How does drugs and alcohol
affect the human mind?
By: Rami elal
Class: ٩'‫יא‬

Drugs!
What are drugs any way?
A drug: is any chemical substance that when absorbed or quot;usedquot; by a
living organism it alters normal bodily functions
Drugs are widely used for different kind of reasons such as:
Medication: (A medication or medicine is a drug taken to cure and/or ameliorate any symptoms of an illness or
medical condition,)
Recreation: (Recreational drugs use is the use of psychoactive substances to have fun)
Spiritual and religious use: (The spiritual and religious use of drugs has been occurring since the dawn of
our species.)
Nootropics: (Nootropics, also commonly referred to as quot;smart drugsquot;, are drugs that are claimed to improve human
cognitive abilities.)
Legal definition of drugs: (Some governments define the term drug by law. In the United States, the Federal
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act definition of quot;drugquot; includes quot;articles intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation,
treatment, or prevention of disease in man or other animalsquot;)
Governmental controls: (just like In Canada the government has moved to remove the influence of drug
companies on the medical system.)
Etymology: (Drug is thought to originate from Old French quot;droguequot;, possibly deriving later into quot;droge-vatequot; from
Middle Dutch meaning quot;dry barrelsquot;, referring to medicinal plants preserved in them)

So it affects the body… but how?
Drugs essentially are poisons. The degree they are taken determines the effect. A small amount gives a
stimulant (increases activity). A greater amount acts as a sedative (suppresses activity). A larger amount acts
as a poison and can kill one.
This is true of any drug. Each requires a different amount.
Not many know : Caffeine is a drug, so coffee is an example. One hundred cups of coffee would probably kill a
person. Ten cups would probably put him to sleep. Two or three cups stimulate. This is a very common drug. It
is not very harmful as it takes so much of it to have an effect. So it is known as a stimulant.
Arsenic is known as a poison. Yet a tiny amount of arsenic is a stimulant, a good-sized dose puts one to sleep
and a few grains kills one
But there are many drugs which have another
liability:
They directly affect the mind.
(In order to have a good understanding of the mental effects of drugs, it is necessary to know something about what the
mind is)
It is the accumulated recordings of thoughts, conclusions, decisions, observations and perceptions of a
person throughout his entire existence. In Scientology it has been discovered that the mind is a
communication and control system between a thetan1 and his environment. By thetan is meant the person
himself, the spiritual being – not his body or his name, the physical universe, his mind, or anything else.
The mind is a communication and control system between a thetan and his environment. The mind is not a
brain.
And that leads us to
The drugs that directly affect the mind
A person who has taken drugs, in addition to the physical factors involved, retains mental image pictures of
those drugs and their effects. Mental image pictures are three-dimensional color pictures with sound and smell
and all other perceptions, plus the conclusions or speculations of the individual. They are mental copies of
one’s perceptions sometime in the past, although in cases of unconsciousness or lessened consciousness
they exist below the individual’s awareness. For example, a person who had taken LSD would retain “pictures”
of that experience in his mind, complete with recordings of the sights, physical sensations, smells, sounds,
etc., that occurred while he was under the influence of LSD.
For example :Let us say an individual took LSD one day while at a fairground with some friends, and the day’s
experiences included feeling nauseated and dizzy, getting into an argument with a friend, feeling an emotion
of sadness, and later feeling very tired. He would have mental image pictures of that entire incident
At a later time, if this person’s environment were to contain enough similarities to the elements in that past
incident, he may experience a reactivation of that incident. As a result he could feel nauseated, dizzy, sad and
very tired – all for no apparent reason. This is known as restimulation: the reactivation of a past memory due
to similar circumstances in the present approximating circumstances of the past.
Such mental image pictures can also be reactivated by drug residuals, as the presence of these drugs in the
tissues of the body can simulate the earlier drug experiences.
In Scientology, the concept of thetan is similar to the concept of spirit or soul found in 1
.other belief systems

Is alcohol a drug?
(Many natural substances such as beers, wines, and some mushrooms, blur the line between food and drugs, as when
ingested they affect the functioning of both mind and body.)
So alcohol is a drug and it's widely used around the globe
What alcohol does to your mind and body?
The immediate effects of alcohol on the human body are fairly apparent, but have you ever thought about the
other side-effects? We don't just mean headaches and nausea - alcohol is thought to be highly calorific and
can pose long term threats to our health.
Does alcohol affect my weight?
It's just a question of math's! Approximately 3,500 calories will produce one pound of fat. Alcohol is full of
calories, so, two or three G&Ts a day for four weeks will fatten you up by about 4lbs. Even worse news is that
alcohol has no essential nutrients such as vitamins and minerals
What are the good and bad effects?
Alcohol affects everyone's health in different ways - but the good things are still outweighed by the bad.
Mind and emotions
Alcohol is a drug that depresses the brain. We all know the cheeriness that can come with the first drink, but
alcohol can actually cause severe depression. 'Letting go', another effect which can initially be pleasant, gets
some of us into difficulties, because when our petty or angry side gets exaggerated by alcohol, friendships or
marriages can be threatened.
Does alcohol improve sex? Alcohol can certainly increase our desire and, by reducing tension, enhance our
enjoyment. In men however, large doses of alcohol block the nerves necessary for erection. If this happens
once or twice, a man can become worried about his sexual ability - which is a sure way to impair erections
from then on - unless confidence is re-established with a sympathetic partner. In addition, the loss of inhibition
that accompanies alcohol intake can lead to a failure to consider the need to practice safe sex, by using a
condom. Not using a condom has potentially devastating consequences - whether it be an unwanted
pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease such as chlamydia or HIV.
Hidden physical effects
Some effects of alcohol on the body are obvious - such as a deterioration in complexion, and the nausea and
headache that can accompany a hangover. However, if you are a heavy drinker, think about what you are
doing to the parts of your body that you can't see. Liver disease is one of the more common diseases linked
with a high alcohol intake - it can cause varicose veins in the stomach lining which may have been swelling up
due to liver blockage to suddenly burst, and the bleeding can be very difficult to stop. Only a blood test can
really reveal when the liver is under strain.