Check the Link at the end of the Post which Drug comes under what category.
Onto what to the topic in discussion.
Drugs which we use ,whether they cure the disease or not ,are guaranteed to produce a side effect.
We are under the illusion that a prescribed Drug is safe.
You can not be more wrong.
Prescribed Drugs are also equally harmful.
Story:
Abuse of prescription drugs can be even riskier than the abuse of illegally manufactured drugs. The high potency of some of the synthetic (man-made) drugs available as prescription drugs creates a high overdose risk. This is particularly true of OxyContin and similar painkillers, where overdose deaths more than doubled over a five-year period.
Many people don’t realize that distributing or selling prescription drugs (other than by a doctor) is a form of drug dealing and as illegal as selling heroin or cocaine, with costly fines and jail time. When the drug dealing results in death or serious bodily injury, dealers can face life imprisonment.
Types of abused prescription drugs
Prescription drugs that are taken for recreational use include the following major categories:
1. Depressants: Often referred to as central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) depressants, these drugs slow brain function. They include sedatives (used to make a person calm and drowsy) and tranquilizers (intended to reduce tension or anxiety).
2. Opioids and morphine derivatives:1 Generally referred to as painkillers, these drugs contain opium or opium-like substances and are used to relieve pain.
3. Stimulants: A class of drugs intended to increase energy and alertness but which also increase blood pressure, heart rate and breathing.
4.Antidepressants: Psychiatric drugs that are supposed to handle depression.
Higher doses can cause impairment of memory, judgment and coordination, irritability, paranoia,3 and suicidal thoughts. Some people experience the opposite of the intended effect, such as agitation or aggression.
Using sedatives (drugs used to calm or soothe) and tranquilizers with other substances, particularly alcohol, can slow breathing and the heart rate and even lead to death.
Th meaning of the Term Slavery changes with Societies,Race and Countries.
If one looks at US, one is reminded of the Blacks and the way they were bartered, auctioned and treated.
In India, the class which is called as untouchable( I have written posts on this, stating that this is not a Religiously or Socially sanctioned one), were not treated properly.
But through out Human History one finds, Slavery.
What then is Slavery?
It can be understood if we identify the characteristics of the Slaves and those who rule them.
1.Loss of free Will.
One can not decide on his own; he/she is dictated by the others, may be an individual, Institution, Government.
“f we look closely at the lives of slaves throughout human history we find that the core characteristics of slavery are the same. Slavery means the loss of free will, it means that violence will be used to maintain control over the slave, and it means that the slave will be exploited, normally in some sort of economic activity, but possibly for sex or even as an object of conspicuous consumption. Slaves may be kidnapped or captured, tricked into slavery, or born into slavery, but their lives will be controlled through violence and they will be exploited. Normally the life of a slave is marked as well by the fact that they receive no payment for their work, only subsistence.”
Definition:
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Today, while there are numerous legal and academic definitions of slavery, the most important thing is to focus on the lived experiences of slaves. When a situation of extreme exploitation is examined, it is important to ask: “Can this person walk away? Are they under violent control?” Of all the core characteristics, the most important is the presence of violent control; it is the foundation of all slavery. After violent control is established slavery can then take any one of many forms: human trafficking, debt bondage slavery, contract slavery, slavery linked to religious practices, or state-sponsored forced labor.
Slavery – a relationship in which one person is controlled by violence through violence, the threat of violence, or psychological coercion, has lost free will and free movement, is exploited economically, and paid nothing beyond subsistence.
Taken in this perspective, Modern day Corporate practices Slavery, especially the IT sector.
The difference is that instead of violence, money is provided along with Perks, including Creches,Play activities, Food, Accommodation.
You work , on an average, 10 to 12 Hours day in the guise of working from Home.
Your Family life, Sleep pattern, food habits are influenced and in some cases controlled by these.
Broadly, leaving this glorious slavery, where one imagines himself to be free and happy, we have the following categories of Slavery.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates 2.4 million people were victims of human trafficking from 1995-2005. This estimate uses the UN Protocol definition of human trafficking, and includes both transnational and internal data.
800,000 – Number of people trafficked across international borders every year.
Source: U.S. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report: 2007.
Note:
The TIP Report in 2001 and 2002 estimated this figure at 700,000;
The TIP Report of 2003 reported 800,000 to 900,000 victims;
The TIP Reports of 2004 through 2006 reported 600,000 to 800,000 victims.
Countries which do not have proper laws in Place. for Slavery.
1 million – Number of children exploited by the global commercial sex trade, every year.
Source: U.S. Department of State, The Facts About Child Sex Tourism: 2005.
50% – Percent of transnational victims who are children.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Report to Congress from Attorney General John Ashcroft on U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons in Fiscal Year 2003: 2004.
80% – Percent of transnational victims who are women and girls.
Source: U.S. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report: 2007.
70% – Percent of female victims who are trafficked into the commercial sex industry. This means that 30% of female victims are victims of forced labor.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Assessment of U.S. Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons: 2004.
161 – Countries identified as affected by human trafficking:
127 countries of origin; 98 transit countries; 137 destination countries.
Note: Countries may be counted multiple times and categories are not mutually exclusive.
Between 14,000 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the US annually
In 1850, the cost of a slave (in today’s dollars) was $40,000. In modern slavery, the price of a slave in $30.
600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders each year.
According to the United Nations, profits from human trafficking rank it among the top three revenue earners for organized crime, after drugs and arms.”
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Slaves can be an attractive investment because the slave-owner only needs to pay for sustenance and enforcement. This is sometimes lower than the wage-cost of free labourers, as free workers earn more than sustenance; in these cases slaves have positive price. When the cost of sustenance and enforcement exceeds the wage rate, slave-owning would no longer be profitable, and owners would simply release their slaves. Slaves are thus a more attractive investment in high-wage environments, and environments where enforcement is cheap, and less attractive in environments where the wage-rate is low and enforcement is expensive.[8]
Free workers also earn Compensating differentials, whereby they are paid more for doing unpleasant work. Neither sustenance nor enforcement costs rise with the unpleasantness of the work, however, so slaves’ costs do not rise by the same amount. As such, slaves are more attractive for unpleasant work, and less for pleasant work. Because the unpleasantness of the work is not internalised, being born by the slave rather than the owner, it is a negative externality and leads to over-use of slaves in these situations.[9]
Slavery can be quite profitable[citation needed] and corrupt governments will tacitly allow it, despite it being outlawed by international treaties such asSupplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery and local laws. Total annual revenues of traffickers were estimated in 2004 to range from US $5 billion to US $9 billion,[10] though profits are substantially lower. American slaves in 1809 were sold for around $40,000. Today, a slave can be bought for $90.[11] Some governments will even overtly make use of slavery by recruiting child soldiers.
Unfortunately, slavery is often seen as a by-product of poverty. Countries that lack education, economic freedoms and the rule of law, and which have poor societal structure can create an environment that fosters the acceptance and propagation of slavery.
On the other hand, the US had homicide rates between 5.0 and 5.8 per 100,000 population during that same stretch.
After visits with professors, government officials, lawyers, journalists and citizens, the pie-chart breakdown became clear – though admittedly, it is impossible to determine how much each factor contributes.
First – and arguably foremost – there is virtually no difference among upper, middle and lower classes in Iceland. And with that, tension between economic classes is non-existent, a rare occurrence for any country.
The tycoon’s children go to school with everyone else”
Björgvin SigurðssonSocial Democratic Alliance
A study of the Icelandic class system done by a University of Missouri master’s student found only 1.1% of participants identified themselves as upper class, while 1.5% saw themselves as lower class.
The remaining 97% identified themselves as upper-middle class, lower-middle class, or working class.
On one of three visits to Althing, the Icelandic parliament, I met Bjorgvin Sigurdsson, former chairman of the parliamentary group of the Social Democratic Alliance. In his eyes – as well as those of many Icelanders I spoke with – equality was the biggest reason for the nation’s relative lack of crime.
“Here you can have the tycoon’s children go to school with everyone else,” Sigurdsson says, adding that the country’s social welfare and education systems promoted an egalitarian culture.
Babies are sometimes left unattended in Iceland
Crimes in Iceland – when they occur – usually do not involve firearms, though Icelanders own plenty of guns.
GunPolicy.org estimates there are approximately 90,000 guns in the country – in a country with just over 300,000 people.
The country ranks 15th in the world in terms of legal per capita gun ownership. However, acquiring a gun is not an easy process -steps to gun ownership include a medical examination and a written test.
Police are unarmed, too. The only officers permitted to carry firearms are on a special force called the Viking Squad, and they are seldom called out.
In addition, there are, comparatively speaking, few hard drugs in Iceland.
According to a 2012 UNODC report, use among 15-64-year-olds in Iceland of cocaine was 0.9%, of ecstasy 0.5%, and of amphetamines 0.7%.
There is also a tradition in Iceland of pre-empting crime issues before they arise, or stopping issues at the nascent stages before they can get worse.
Right now, police are cracking down on organised crime while members of the Icelandic parliament, Althingi, are considering laws that will aid in dismantling these networks.
When drugs seemed to be a burgeoning issue in the country, the parliament established a separate drug police and drug court. That was in 1973.
Many people from Iceland, such as these marksmen, use firearms – yet gun crime is rare
In the first 10 years of the court, roughly 90% of all cases were settled with a fine.(BBC Magazine)
According to reports in Iceland Review, international crime has started coming to Iceland. Not only are criminals being sent to Iceland in order to break the law, but large scale organisations are setting up branches in the Nordic nation.
Sigridur Bjork Gudjonsdottir, assistant national commissioner of the Icelandic police told Icelandic newspaper Frettabladid that international crime has become a reality in Iceland. “Reports from the investigative department of the Icelandic police confirm that organised crime has taken root in Iceland,” she said.
Reports indicate that criminals are being sent from organisations in East and Central Europe in order to commit crimes in Iceland.(icenews)
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