The cocaine production in South America has contributed to the deterioration of the nations’ economies. In Bolivia, the cocaine industry changes the way people work and how they view earning their money. Weatherford’s field study in Bolivia creates an understanding of the hardships and decisions families face to survive. The effects of cocaine have short and long-term changes in the human brains reward circuit paving a way for addiction. The damage of the cocaine industry on the rural Bolivians further separates them from their families and their villages and shows a dialectical relationship about the effects of cocaine consumption and the sociocultural lifestyle.
Cocaine, also known as “coke” is an extremely powerful stimulant most often …show more content…
Normally, the brain would release dopamine into these circuits in response to potential rewards and then recycle back into the cell to turn off the signal. Cocaine prevents the recycling step and allows for an excess of dopamine to build up, disrupting normal brain communication and causing the cocaine high. (NIDA 2016) The young men in the Chapare would smoke spiked cigarettes coated with pasta to help alleviate the pain of their decaying skin and to allow them to continue working despite their condition. (Weatherford 1986) The pasta is laced with the chemical residue of cocaine and acts similar to it by sending excess amounts of dopamine into the reward circuit. As a tolerance builds, the continual smoking of these pasta wrapped cigarettes is needed to achieve the same feelings of relief and to minimize their pain. (NIDA …show more content…
With cocaine becoming the “drug of choice” in high-income urban areas in the United States and Europe, the production and demand needed to be increased. To entice the young men from Bolivia to come and work for the cocaine manufacturers, they provided them with high wages and food to provide and feed their entire families. The manufacturing process is very demanding and unstable which ultimately led workers to use narcotics in order to continue working. The cocaine high caused from drug use causes feelings of euphoria in the brain and provides the user with energy and alertness, allowing them to work through pain to provide for their families. When the addiction becomes too strong and the young men are unfit for work, they become unemployed and begin resorting to extorting their family members to earn money to fuel their drug habits and to reach a level of internal pleasure. (Weatherford 1986) This presents a dialectical model between the sociocultural position of families in Bolivia and the biological influences of cocaine on the human
Cocaine, also known as “coke” is an extremely powerful stimulant most often …show more content…
Normally, the brain would release dopamine into these circuits in response to potential rewards and then recycle back into the cell to turn off the signal. Cocaine prevents the recycling step and allows for an excess of dopamine to build up, disrupting normal brain communication and causing the cocaine high. (NIDA 2016) The young men in the Chapare would smoke spiked cigarettes coated with pasta to help alleviate the pain of their decaying skin and to allow them to continue working despite their condition. (Weatherford 1986) The pasta is laced with the chemical residue of cocaine and acts similar to it by sending excess amounts of dopamine into the reward circuit. As a tolerance builds, the continual smoking of these pasta wrapped cigarettes is needed to achieve the same feelings of relief and to minimize their pain. (NIDA …show more content…
With cocaine becoming the “drug of choice” in high-income urban areas in the United States and Europe, the production and demand needed to be increased. To entice the young men from Bolivia to come and work for the cocaine manufacturers, they provided them with high wages and food to provide and feed their entire families. The manufacturing process is very demanding and unstable which ultimately led workers to use narcotics in order to continue working. The cocaine high caused from drug use causes feelings of euphoria in the brain and provides the user with energy and alertness, allowing them to work through pain to provide for their families. When the addiction becomes too strong and the young men are unfit for work, they become unemployed and begin resorting to extorting their family members to earn money to fuel their drug habits and to reach a level of internal pleasure. (Weatherford 1986) This presents a dialectical model between the sociocultural position of families in Bolivia and the biological influences of cocaine on the human