Ecstasy (MDMA), known in Taiwan as the "head-shaker" pill (搖頭丸), has been a popular drug in clubs for quite a few years. What is MDMA? Why would anybody want to spend money to buy these little pills?
Is the drug problem a sign of deteriorating social order and morality? Although family problems and inadequate parental discipline are some key factors behind juvenile drug abuse, they are not the only reasons for the problem. In fact, many of the young kids involved come from wealthy, highly educated families. Are they using drugs simply out of curiosity? How come they are not curious about their school work? Concealed behind the young generation's selective curiosity about drugs are serious social problems.
Many Ecstasy users claim that the world looks better after they have taken the pill. Through the drug, all that is normal becomes abnormal -- colors are more colorful; music is more pleasant; even the air smells more fragrant -- which brings these youngsters' distressed lives alive again.
Some also claim that the barriers that exist in human relationships as well as feelings of inferiority seem to disappear after taking the pill. They become more confident in themselves, and the people around them suddenly seem very friendly.
It is not the world that changes when people use drugs, however, it is their nervous systems. Hunger for Ecstasy clearly reveals people's longings for love, for acceptance, and for a happier life. Such longings correspond exactly to Abraham Maslow's theory of the "hierarchy of needs" (需求層次論), the idea that all human beings have physiological needs as well as the need for security, love, affection, a sense of belonging, esteem and self-realization.
Is Taiwan a safe place to live? Just ask women who are terrified to go out at night -- there's your answer. Just ask those drivers who used to rely on the dangerous Kaoping Bridge (高屏大橋) -- there's your answer. How can we expect our psychological need for security to be satisfied if the Taiwan government can't even ensure our physical safety?
Is Taiwan, moreover, a place where people respect each other? Does your boss respect you? Does Taiwan's anarchic traffic respect you? Are you being accepted and doing what you really love to do? Are you fulfilling your own dreams?
Taiwan's modernization has been carried out so fast that Taiwanese people can hardly handle it any longer. As a result, we are no longer the creators but the accessories of Taiwan's economic development. Oftentimes, most people just play along to fit into the roles they are asked to play. We force ourselves to study tons of meaningless textbooks in order to succeed; we drive ourselves to high-paying jobs, even though the jobs might be extremely boring. And when we pass such utilitarian approaches to life on to the younger generation, many of them will simply have no truck with them.
Rejecting such ideas, they search in vain for a more fulfilling reality -- they shake their heads just for the sake of shaking their heads; laugh just for the sake of laughing; cry just for the sake of crying. Not for high-paying jobs, not for a great sense of achievement, not to please others, and certainly not to meet the expectations of their parents or society.
The use of MDMA, and other illegal drugs, is a reflection of people's existential longings and a reaction against their fear of becoming lifeless tools. Because they long for existence, love, acceptance and fulfillment, they try these pills out of curiosity in order to satisfy these longings. Unfortunately, dependence and withdrawal naturally follow.
Don't blame the pills for taking away anyone's future. The pills are just lending us at usurious rates what has long been taken away from us.
Chen Chun-chin is a psychiatrist at Mackay Memorial Hospital.
Translated by Eddy Chang.
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