Eftokblog

Mathematics, intro session

2010-05-21T02:50:00.000-07:00

This week we began to explore mathematics as an Area of Knowledge (AOK) and the presentation used can be found on Edline. It was interesting watching and listening to your definitions of mathematics and the certainty with which the truths of mathematics are held. Notably the reaction generated when it was demonstrated that NOT all angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees. This demo and the problem with finding a flat plane to create real parallel lines should have secured for you the importance of using Axioms in Mathematics. Interesting that we need assumptions before we can do the sums!?!

The Thursday group featured a really good presentation by Kuba based on decision making. We then fell into one of those discussion rabbit holes for over 30 minutes contemplating how to make winning decisions in Chess based on more than just pure logic. Dias and I now need to play chess to settle our difference of views! If he plays like a robot I will let you know with my easy victory. mMaybe though I am making an emotional statement there or maybe I planned such an opening statement? - the mind games begin... Well done Kuba.

So Friday we did our maths in the park and not in the dark. Groups reported back on the defining language for mathematics:
Axioms
Theorum
Conjecture
Theorum

With Dashaably helping the randomly selected speakers we ended up with the following explanations:

Axiom: (Paula) We need a starting point., basic assumptions for our theorums. By creating assumptions such as Euclids original 5 we can create a hypothesis based upon our observations (sounds like Science's methodology ). Axioms are independent assumptions and give us that starting point.

Theorum: (Boris) Using Axioms and deductive reasoning we can design a proof proposal (a theoretical conclusion - Karl)

Conjecture: (Sergei)When you are not completely sure - right or wrong - a hypothesis that feels to work but so far is not shown to be true.

Proof: (Celine) Theorum shown to be made of relevant axioms. The process of proving is within the proof.

Feel free to add to these and question the language, otherwise a good attempt by tyhe Friday group to clarify.

History

2010-05-14T04:03:00.000-07:00

Finally we had the second run of the History sessions with Chris this week. This means we are (both classes) back in synch and I can blog again! Once again many thanks are due to Chris and also to those of you in the Tursday group who made very perceptive comments, contributions and also importantly raised good questions. i would like to summarize a few of the things Chris' presentations raised. History as you know is an important Area of Knowledge (AOK) in TOK and these ideas will give some of you scope for answering one of the TOK set essays using History and its aims and methodologies.
History and everyday life
Can you ever know the past?

"We are creatures that rely on experience more than instinct". Do you agree with Chris' view in this regard?

History provides us with a shared fabric of society. Is this important?

Historical materialism

Who could have predicted the current levels of global interdependence during the cold war?

Why do people crave personal histories, why do so many people search and research family trees and additionally witness national histories being celebrated. History has a certain materialism to it - however:

Leopold van Ranke gives us the Rankian view that a historians (one who writes history) job is purely to show "what happened".

Marxism provides a contrasting view - all past events are explainable and all futures are predictable.

History and progress

Have we progressed? History is often reported as a march forwards - a march to progress. If so why are we slaughtering ourselves in continued wars in ever more sophisticated ways?

History and cause and effect

WW2 seemingly was a response to the failures of settlement of WW1

Regarding the history of thought, we have shown that paradigm shifts in thought occur every so often and so if history tells us anything it is that most things we know hold as true will turn out to be false. This is a big idea in TOK. What can we know from history if this is the case?

So to summarize History:

Do we study it because we have to? People just want pegs back in time - could we live in a world where a sense of history did not exist?

Is History a Science? Yes in the sense their are methods to follow. No in the sense Science employs facts. History cant say anything is a fact other than dates of events, people who existed BUT peoples motivations are subject to the retrospective reporting of biased historians

In History it may be more difficult "to know" than in say Science. Consider how the cold war is recorded in USA, Russian and British history books. Howwver in both History and Science (due to falsification) you can never achieve the goal of knowing for certain the truths you are searching for.

Other issues with history may include: A time limit - who cares after say 50 years? Governments often only release official documents after 50 years - by which time the truth of events and those affected have or are passng into memory.

The Societal perceptions of history - are there conformity pressures to celebrate historical accounts. e.g celebrating the dambusters is a part of the British culture, D Day etc. No accounts of the numbers of germans dying is wrapped in the history, the Dresden Bombings are not discussed. Why? The British invented the concept of concentration camps in the Boer war - how well know and studied is this by British School children?

History as an AOK raises many good TOK ideas for discussion. The above should support your own notes. Please reflect upon Chris' class on your own blogs.

Reason, Logical fallacies

2010-04-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

Key words to remember:

Assumptions- making personal judgements containing guesses and biases, can be accurate but lead to errors being made

Fallacy - a mis calculation in thinking, an error in the making..

The incident in the store exercise we looked at was demonstrating that when it comes to recalling incidents, with our memories we tend to tell a story. This is problematic in Law courts and for us in TOK it highlights one issue with Reason as a source of knowing. Different storytellers see different things in the same incident, so who to believe? This is the narrative fallacy. This is a problem in History/ historical record.

The list of argument or inductive fallacies is lomg, I like this clip here. It aims to demonstrae some key fallacy terms using the debate as to whether God exists. Always a good TOK topic!

Can you give your own examples of Straw man, Red herring and circular reasoning? Slippery slope or ad hominem arguments? Any other?

As we looked at sample essays this week you should attempt to craft the opening sentence for one of the TOK essays, then build up the first paragraph. Plan the rest. This is the process we will follow so get on with this when you havve the confidence to begin. We are only two terms in but I believe a number of you can attempt this now.

Grey Swans and Paradigm shifts

2010-03-19T15:13:00.000-07:00

I have posted on edline an article from New Scientist (one of the best respectable resources for TOK ideas). It is from May 2008 and the title of the article is "Some swans are Grey". Incredibly (perhaps?) I found the article in a chance glance at the front cover of the journal as I returned the projector to Bryans room today, straight from TOK. Serendipity!! Well, true serendipity required some action.
We talked Thurs and today about the current paradigm of thought being science based and science more than any disipline is defined by its methodology. I mentioned tipping points in both classes and speculated where the new shift of ideas might come from. Well the article in new scientist claims that "Poppers definition of science is being sorely tested by the emergence of scientific ideas which seem to fail it" "it " being, of course, falsification. The article then goes on to cite Colin Howson of LSE in London promoting "an alternative view of science based not on simplistic true/false logic, but on the far more subtle concept of degrees of belief" Essentially a mix of mathematical probability and the" subjective concept of belief". If you want to research this its called the Bayensian view of science, after Thomas Bayes the mathematician (18th c). Its pretty interesting and gives us now 4 views about how science methodologies exist. I hope you can remember the other 3?

Reasoning creates knowledge issues - I believe there were plenty of debatable syllogisms in class, the powerpoint is on edline if you wish to check out the premises/ argument/ conclusions presented again. As always thank you for the engaging, intelligent contributions. Special note to Kuba for introducing a new "freedom of thinking" model - Check it on his blog!

Please remember syllogisms are arguments set up to show deductive reasoning but demonstrate issues/problems that illustrate the occurence of inductive fallacies. Therefore exposing the two types of logic we examined this week.

Recommendations

2010-03-12T14:29:00.000-08:00

Check out the wave on Siljes blog. If you doubt what these two clips show then have a quick gander (look ) at the "Stanford Prison experiment" Or check it out anyhow - the power of role play is incredible. Ta ra ra Boom dee ay!!

Also once you watch "the wave" have a look at my post "brown eyes, blue eyes" it also demonstrates role play power - this time a teacher demonstrating how children can become racist.

I am beginning to notice those who are not reflecting....it only takes 2 minutes..

New forum topic posted on www.eftok.tk

Methodologies

2010-03-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

The clip this week from youtube came from the movie "Dead Poets Society" well worth watching some time.

I showed this clip as it demonstrates the problem with methodologies for finding knowledge in the arts. If you can compare this with the three methodologies we discussed for science then you should be able to plan an essay for question 5 on the prescribed set essay list. You will see notes on the blog in November regarding the science methodologies.

Filtering language

2010-03-12T12:50:00.000-08:00

Valerias comment made me remember this one. Does this work on all of you? any of you?
:
From Cambridge University. (allegedly - this did the global e mail rounds a few years ago)

Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.

cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The
phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,

it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs psas it on !!

Psas Ti ON !

Filtering Language

2010-03-08T02:05:00.000-08:00

Can you think of any examples when you have filtered the words that come out of your mouth? They were not the first instinctive words in your mind? remember the test in class?

S*x
Sh*t
F**K

Six, Shot and Flak. Naturally!

This is a great reminder that we not only filter by perception (input) but by Language (output) as well. Thinking about interview techniques is another good way to recognize the way we filter our natural instincts with language. So, any examples of your own?

Reflecting on this weeks class. What did you make of our role play. I did some more reserach on the Tarara boom de ay theory. i think the original word hails from the Philippines, but its not a well known theory. Some housepoints available for anyone who can strengthen/ source this theory. I felt this theory was worthwhile and provokes another question. Why dance? I hope language originated from a state of celebration rather than necessity. Do you and does it matter in any case?

Argument sketch

2010-03-04T05:02:00.001-08:00

I like the line "I could be arguing in my spare time". I showed you this as it's a classic insight into the British sense of humour. Monty Python are legendary, they are all Oxford graduates.
This sketch also shows us something about how we know via rationalism/reason. The entire sketch uses the language of reason. They argue about definitions of an argument(illustrating one of the issues we have we language as a way of knowing), they also engage in a deductive and seemingly logical discussion about what an argument is. This is ironic of course and leads eventually to an example of the fallacy in inductive logic ("I could be arguing in my spare time"). That statement is the "Black Swan" moment perhaps! So reason has been introduced this week and we will continue with ideas to do with logic next week. Please bring with you the set essay questions.

Language

2010-02-26T12:28:00.000-08:00

This week we had a consensus! Well almost. 2 ways of considering language and our experience of life, the multiverse and everything (Karl, does it matter if the multi is hyphenated - ?)
By the way, I found my Thurs group inspired lyrics - they were " how can you find spirituality in the virtual world" you will need to join me and Boris for a Jam next Thurs lunchtime to hear the full song. The inspiration has been reading 1984 again and watching the movie "network" 1976. Before Helen left, I asked her what her favourite movie was and her first response was "network" it's full of good TOK " I want you to get mad" and " I am an angry prophet denouncing the hypocracies of our time " Semyen, you must have seen this?

Anyways--- consensus. Oh, in case your already bored. Stay here.. look

Theres nothing in it so don't look back! Honestly I learnt a lot/ was reminded of a lot today and yesterday!

Thoughtfish:

Consensus: Our reality is either defined by our language (liguistic determinism) OR our reality is pure and real and the language comes afterwards when necessary (linguistic realism). I think by the way, maybe some of you should begin a wiki group for CAS. Its definitely Service hours and global.

During the exercise on Thurs we listed the 15 words that had to be kept in the dictionary at all cost. We had good debate about the word "God". I would not put the word in my list because I had the word "chance" there. Does this deserve further debate? Now, if any of you just stood up and then forgot why, Boris has a word for that!
Great thinking this week all. See you next week.

p.s. check on ultimatefrizbee at youtube Joeys Thesaurus, interview with Steven Pinker and Osho explaining why word number 14 on my list is the most versatile in the English language.

Read below about the Orca killing a trainer this week...

Killer Whales: do they kill because of slavery?

2010-02-26T12:21:00.000-08:00

Click here for full story

This article gives a critical opinion not only of animals in captivity, but perhaps challenges us to consider what we are usually told about life for Orcas at sea parks. Where would you find confirmation of these claims? What credentials do the authors have?

BLOG FOLLOWERS

2010-02-12T12:59:00.000-08:00

IN THE COMMENT BOX PUT YOUR BLOG ADDRESS,
NEW WORD:BLOGAMYST: ONE WHO FOLLOWS MANY MANY BLOGS, NOT JUST THEIR OWN (BLOGMONOLIST). LINGUISTIC DETERMINISM? Remember to create your own word for next time we have class. Word and meaning.

Language of newspeak

2010-02-10T08:56:00.000-08:00

newspeak dictionary

"The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of IngSoc (English Socialism), but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought -- that is, a thought diverging from the principles of IngSoc -- should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words." 1984, George Orwell

what the bleep do we know?

2010-02-04T14:02:00.000-08:00

Bleep">Follow this link but remember to be thinking about the CREDENTIALS of each of these speakers (end of movie titles).

Brown eyes Blue eyes experiment

2010-02-04T13:26:00.000-08:00

This is footage showing a teacher undertaking a daring lesson the day after Martin Luther King was shot. She set up this lesson to teach about the unfairness of discrimination but it allows us to ponder some difficult questions regarding human nature. Click here to view

Digital Media Resources

2010-02-04T12:45:00.001-08:00

Here is a blog database of good TOK discussion ideas. This blog was started by students of a former colleague of mine - makes you think what you can build by starting and committing to a blog. Try This for lots of TOK Digital media resources. It's like landing in Aladdins Cave of critical thinking!

Forum: Life, the multiverse and everything!

2010-02-03T01:51:00.000-08:00

All Ib students are to register and post a forum topic on a TOK thought to get the forum up and running by next Monday (8th February). You can register and get started by clicking here. Life, the multi-verse and everything!

Presentations, quotations

2010-01-15T14:01:00.000-08:00

This weeks TOK demonstrated a number of very good reminders of best practice. If you saw Karl, Sofia and Daria today then you were able to see what an A grade student does. They were on time with their presentation, they were confident enough to step up and talk, they were creative in both their preparation and during their respective presentations and each of them had a quality TOK moment (in fact Sofia had two (one of which made my head ache!)!). However my personal favourite was Daria's quotation within here final panel of her cartoon strip, I reproduce it here, well done all 3 of you. "Time is the best falsifier" -Brilliant!

Reason, does God exist?

2010-01-09T12:45:00.000-08:00

Although the ideas here are time consuming to read through, it is a good demonstration of a logically constructed argument. This article might just make future debates about the likelihood of "God" more interesting.

sciences, methods

2010-01-07T12:38:00.000-08:00

Empirical evidence is evidence we have tested by observing something ourself via our senses. As we have seen in the different way we process sensory information, our perception is not always 100% reliable, so a way of testing empirical evidence is provided by following a scientific approach.

This week we have looked at 4 possible approaches to explain the true scientific method.

These are:

Inductivism.
Falsification.
Paradigms.
Anarchist.

The original scientific methods were best described perhaps as inductivism and is a simplistic approach discussed by David Hume amonst others. It means if you observe an event and a cause/ occurence many times then a general statement of likelihood of cause can be set up and either described as true or false. As we will discover when we study issues with reasoning, inductive logic leads to mistakes in assumptions and the occurence of the fallacy of induction. (A fallacy means an unexpected mistake).

Falsification is the usual and most respected idea about the scientific method. YOU MUST TRY TO REMEMBER THIS (!)idea. It was published by Karl Popper. It means in science you make an observation and suggest a theory. You then disprove all other possible explanations leaving your theory as the most trustworthy.

Paradigm theory refers to a belief put forward by Kuhn, that scientists in reality are guided in their viewpoints and by underlying belief systems. They are unwitting slaves to their deep held beliefs and therefore cling to much to personal hypothesis and are ego driven in defence of their theories. This is an interesting idea when you consider why it took so long for theories such as evolution to be generally accepted, and perhaps why counter theories to global warming are dismissed very quickly by most.
Anarchist theory published by Paul Feyeraband and in this Feyeraband argues that actually most scientific discoveries have been down to chance and serendipity, that anything useful has been found by initial mistakes and subsequent sagacity to spot an opportunity.

Science, Baloney detection kit

2010-01-07T12:20:00.000-08:00

Michael Shermer is the founder of the skeptics society and bases the ideas here and below upon original work by Carl Sagan, who now recently deceased was and still is one of the USA's most well known and globally respected scientists. In his book "the Demon Haunted world" he presents his baloney (meaning nonsense) detection kit. It is used by skeptics to find good science and to dismiss bad or psuedoscience. This clip below gives a good introduction. The kit is useful for us to help us establish knowledge that is trustworthy.

These ideas are useful for our discussion and the essay title: Art upsets; science reassures. Discuss.

You can see a written summary of these arguments here

Michael Shermer states further:
Clearly, there are no foolproof methods of detecting baloney or drawing the boundary between science and pseudoscience. Yet there is a solution: science deals in fuzzy fractions of certainties and uncertainties, where evolution and big bang cosmology may be assigned a 0.9 probability of being true, and creationism and UFOs a 0.1 probability of being true. In between are borderland claims: we might assign superstring theory a 0.7 and cryonics a 0.2. In all cases, we remain open-minded and flexible, willing to reconsider our assessments as new evidence arises. This is, undeniably, what makes science so fleeting and frustrating to many people; it is, at the same time, what makes science the most glorious product of the human mind.

The Author:
Michael Shermer is founding publisher of Skeptic magazine and author of
The Borderlands of Science.

Random Class names

2009-12-09T15:18:00.000-08:00

Click here for full screen version

Cartoon, Metaphysical

2009-12-03T04:09:00.000-08:00

Emotional intelligence, Toondoo

2009-12-01T06:21:00.000-08:00

Emotional Intelligence toon

Digital media, Toondoo

2009-12-01T06:03:00.000-08:00

Here is the link for the fabulous toondoo.

Cartoon strip generator

Assignment help, Good TOK

2009-12-01T05:40:00.000-08:00

Last week I was trying to give you advice on how to spot good TOK opportunities. These opportunities can be used in your TOK presentations or within your TOK essays due in January 14th (Chemists and Physicists), or 15th (Biologists). Where to begin?:

Firstly - finding inspiration. As your critical thinking skills develop you will begin to read about or follow on media such as youtube and ted.com more thought provoking material. Watch out for dogmatic statements people make (over confident in the self assuredness of the claim), watch out for so called conspiracy theories, pseudo-science and ethical disputes. My friend Nicola in her book "a new you" talks about all of us activating our "scooby ears" - it's that internal alarm going off - "how do they know that"?

Have a look at www.youtube.com and my "scooby ear" videos are stored under user: ultimatefrizbee - watch one or two and ask yourself - why is this here? How does it raise questions or challenge a certain viewpoint or paradigm? Then attempt to make the issue interesting.

Start reading broadsheet or alternative newspapers once a week. Try www.thefirstpost.co.uk remember whilst the articles here often challenge the consensus they are still open to further critical analysis by you.

Secondly. When you find a source/claim/issue that is intriguing,dogmatic or sounds spurious (lacking substance or truthfulness), work yourself your own angle of enquiry. Use the socratic method we have learnt. Ask the 4 wives and a husband type questions. Why, What,Who, Where and How?

Using my last post as an example:

Hollow Earth theory:

Example Good TOK questions:

Who is making such claims? Who else?
What is the theory challenging? What evidence do we need to get nearer to the truth claim behind this theory? What evidence can disprove or prove such a theory?

Where can I find counter-evidence, counter claims? Where is this theory being published? Where is the substatiated proof?

How can we know if the Earth is hollow? How can we ever know the full extent of the history of our planet? How satisfied should we be with our current understanding of our planet?

All these questions lead to more questions and therefore good TOK. However you still need to find some creativity yourself in how you present your questions, make them relevant, thought provoking and occassionally amusing. Why not? My hollow earth theory could mean ten years from now we are on an expedition inside the earth hunting Wooly Mammoths and Spacemen and wondering why we all found the theory stupid in 2009!

teepee and northern lights. (Light escapes from internal sun?)

2009-11-27T12:43:00.000-08:00

This is a picture mail I received today after TOK. We discussed the hollow earth theory. Theories like this offer us good TOK, critical thinking opportunities.

Take a look at this:
What evidence do we need to believe this theory? Are we too quick to dis-believe due to our own biases? Are these biases the same as those who believed the earth was flat or those that believed powdered baby milk is better than natural mothers milk? People also believed these things right? So how do we know the earth is not hollow? You been inside?

Hollow earth theory

Reason, 2012

2009-11-12T06:44:00.000-08:00

NASA responds to 2012 fears

Language, first words?

2009-11-10T12:34:00.000-08:00

http://www.newsweek.com/id/221357

Glossary, September

2009-10-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

Glossary for TOK

Acquaintance: To know something about someone because you know them well e.g. you may know your friend is tired because you recognise their moods.

Authority: To know something because someone you regard as important has told you so. e.g. A historical fact by a famous historian.

Empathy. To know something by being able to put yourself into that situation in your imagination, "to walk in another mans mocassins".

Empirically. To know something by testing and using your 5 senses. e.g. Plants transpire water through their leaves - you test by placing a plastic bag over the plant and collecting the water vapour. You see the evidence, you can also touch it.

Experience. To engage in new discoveries for body and mind. Empriricists believe all knowledge must be based on the test of experience.

Faith:To know without empirical evidence. e.g. to know their is an interventionist God.

Instinctive: Hard wired mental and physical responses, capabilities and actions. e.g breathing, fight or flight responses.

Logically. To know via sound reasoning, it can be deductive or inductive logic.

Memory: To know something because you remember the event or instance.

Metaphysical: Questions in philosophy concerned with big problems, e.g. What is the meaning of life, Why am I here, Is there a God?

Paradigm. A collective way of thinking.

Paradox. A logical conclusion that is unsatisfactory. See Xeno's paradox

Philosophy. Simply put, a love of learning, knowledge and wisdom.

Plato. Early Philosopher, the first to write down and record philosophical ideas in Ancient Greece.

Sagacity. To act wisely, like a sage, with vision and creative imagination.

Practice. To know something by trying to learn over and over again, many times. e.g. to know how to juggle.

Serendipity. A chance occurence and opportunity that is acted upon with sagacity.

Socrates. Original Greek Philosopher.

Socratic method. A questioning technique whereby a moral opinion is obtained from the person under question. This opinion is then exposed by deconstructing the root of the belief.

Journal

2009-09-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

Journal for Theory of knowledge

Ways of knowing

2009-06-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

Take the multiple intelligence self assessment

Right Brain Left Brain

2009-06-12T01:02:00.001-07:00

The Spinning Silhouette Optical Illusion - The funniest home videos are here

Saro Wiwa, Ethics

2009-06-09T04:18:00.000-07:00

Saro Wiwa

Truth, Loss of newsprint

2009-04-01T03:34:00.000-07:00

Newspapers and truth

Language Instinct lost - Feral children

2009-03-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

Reason - Game theory

2009-03-10T07:27:00.000-07:00

Natural Sciences - Western medicine

2009-03-10T07:18:00.000-07:00

Prescription Drugs Kill 300 Percent More Americans than Illegal Drugsby David Gutierrez (NaturalNews) A report by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission has concluded that prescription drugs have outstripped illegal drugs as a cause of death.An analysis of 168,900 autopsies conducted in Florida in 2007 found that three times as many people were killed by legal drugs as by cocaine, heroin and all methamphetamines put together. According to state law enforcement officials, this is a sign of a burgeoning prescription drug abuse problem. "The abuse has reached epidemic proportions," said Lisa McElhaney, a sergeant in the pharmaceutical drug diversion unit of the Broward County Sheriff's Office. "It's just explosive." In 2007, cocaine was responsible for 843 deaths, heroin for 121, methamphetamines for 25 and marijuana for zero, for a total of 989 deaths. In contrast, 2,328 people were killed by opioid painkillers, including Vicodin and Oxycontin, and 743 were killed by drugs containing benzodiazepine, including the depressants Valium and Xanax.Alcohol directly caused 466 deaths, but was found in the bodies of 4,179 cadavers in all.While the number of dead bodies containing heroin jumped 14 percent from the prior year, to a total of 110, the number of deaths influenced by the painkiller oxycodone increased by 36 percent, to a total of 1,253.Across the country, prescription drugs have become an increasingly popular alternative to the more difficult to acquire illegal drugs. Even as illegal drug use among teenagers have fallen, prescription drug abuse has increased. For example, while 4 percent of U.S. 12th graders were using Oxycontin in 2002, by 2005 that number had increased to 5.5 percent.It's not hard for teens to come by prescription drugs, according to Sgt. Tracy Busby, supervisor of the Calaveras County, Calif., Sheriff's Office narcotics unit. "You go to every medicine cabinet in the county, and I bet you're going to find some sort of prescription medicine in 95 percent of them," he said. Adults can acquire prescriptions by faking injuries, or by visiting multiple doctors and pharmacies for the same health complaint. Some people get more drugs than they expect to need, then sell the extras."You have health care providers involved, you have doctor shoppers, and then there are crimes like robbing drug shipments," said Jeff Beasley of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. "There is a multitude of ways to get these drugs, and that's what makes things complicated."And while some people may believe that the medicines' legality makes them less dangerous than illegal drugs, Tuolumne County, Calif., Sheriff's Office Deputy Dan Crow warns that this is not the case. Because everybody reacts differently to foreign chemicals, there is no way of predicting the exact response anyone will have to a given dosage. That is why prescription drugs are supposed to be taken under a doctor's supervision."All this stuff is poison," Crow said. "Your body will fight all of this stuff."Tuolumne County Health Officer Todd Stolp agreed. A prescription drug taken recreationally is "much like a firearm in the hands of someone who's not trained to use them," he said.While anyone taking a prescription medicine runs a risk of negative effects, the drugs are even more dangerous when abused. For example, many painkillers are designed to have a delayed effect that fades out over time. This can lead recreational users to take more drugs before the old ones are out of their system, placing them at risk of an overdose. Likewise, the common practice of grinding pills up causes a large dose of drugs to hit the body all at once, with potentially dangerous consequences."A medication that was meant to be distributed over 24 hours has immediate effect," Stolp said.Even more dangerous is the trend of mixing drugs with alcohol, which, like most popularly abused drugs, is a depressant."In the case of alcohol and drugs, one plus one equals more than two," said Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Lt. Dan Bressler.Florida pays careful attention to drug-related deaths, and as such has significantly better data on the problem than any other state. But a recent study conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) suggests that the problem is indeed national. According to the DEA, the number of people abusing prescription drugs in the United States has jumped 80 percent in six years to seven million, or more than those abusing cocaine, Ecstasy, heroin, hallucinogens an inhalants put together.Not surprisingly, there has been a corresponding increase in deaths. According to the Drug Abuse Warning Network, the number of emergency room visits related to painkillers has increased by 153 percent since 1995. And a 2007 report by the Justice Department National Intelligence Drug Center found that deaths related to the opioid methadone jumped from 786 in 1999 to 3,849 in 2004 - an increase of 390 percent.Many experts attribute the trend to the increasing popularity among doctors of prescribing painkillers, combined with a leap in direct-to-consumer marketing by drug companies. For example, promotional spending on Oxycontin increased threefold between 1996 and 2001, to $30 million per year.Sonora, Calif., pharmacist Eddie Howard reports that he's seen painkiller prescriptions jump dramatically in the last five years."I don't know that there is that much pain out there to demand such an increase," he said. The trend concerns Howard, and he tries to keep an eye out for patients who are coming in too frequently. But he admits that there is little he can do about the problem."When you have a lot of people waiting for prescriptions, it's hard to find time to play detective," he said. Still, the situation makes Howard uncomfortable."It almost makes me a legalized drug dealer, and that's not a good position to be in," he said.Sources for this story include: http://www.nytimes.com;/ http://www.uniondemocrat.com/

Emotion - addictions

2009-02-18T05:59:00.000-08:00

Brazil

2009-02-17T05:51:00.000-08:00

Language

2009-02-17T05:45:00.000-08:00