Zookeepers Have Sent a Chimpanzee to Rehab in Russia

The word "addiction", is a word that once could only be applied to human beings. The thought of an animal becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol is something hard to believe and is almost comedic. Unfortunately, those animals that are not far down the evolutionary ladder from humans are just as susceptible to developing habits and addictions. Chimpanzees have commonly been used for drug experiments over the years. In one experiment, a chimpanzee was taught to hit a lever in his cage, when hit, a dose of cocaine would be administered. The scientists would gradually change the amount of times the chimp would have to hit the lever to get a single dose. The study was finally canceled when the chimpanzee was witnessed hitting the lever 12,000 times to get one dose of cocaine. Other experiments have been done that allowed the animal a choice between a lever for water and a lever for a morphine solution, as you might guess, the lever for water saw little activity. It's pretty clear that brain chemistry in animals is not too dissimilar from human beings. The main difference between a chimpanzee becoming an addict and human beings, is a matter of perception; no one would ever say that an animal that has become addicted to a substance is : attempting to be different, a rebel, a criminal, from a bad family or the product of socioeconomic disasters. Therein lays the key point about addiction that it doesn't matter where you are from or what you have been through; addiction makes no exceptions for the person you are, it is a disease that countless people are born with.

The Moscow Times recently reported that zookeepers have sent a chimpanzee to rehab in Russia after the chimp named Zhora began begging visitors for booze and cigarettes. Zhora, picked up smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol while performing in the circus. Zhora has been at the whim of visitors to the zoo who find it funny to see her smoke cigarettes and stumble around drunk inside the cage. I fail to see the humor in all this, when an animal is an addict it's "funny", yet, when a human is an addict it is pathetic. Nevertheless, wild animals in captivity are subject to whatever we put them through, if you give a substance to an animal like alcohol repeatedly, dependency is bound to develop.

Now, Zhora is in treatment fighting off the demons that the audience gave her with a smile on their faces - hilarious, right? Animals have little business in captivity to begin with, they have enough environmental stress day to day inside of their cages; to think that humans would work to shorten a life already shortened by giving them drugs. Sad!

U.N. Calls For A Tougher Anti-Opium Fight

Afghanistan is the center of the world-wide opium trade which continues to flow across its borders virtually unchecked. With the opium comes large amounts of heroin as well as all other illicit activities that can be thought of. U.N. Offices on Drugs and Crime Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said in a UPI report, "The Afghanistan-Pakistan border region has turned into the world's largest free trade zone in anything and everything that is illicit -- drugs of course, but also weapons, bomb-making equipment, chemical precursors, drug money, even people and migrants". Afghanistan has become a state of chaos which adversely affects everyone of its neighbors eventually and eventually the drugs find their way into: Europe, Russia, India, and China. 900 tons of opium and 350 tons of heroin annually cross Afghanistan's borders via Balkan and Eurasian drug trafficking routes. The U.N. calls for a tougher anti-opium fight in the region in order to curb the unbelievable amount of drugs crossing the border.

Afghanistan's opium is directly responsible for increased drug addiction as well as a bump in diseases that can be transmitted intravenously, like HIV. The money incurred from the sale of Afghan opium trickles down to the terrorist organizations in the region, similar to how drug profits fund the Mexican cartels continents away. A UNODC report published by the UPI states, "The report from the U.N. Offices on Drugs and Crime said Afghanistan produces almost all the world's opium, from which heroin is made. The global opium market is estimated at $65 billion and the number of addicts is estimated at 15 million, with an annual death rate of 100,000". It is very clear that action needs to be taken if there is any chance in curbing the devastating problem. Current efforts to stop the flow have produced minimal results, only about 2% of all the opium harvested is seized by authorities because of corruption and lawlessness in Afghanistan and its uncontrolled borders.

Afghan opium is not anything new, that region of the world is premium real estate for growing the drug. Nevertheless, the majority of drugs grown in Afghanistan have a hard time staying within Afghan borders. The time has come for the world to step up and try and fix the growing problem; entire nations are susceptible to the Afghan deadly poison which holds entire families in bondage. Small children are becoming addicted to opium and heroin on a daily basis which has become completely unacceptable. People will sell anything to get one last fix and before they know it they have nothing left. A plan needs to be devised by the U.N. to stop the problem before it gets out of hand more than it already is.