The Drug User: Personality Issues

The personality of the individuals who use a variety of sub- stances, singly or in combination, which are legal or illegal in status, for non-medical reasons, has been of interest and concern to a variety of intervention agents and groups for many decades. Indeed, a review of the literature leads to the conclusion that this interest has in no way waned. More and more articles and books are written, and more and more research is planned and carried out, which are designed to describe the personality of the knOWll-yisible drug user(s). If anything this interest has broadened to include the spouse of the drug user, his or her parents, and at times the child of the drug user. In simplistic terms the thesis is posited or hinted at, that a specific type of individual will use "drugs" in a socio-cultural un- acceptable manner. And the critical factor which is pinpointed to explain this type of drug use is the personality/character-traits of the individual, alone or in combination with other factors. These latter factors can include, among others, the primary and secondary effects of drugs, the meaning attributed to the manner of using drugs (oral, intravenous, intramuscular, sniffing, smoking, etc., ) as well as to the drug experience, the external environment, gen- etics, drug availability, individual and group coping skills; as well as socio-political-economic factors.