Drugs of abuse - The Myth of Creativity and the Reality of Destruction

Vizi E., Szilveszter

Man has almost always, in every culture, used drugs of abuse to stimulate productivity and increase the feeling of joy and satisfaction. This has had an effect on art and culture. The lecture presents the biochemical mechanisms of freeing dopamine, the so called "happiness hormone" and how the brain regulates its balance, the mechanism of which is disturbed by the various drugs. While tribal and pre-modern cultures were characterised by a strict regulation of the use of drugs of abuse, modern societies- as a result of their openness- are defenceless against the massive spread of industrially designed consciousness expanding substances and psycho stimulants that may cause increasingly quick addiction (ecstasy, LSD, heroin etc.). Artificially created euphoric states cannot be the source of lasting joy enriching human personality and in reality they do not increase creativity either. At the same time, the natural relation networks existing in kinship groups across generations, social groups and local communities that could provide protection to the youth of today cannot be substituted solely with the tools of bureaucracy and the police.

About the lecturer