products mutually increase their effects. The current practice is to use alcohol and cannabis at the same time. Many young people nowadays use this common method to try to get “stoned”.
AEROSOLS Nitrous oxide and other pressurized gases such as those contained in whipped cream canisters or computer anti-dust sprays also have hallucinogenic effects. In a few seconds they produce excitement, dizziness, euphoria, loss of consciousness and affect the central nervous system through lack of oxygen. Moreover they are inhaled under pressure and can provoke lung frostbite and vocal chords injuries, (eg. immediately after taking this drug the voice becomes lower.)
POPPERS Volatile nitrites have similar effects to nitrous oxide. Moreover they can provoke panic attacks, heart palpitations and headaches. They are also responsible for deaths by anoxia. They are vasodilators frequently used to relax sphincter muscles. They are carcinogenic and provoke serious immune deficiencies – such as AIDS.
STAIN REMOVER Stain removers are derived from ethylene. They are hallucinogenic but their effect is more calming, unlike poppers and aerosols, which are more stimulating. They cause damage that is neurological (deafness, tremor) and intellectual (dementia).
The half-life of an active substance is the time required by a healthy body, with no previous drug use, to eliminate 50% of the absorbed substance. In the case of cannabis, the half-life is 96 hours or 4 days. This means that within 4 days the body has eliminated 50% of the initial dose. 4 days later, there will be 25% of the product left… Within 28 days, cannabis will be totally eliminated from the body of a person who has not consumed it regularly. Traces of decayed THC may be found in a regular consumer’s body up to 40 days after the last take. According to Dr Chamayou’s thesis, 18 months are needed to be completely cleared of cannabis.
Member Organization of Make Mothers Matter, granted General Consultative Status by the United Nations.