DRUG SCENE AMONG ASIAN-AMERICANS

We also treat alcoholism. Alcoholism is something that has not been looked at enough in Asian—American cultures. We have a different view of alcohol; and they say there are fewer alcoholics in Japan. But this view is perceptual because when papa comes home and falls on the floor, that’s not a problem; he just had a good time with people he works with; it’s necessary for business. It’s part of his work. Because we haven’t really defined what’s appropriate or inappropriate in terms of alcohol use, we culturally deny our problem with alcohol. Japanese have just as much alcoholism as any other culture.

Next, we see marijuana as a very popular drug among Asian- American youths. Marijuana is a weed. When it’s smoked, it makes you feel aloof, confused and dreamy. It gives you a dream- like sleepiness and detachment from your environment. You also get hungry and red in the eye when you smoke marijuana. Marijuana also causes major addiction and behavioral problems which need just as much treatment as cocaine addiction.

We even have a significant number of Asian—Americans, nikkei too, who are heroin addicts.  Currently, we have more nikkei heroin addicts than we have Chinese heroin addicts. Heroin is a pain killer.  It also makes you sleepy and drowsy; it brings about a profound addiction. Nikkei youth have very recently been so addicted to heroin that they’ve died in overdose situations.

We have to wake up here in our community and recognize that all the problems that exist outside our community are also within our community. A real startling thing for me to find out was that forty Asian—Americans in San Francisco were diagnosed as having an AIDS condition. We had about 14 Japanese Americans die of AIDS over the last three years, so it’s a problem within our culture, too; and we should also pay attention to that. Especially important is to realize that AIDS and drug abuse are intimately associated and that Asian drug abusers are a high risk population for contracting the disease.

We also have a few PCP abusers among Asian—Americans. PCP blocks the brain from all incoming messages. You become like a zombie and walk around like a robot. You can get hallucinations and psychic feelings which are often homicidal or suicidal in nature. PCP is probably one of the worst forms of drug abuse and a problem that also affects our culture.

Community Awareness Needed.

There really is a variety of drugs that are abused by the Asian community. Drug abuse is within our community. But drug abuse is a very treatable condition. People can get better. We need in our community to dedicate ourselves to two things. First, recognize that we also have drug problems, and help our children and people who have contracted this disease to get into

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