"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".
Drugs are not a disease. The best way to stop them is not to take any. Heroin addicts who achieved withdraw admit that complete abstinence is the only solution. They say it themselves : it is more difficult to withdraw from Subutex (substitution drugs) than from heroin…
Yes, Alcohol is a sedative drug. In drinking regularly a large amount of alcohol, one becomes an alcoholic within a few years. Alcohol is characteristically able to potentialize the effect of all other drugs it is mixed with. If one mixes alcohol with another or others drugs, one can very rapidly become a drug-addict.
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)
In 1968, it contained from 0,6 to 6% of THC – TetraHydroCannabinol - principal active substance. In recent years through genetic modifications, hybrids and greenhouse cultures, it can contain up to 35% of THC. Nowadays, cannabis consumed by teenagers does not have anything in common with what their parents knew. For more information about cannabis see “Technical Information” section.
A drug-addict is someone who takes drugs in order to solve problems created by taking drugs. S/he thinks that s/he can stop taking them whenever s/he wants, however, in spite of the harmful consequences caused by consuming drugs, s/he cannot. If the drug-addict experiences withdrawal symptoms he will think only about providing himself with drugs even if it means acting against his morals. The demand is so strong that anything linked with will, effort, love or morals gradually disappears completely. Lies, violence, aggressiveness, moral or physical suffering, self-harm, being afraid to take part in everyday life become the norm. Because of these evil acts, the drug-addict looses his/her self-esteem and goes deeper into loneliness and suicidal urges.
Member Organization of Make Mothers Matter, granted General Consultative Status by the United Nations.