Defining "Drugs"
"People defend nothing more violently than the pretenses they live by." -- Allen Drury
Yes, here is where we get into controversy. The noun "drug" has many meanings in everyday usage. We use it as a generic term for various pharmaceuticals and other preparations that may be prescribed by medical personnel to treat assorted diseases, illnesses, or conditions. If you see the word in the press or hear it on in other media it will usually mean illegal narcotics or other, um, drugs. Just what is a drug? Can it be legal?
Curiously, there are a few things that, although they have all of the characteristics of a "drug," are not attributed "drugness." The most obvious of these is alcohol, which most people do not actually defend violently, but they will aggressively deny labeling it a drug if they make money from the sale of it. Further, if you want to test a person's reaction to the language just call a person who has a drink in her or his hand, a druggie. Would it be true? Hold that thought for a moment. First we have to be definite about what we mean by drug. The meaning of the word is central to any further discussion of prevention and counseling, at least for your understanding of what we do here. Is alcohol a drug? Is marijuana? Nutmeg? Is using the word drug in certain contexts truly offensive or do people take offense because the usage confronts their pretenses? Just what are we talking about when we use the word drug?
Well maybe a drug means all those illegal substances? No, that won’t
work.
You see many medications, especially those that are on the FDA control schedules
like dextroamphetamine, oxycodone, and codeine, are completely legal to take
under a doctor’s prescription. They are, however, illegal to take without
a prescription and such use carries serious legal penalties. Peyote use is
illegal in this country except for members of the Native American Church.
As for alcohol in the USA, its use was once legal, then it was illegal, and
now it’s is legal again if a person has attained a certain age. We won’t
even mention other countries and their laws. So legality has little to do
with whether or not a particular substance is a drug. No, the key lies in
the reason some substances fall onto the FDA schedule of controlled substances.
Substances receive tighter control as the potential for abuse and/or psychic
and physical dependence increases. So, for the purposes of counseling and
prevention, something is a drug if people may use it abusively and its use
can lead to addiction. But is that necessarily true?
Maybe not, for instance there is evidence that capsaicinoids (capsaicin is responsible for the heat in hot peppers) are mildly addictive or habit-forming. We can see this since people who like hot (spicy) foods tend to build up a tolerance to the heat and also demonstrate cravings for hot foods. As far as witnessing the abuse of chilies one need only try some of the more incendiary hot sauces on the market. Another substance would be caffeine as found in various coffees and teas. It is mildly addictive and millions of people take it everyday but you don’t hear of Coffee Drinkers Anonymous. But wait, caffeine is also sold as Jolt and NoDoz and Vivarin, any of which are quite often abused. Are they drugs? What is missing that can link heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, marijuana, alcohol, Red Bull, and Ritalin? The Hook, that’s what, and we’re sorry if we can’t think of a better word. Hook, as in getting hooked.
The hook a particular substance has (and certain activities also, like eating, sex, gambling, together with the strange exception, tobacco) is the potential it has to make people feel different, usually with the quality of “better” in some way. Alcohol allows people to be relaxed and less inhibited with a feeling of euphoria at low blood alcohol concentrations, E makes people feel closer to others and heightens tactile sense. The hook isn’t in the substance though; it’s in the mind of the user. The hook is the user’s brain associating the possibility of feeling different with the use of the substance. Being hooked can lead a person to start abusing the substance and possibly into addiction to the substance. Now I think we’re close to our definition. A drug is a substance that can change the way a person feels in a way that leads to abuse of the substance and potential physical or psychic addiction.
But, so what? It can’t be that bad to have people feeling good all
of the time even if they use a 
lot
and are addicted. We would have to agree except there is no way to feel high
and wonderful simply by smoking, eating, dropping, snorting, drinking, or
rolling something without a cost. We measure the cost of drug use by the negative
impact such [ab]use has on a person’s life, health, relationships, and
livelihood together with the negative impact on society as a whole. So a drug
is a substance that can change the way you feel, can be abused, its user can
become addicted, and its single or continued use can have a negative impact
on the user, society, health, career, and anyone with whom he or she has a
relationship. So, although a drug is neither good nor bad, its use is potentially
bad. The higher this potential – the “badder” the drug.
But is alcohol a drug? Come on, be honest! As for whether or not the person who you find with a drink in his or her hand is a druggie, well that's another discussion. Is she or he using a drug? All available information leads us to say yes. But you have to decide ... just remember a pretense exists when the supporting arguments for your stance contain fallacious information. Especially when you are aware of the fallacy on some level but still choose to ignore it. If you want to further explore the information just go here.
