Suwanwela C, Poshyachinda V
Bull Narc. 1986 Jan-Jun;38(1-2):41-53.
The article focuses on countries and areas of South-East Asia, which are seriously affected by drug abuse and the problems associated with it. Opium has traditionally been used for treating illnesses and alleviating physical and mental stress, as well as for recreational and social purposes. The prohibition of the sale and use of opium in Burma, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand forced many habitual opium users to switch to heroin. Over the past two decades there has been an increasing trend towards drug use, often involving experimentation with more than one substance, among youth in and out of school. For example, a survey of students at teachers' colleges in northern Thailand showed that at some time in their lives 30-40 per cent of the male respondents and 3-6 per cent of the female respondents had used cannabis, and that 18-20 per cent of the males and 12-27 per cent of the females had sniffed volatile solvents. The same survey showed that 5-10 per cent of both the males and females had used stimulants and nearly 2 per cent had used heroin. During the 1970s the abuse of heroin and other opiates emerged as a serious problem of epidemic nature, predominantly affecting young people in many countries of South-East Asia. While opiates, including heroin, have been abused by inhaling and by smoking, there has recently been an increasing trend towards injecting heroin of high purity (80-90 per cent pure heroin). Heroin addiction spread first to the populations of capital cities and then to other cities and towns and even to the hill tribes, as studies in Thailand have revealed. Most recent studies have shown that heroin abuse has spread further in Asia, both socially and geographically, involving such countries as India and Sri Lanka, which had no previous experience with the problem. Studies have also shown that the abuse of manufactured psychotropic substances has been increasing and that heroin addicts resort to these substances when heroin is difficult to find. The article also briefly reviews the history of opium use in China and the history of drug abuse in Japan, particularly with regard to the problem of methamphetamine abuse, which has appeared in two epidemic-like waves. The first followed the end of the Second World War and disappeared at the end of the 1950s; the second reappeared in 1975 and since then has gradually been increasing in size.
本文关注的是深受药物滥用及其相关问题影响的东南亚国家和地区。传统上，鸦片被用于治疗疾病、缓解身心压力，也用于娱乐和社交目的。缅甸、香港、马来西亚、新加坡和泰国对鸦片销售和使用的禁令迫使许多习惯性鸦片使用者转而使用海洛因。在过去二十年里，在校内外青少年中，吸毒呈上升趋势，且往往涉及尝试多种毒品。例如，对泰国北部师范学院学生的一项调查显示，在他们生命中的某个时候，30%至40%的男性受访者和3%至6%的女性受访者曾使用过大麻，18%至20%的男性和12%至27%的女性曾吸食过挥发性溶剂。同一项调查显示，5%至10%的男性和女性曾使用过兴奋剂，近2%的人曾使用过海洛因。在20世纪70年代，海洛因和其他阿片类药物的滥用成为一个严重的流行性问题，主要影响东南亚许多国家的年轻人。虽然包括海洛因在内的阿片类药物一直通过吸入和吸烟的方式被滥用，但最近出现了注射高纯度海洛因（纯度为80%至90%的海洛因）的上升趋势。正如泰国的研究所揭示的，海洛因成瘾首先在首都城市的人群中传播，然后蔓延到其他城镇，甚至波及山地部落。最近的研究表明，海洛因滥用在亚洲无论在社会层面还是地理层面都进一步扩散，涉及印度和斯里兰卡等以前没有这个问题的国家。研究还表明，人工合成精神药物的滥用一直在增加，当难以找到海洛因时，海洛因成瘾者就会求助于这些药物。本文还简要回顾了中国鸦片使用的历史以及日本药物滥用的历史，特别是关于甲基苯丙胺滥用问题，该问题曾出现过两次类似流行的浪潮。第一次出现在第二次世界大战结束后，在20世纪50年代末消失；第二次于1975年再次出现，此后规模逐渐扩大。
