Our early ancestors lived as hunter-gatherers and undoubtedly collected considerable information on pharmacological plants.
Ötzi, the man whose frozen body was recovered in the Alps in 1991, lived about 3300 years BC, and carried in his pouch a travel pharmacy including a polypore fungus with antibacterial and homeostatic properties. After adopting a pastoral lifestyle, humans may have observed the effects of psychoactive plants on their flocks. Tradition has it that Ethiopian priests started roasting and boiling coffee beans to stay awake through nights of prayer.
Schematically, psychoactive substances have been used
(i) in religious ceremonies by priests;
(ii) for medicinal purposes; or
(iii) massively, as staple commodities, by large segments of the population in a socially approved way.
Stigma about having an addiction has a long history. The Latin word for it was instigare and in ancient Greece, the word stizein a physical mark or tattoo was cut or burned into the skin of criminals, slaves, or traitors and this marking lead to an action as to discriminate them as blemished or morally polluted persons. Today, stigma refers to discrimination in some undesirable way. It is a sign of shame, disgrace, or disapproval, rejected by others or by even the entire community.
Stigma is one of the meanest and most difficult aspects of addiction because it makes it harder for individuals and families to deal with their problems and get the help they need. Society imposes stigma and its damage on addicts and their families because many of us still believe that addiction is a character flaw or weakness that probably can't be cured. The stigma against people with addictions is so deeply rooted that it continues even in the face of the scientific evidence that addiction is a treatable disease and even when we know people in our families and communities living wonderful lives in long-term recovery.
Addiction is a potentially lethal disorder, but that lethal affects are dramatically amplified by the social stigma attached to this disease. Stigma’s greatest enemy is knowledge. Understanding and Healing the Stigma of Addiction will help open the doorway to such knowledge. It is high time we all walk through that doorway!
By Maryam Malik
Clinical Psychologist, Nishan
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