{"id":2263,"date":"2017-11-28T11:42:59","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T16:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/?p=2263"},"modified":"2017-11-28T11:45:06","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T16:45:06","slug":"international-drug-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/2017\/11\/28\/international-drug-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Map of the Week: International Drug Addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ImageThe World High<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The World Drug Report estimated that in a given year, 250,000,000 people, that\u2019s a quarter of a billion, used drugs. \u00a0Of those people using, it wasn\u2019t all medicinal, it wasn\u2019t all recreational, and it wasn\u2019t all abuse and addiction. \u00a0Along with this combination of different types of categories drug taking falls into, comes the different categories of drugs: methamphetamines, cannabis, cocaine, opiates, etc. all played a role in this number. \u00a0That being said, in 2008 the United Nations <\/span>Office of Drugs and Crime<\/span><\/i> decided it was best to break down what drugs were affecting what areas of the world in terms of usage and prevalence from region to region. \u00a0Drug addiction and usage is a terrible thing in the world, but it is fair to say that some drugs are much more dangerous than others, and so mapping what drugs are being used where, the map is able to serve as a rubric for what areas are in need of the most reform in terms of drug laws. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An ever growing topic of debate, whether you love it or hate or are undecided on the subject, the spread of drugs throughout the world grows exponentially as technology and laws change over time. \u00a0In today\u2019s world, there are recreational and medicinal drugs ranging from common household items such as aspirin to heavy hitting heroin and methamphetamines. \u00a0Along with the growth of drug use and drug trade comes rather naturally the abuse and problems of that said drug. \u00a0As this map suggests, it shows the prevalence of the main problem drugs corresponding to the continents of the earth. \u00a0Asia\u2019s and Europe\u2019s is opiates, a sedative like drug akin to morphine derived from opium. \u00a0Africa\u2019s and Oceania\u2019s is cannabis, which falls under the category of a psychotropic drug. \u00a0South America deals with the cocaine based drugs which act as anesthetics, similar to opiates. \u00a0North America as well as some part of South America is striped with cocaine and cannabis to show that there is a prevalence for problems with both of those drugs in the region. With differing regions and areas came changing percentages of what drugs are deemed as problems.<\/p>\n

One look at this map and the mind is bombarded with thoughts that everyone in that region is high off of the said drug with the highest percentage. \u00a0This map in turn makes the entire world look like one sleazy back alley club where morals are through the floor and drugs flow like a river, but that\u2019s not the case. \u00a0The map is to show what drug is use the most, among drug users. \u00a0Not everyone in the pie charts have drug addictions, not everyone on the pie charts are high school dropout nobodies. \u00a0The map is mapping out popular drugs by percentages around the world and what causes one area of the globe to have an abundance more of a certain drug compared to another area are fluency, availability, pop culture, and laws. <\/span><\/p>\n

Humans have a tendency to want to do something more when they are told no (just look at the story of Adam and Eve), so if \u201cthe man\u201d tells you not to take a drug, the odds of people wanting to take that drug more skyrocket. \u00a0An increase in laws preventing certain \u00a0drugs from being consumed can lead to both an increase in addiction but as well as the pricing of the drug and its availability. \u00a0With cannabis being legalized by more states in The United States, the black market price for weed as plummeted since the only thing keeping the prices high were all caused by the danger of the production and selling of it. \u00a0The stricter laws there are in an area for a certain drug, the higher the danger and in turn the higher price for that drug. \u00a0Fewer people want to buy it in a smaller amount which can all lead to a scale down of addiction and users. \u00a0Now, since every drug is different and should be handled as so, a drug such as cannabis that is being welcomed into the ever changing world is a drug that wouldn\u2019t need a strong control since theoretically it is a less dangerous drug than some of the drugs on the list (there have been no confirmed deaths from cannabis use). \u00a0Drug laws and drug use are all subject to their own change since they are all different. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Popular culture has always been a hub for drugs. \u00a0Whether it be Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa smoking joints on stage at their concerts or Prince overdosing on Fentanyl, an extremely potent opioid, the music industry has seen its fair share of drug users. \u00a0What drugs are used as muses in music pieces add to what drugs are popular concerning pop culture. \u00a0It was once \u201ccool\u201d to smoke cigarettes and now there is an all out war being waged on big tobacco companies because times, ideas, and yes, pop culture, have changed. \u00a0Will it eventually be deemed \u201ccool\u201d to do heroin or smoke weed or snort a line of cocaine, maybe, but that\u2019s only if the media puts a positive and glamorous spin on the drugs. \u00a0Take a look at North America on this map for example, where it seems like every day there\u2019s a new rap song about smoking weed or casually doing cocaine with friends, the drugs most prevalent to that area and the culture. \u00a0The map is able to be used to break down what regions use what drugs, and that could then serve as to what is popular or cool to do there. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The UNODC aimed to raise awareness of problematic drugs in areas in order to spur ideas of how to fix those problematic drugs and why they are problematic there. When looking at the map, the map creator divides it up into the main continents of the world, classifying the problems in percentages of the continents. \u00a0Pie charts are thrown in to make the reading off the map more quantitative to the reader. \u00a0In doing this however, the mind of the reader is to think it\u2019s 30% of the population, and not drug users, making them fear that everyone around them is using the drug, a scare tactic to goad people into wanting the expungement of the problematic drug. \u00a0Another awareness tactic that is applied in this map that would make a chart less effective is the reader\u2019s ability to pick out exactly where they live and see what drug is problematic there. \u00a0Seeing the borders of your country and having meth be the problematic drug is pretty scary if you\u2019ve never encountered it yourself as compared to just seeing a bar that says \u201cEurope\u201d because you don\u2019t associate that bar on a bar graph with your area, just \u201cthe other parts of Europe.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Some countries may be exempt from the problem drug and what percentage they carry of drug users on that continent. \u00a0This is where legality comes into play because a certain drug might not be as readily available in one place so a different drug is abused, but they are still grouped into the overall continental problem drug. For example, Sweden is colored blue instead of purple to show that they deal with amphetamine type stimulants rather than the opiates that plague the rest of Europe for one reason or another. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In terms of choosing coloring for the percentages, the map maker most likely chose the color closely related to that drug. \u00a0Opium is originally a reddish brown before it is synthesized into opiates, so a maroon pink color suited. \u00a0Cannabis mainly has a light green hue, so a mustard color is used. \u00a0Before cocaine is turned into the white powder everyone is accustomed to, it started out as leaves of the coca plant which are a faded green, so a faded green color was chosen. \u00a0Most of the amphetamine drugs used in today\u2019s world come in forms of small tabs, often of a blue color, or a generic pill with one side clear so you can see the drug inside with the other being a solid color, mainly blue. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no argument that there\u2019s a drug problem in the world. \u00a0This map aims to put a number to those drug problems. \u00a0Not all drugs are harmful, if used correctly. \u00a0Some drugs mapped out on this map have a great future in the medical if they are used properly, but putting a stop to drug problems and drug addiction can\u2019t be put in effect without knowing exactly where and what drugs are doing the harm. \u00a0Thanks to the UNODC, we know just exactly what drugs we are fighting. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The World High\u00a0 The World Drug Report estimated that in a given year, 250,000,000 people, that\u2019s a quarter of a billion, used drugs. \u00a0Of those people using, it wasn\u2019t all medicinal, it wasn\u2019t all recreational, and it wasn\u2019t all abuse … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3463,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3463"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/livesofmaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}