It’s Sunday, 13 September 2024, 11:00 AM here in India. After two consecutive Sundays of not being home, I am finally home today.
It is festival time in India. Another month of festivals is going to keep most of India busy. Loudspeakers and generally high decibel sounds make it hard to focus.
What has helped me keep the momentum is knowing what needs to be done next.
One step at a time.
“G.I Heroin Addiction Epidemic in Vietnam”
This was the front page news in “The New York Times” on 16 May 1971.
The New York Times front page story on the Heroin Addiction Epidemic, 16 May 1971
It was found that at least 60,000 American soldiers were heroin users. The US Department of Defense(DoD) had a serious problem at hand. Various samplings and surveys conducted revealed that at least 43% of the troops were habitual heroin users.
The DoD was worried about the impact of habitual drug use on the returning soldiers.
Along with withdrawals, they were concerned about the veterans’ ability to find and keep jobs, as well as increased chances of being involved in criminal activities if they continued the heroin use back in the US. The treatment programs and facilities that were available would not be sufficient to handle the drug epidemic of this proportion.
In response to this looming disaster, the White House implemented “Operation Golden Flow” in 1971. Millions of dollars were pumped into this program in anticipation of this epidemic. Clinics were set up, and facilities for research and treatment of addiction were ramped up. It was mandated that all returning servicemen be subjected to urinalysis before boarding the plane back to the United States. Detoxification facilities were set up so that the servicemen could stay clean and fly back to the United States upon successfully testing clean.
But upon return, it was found that these concerns were misfounded.
Surprisingly, it was found that only 1% of the servicemen reported being addicted since their return. The 43% of servicemen using heroin dropped to 10%. And amongst this 10%, only 1% suffered from readdiction.
This happy ending raises an important question – opiates are addictive.
What could the heroin users come back home and get sober without suffering from withdrawal?
This launched one of the earliest studies on addiction and the environment. Research found that environmental cues played a more significant role in promoting the addiction than biological carving. Soldiers were using heroin because everyone else around them was using it.
Once they were subject to the brief detoxification before their departure, they voluntarily gave up the use of heroin once they came back home.
We pick up some habits because we are in a certain environment.
Many officegoers pick up the habit of smoking because the smoking zone is where office gossip is shared, and you get to network with senior leaders who gather to smoke.
I picked up the habit of eating wafer biscuits many years back before a stressful weekly meeting. I tried limiting my frequent snacking on wafers, but I could not resist it. The problem sorted itself when another recurring meeting got scheduled just before this weekly meeting, which left me with no time to go and buy the wafers.
I gave up on the addictive habit when my environment changed.
I found this pattern with my ordering on food delivery apps. I was snacking a lot more than I normally would because yummy food was just two clicks away. When I decided to get rid of the habit, I blocked my food delivery apps around the time I would typically reach for a snack.
Lo and behold, my snacking habit discontinued without much pain.
If there is a habit you are trying to break, here are two questions to reflect on
- What are your environmental cues that are linked to this habit?
- How can you break the environment cue?
In summary, our environment contributes greatly to our habits, be they constructive or unconstructive. It has the potential to even break or create drug addiction. If you are trying to break an unconstructive habit, you could turn your attention to your environment to see how it contributes to your habit and how you can change it to influence your habit.
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From my reading list
ICYMI: Having choice is a good thing but also overwhelming. Here is how to break the paradox of choice. (Being Sane)
Books: I have been reading “The Stormlight Archive” series by Brandon Sanderson for the second time. This is a multi-series epic fantasy series that I love. The fifth book releases sometime this year, so I have been reading the first four books again (~5000 pages). Totally recommend it if you are a fantasy reader.
