Bruce+Lee,+Applicable+Wisdom...

Student name: Bruce Allahmanli Student number: n631 8282 Tutor: Jey Rodgers ** Bruce Lee, applicable wisdom… ** Bruce Lee a hero to many, he is mainly known for his outstanding skills in martial arts, but he is also a man with many deep and powerful quotes that we all can put into practice in our daily lives. Drug addiction and drug addicts isn’t a sentence that goes with Bruce Lee, however his wise words can be interpreted to help shed light on current public health issue surrounding drugs and drug addiction. Due to society’s current response to addicts being ‘unacceptable’, I have chosen Bruce Lee’s words to help draw in people to hopefully achieve a different result.
 * Cultural Artefact **



Unfortunately drug addicts are often seen as morally flawed or lacking in willpower, and because of these views it has shaped society’s responses to drug abuse, treating it as a moral failing rather than the health problem that it is  (NCIB 2002). Due to Australia’s primary problem of using the ‘moral model’ of addiction theories, this has led to an emphasis on punishment rather than preventative and rehabilitative actions adding to moral panic. As Bruce Lee says “What you habitually think largely determines what you will ultimately become.” A way to comprehend this is to think a little deeper and apply it to the fact that a person’s environmental factors has a great influence on their outcomes, this has already been proven time and time again when it comes to drug addiction.
 * The Public Health Issue **

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2012) 21.3% of Australians who are 18 years or older have experimented and tried illicit drugs at some stage in their lives. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare describes ‘addiction’ as a person who is highly dependent on something that is harmful or dangerous to them and that it is marked by repeated and compulsive activity which the person finds very difficult or impossible to stop. Drug addictions are not just limited to illegal drugs, prescription drug addictions are also a concern. Medical pharmaceuticals are only intended for beneficial use, they are prescribed to take a controlled dosage at a specific time until you are no longer sick, and once better to stop taking them (Schwabe, Dickinson & Wolf, 2011). This leads onto a key area of discussion the difference between ‘recreational’ and ‘problematic’ drug use. Recreational drug use is mainly viewed as non-problematic, where the user is not addicted and uses casually with negligible health and social effects with no symptoms of withdrawal. However this demographic of users are usually people who haven’t gone through difficult upbringings with abuse or other negative environmental factors and this is one of the main reasons according to Ersche and Turton that this demographic is at a higher risk, because they believe they can stop anytime. However overtime some drugs can leave the brain craving for more and slowly little by little an addiction can develop, which can lead to them becoming a problematic user. A problematic user is when the use of the drugs start to have a negative consequences for the individual, friends, family and also society. This can lead to poor decision making, impaired abilities including driving and also harmful routes of administration. Even times when the drug itself didn’t cause any negative consequences the poor control of administration like needle sharing can cause other serious problems like HIV. Without intervention a problematic user can develop a chronic dependence and this obviously has all the negative effects of a problematic user but they are now dependant on the drug, it has become habitual and compulsive despite the countless negative health and social factors. They can even go to criminal lengths to get drugs which only adds to their problems. There are many theories on what is the best way to stop and treat drug addiction, but what the best really is, prevention and because Bruce Lee was such an advocate for children’s rights this literature review will focus on prevention and why children are most at risk. There are many factors that determines whether an individual we develop a drug addiction. Addiction is a disease and like all diseases, vulnerability plays a large role and this always differs from person to person (Kolowski, 1987). That being said if the individual has more risk factors to take the drugs in the first place they are at greater risk of abuse and addiction. The risks are made up of biological and environmental factors which include genetics and mental disorders and it can also be influenced by gender, ethnicity, his or her developmental stage, social environment (conditions at home, parent’s use and attitudes, peer influences, work, school and neighbourhood). An individual’s childhood and upbringing is when most risk factors are presented. During childhood the home environment can have the most influence, behaviours and attitudes from parents and older family members who abuse drugs or engage in criminal activities can increase that child’s risks of developing drug related problems (Solinas, 2010). There are also other very influential social and environmental risk factors to a child which include friends, peers and school. Friends and acquaintances have the greatest influence during adolescence. Drug-abusing peers can sway even those without risk factors to try drugs for the first time. Academic failure or poor social skills can put a child further at risk for drug abuse. Taking any drugs at any age can ultimately lead to an addiction problem, however the earlier an individual starts taking drugs they are even more at risk of developing into a problematic user (West, 2001). This has been proven that the harmful effect that drugs can have on the developing brain, other risk factors including early biological and social vulnerability factors, such as; genetic susceptibility, mental illness, unstable family relationships, and exposure to physical or sexual abuse. All that being said, the fact of the matter is that early use and exposure to drugs is a strong indicator of potential problems ahead, among them, substance abuse and addiction.
 * Literature Review **

Culture and society play very important key roles when it comes to drug policies, and in most developed countries including Australia unfortunately has a focus on punishment through the criminal legal system rather than preventative and treatment methods. When punishing drug addicts rather than helping them, it only worsens their situation and adds to their already very difficult problems and by doing so increasing their dependence on drugs. If society was to see addiction as a disease instead of people will moral flaws and poor will power than it would be a lot easier for them to seek and receive help (QPL, 2002). More helpful, preventative and treatment options need to be more readily available and accessible to addicts like, needle dispensaries, safe houses and realistically affordable rehabilitation centres. Harm minimisation is a key first step to helping addicts instead of punishing them. Drug addicts are usually from low socioeconomic statuses, areas of low income and abusive upbringings. This demographic is a stereotype that links with Bourdieu’s theory of social capital. This concept states that social capitalists are those who are from a specific social class, and only people of their calibre are welcomed and all others excluded from their culture An example of this is that the rich sail on their yachts and drink expensive wines and eat caviar and people that live in ‘cheap’ suburbs eat McDonalds and KFC and drive old commodores (Carol, 2013). It is not a huge leap to realise that there is a connection with people from a low socioeconomic background and drug abuse, however on the other end of the scales the ‘upper class’ worsen the problem by instilling moral fears. With a proper understanding these ridicules social trends can stop and help prevent drug abuse patterns. The characteristics of a stereotypical drug addict can also be represented by statistic data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 2012). These statistics and determinants are very important for when it comes to policy changes when redressing drug abuse. Drug addiction is classified as a brain disease, and it is usually a result of a combination of circumstances as mentioned before; biological, social and environmental factors. As mentioned earlier teenagers can have the most risk factors but it does not mean that it cannot happen to anyone. Even though people is lower social economic situations are at greater risk, people with great wealth are also susceptible, celebrities and sports heroes are a very good example of this, people who are admired and looked up to can fall victim to drug addiction. Hence why the Australian government runs drug campaigns that target teenagers and their parents the risks involved with drugs. By increasing their knowledge by making them aware of the risks and consequences of experimenting with drugs, running campaigns like ‘not even once’ to help stop youth experimenting with drugs.
 * Cultural and Social Analysis **

The reason I chose Bruce Lee is because I believe that it is something unique when addressing the sensitive topic a drug addiction and because so many different things have been done in the past yet no real positive results can be seen easily so I chose a different approach to get people’s attention. Bruce Lee is loved by many, myself included, and his wise words of wisdom have helped me overcome obstacles in my life that had nothing to do with martial arts. Where Bruce Lee says “Knowing is not enough, we must apply, willing is not enough we must do”, I see that as the barriers between knowledge and policies, we know the current system of punishment doesn’t work, yet we don’t do anything about it. Also where Mr Lee says “If you think a thing is impossible you’ll make it impossible”, I interpret that as the difficulties that drug addicts face and with Australia’s response of punish rather than help we only make the road to recovery even more difficult almost impossible. Finally my favourite quote of Bruce Lee’s “If you spend too much time thinking about it, you’ll never get it done” this to me is a clear wake up call, researchers have written PhD’s that have taken years to write, the internet is filled with information on what we should be doing, however nothing is being done, we need to change our perspectives of how we as a society see drug addicts, and realise that it can happen to anyone, your loved one, that’s what I have learned.
 * Analysis of the Artefact & Reflection **


 * Peer Reviews**

[] [] Australian Beuau of Statistics. (2012). Adult Health: Illicit Substance Use. Retrieved from [] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2011). Drugs in Australia 2010: //Tobacco, alcohol and other drug//s. Retrieved 24/10/2013 [] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2006). Statistics on drug use in Australia 2006. Retrieved from http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=6442467962 Carol, J. (2013). PUB209 Health Culture and Society: Lecture 3 From: Social Theory to Bodies of Evidence. Ersche, K., Turton, A., Pradhan, S., Bullmore, E., & Robbins, T. (2010). Drug addiction endophenotypes: Impulsive versus sensation-seeking personality traits. Biological Psychiatry, 68(8), 770-773. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.06.015 KOZLOWSKI, L. T. and WILKINSON, D. A. (1987), Use and Misuse of the Concept of Craving by Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drug Researchers. British Journal of Addiction, 82: 31–36. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1987.tb01430.x NCIB. (2002). Social Determinants and the Health of Drug Users: Socioeconomic Status, Homelessness, and Incarceration. Queensland Parliamentary Library. (2002). Minimising the Harm of Illicit Drug Use: Drug Policies in Australia. Retrieved from http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/explore/ResearchPublications/ResearchBriefs/2002/2002006.pdf Schwabe, L., Dickinson, A., & Wolf, O. T. (2011). Stress, habits, and drug addiction: A psychoneuroendocrinological perspective. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 19(1), 53-63. doi:10.1037/a0022212 Solinas, M., Thiriet, N., Chauvet, C., & Jaber, M. (2010). Prevention and treatment of drug addiction by environmental enrichment. Progress in Neurobiology, 92(4), 572-592. doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2010.08.002 West, R. (2001), Theories of addiction. Addiction, 96: 3–13. doi: 10.1046/j.1360-0443.2001.96131.x
 * References **