In the late 1970s, Bruce Alexander, a scientist and professor at Simon Fraser University in Canada, published the results of an experiment related to drugs and addiction.

Before him, for years the scientific community conducted experiments on laboratory mice, which consisted of locking one of them in a cage where he could press a button that would give him a dose of heroin or morphine. The results were alarming: in a short time, the rodent began consuming the narcotic compulsively, even forgetting to drink and eat, until it finally died of an overdose. The results of these experiments have influenced much of the anti-drug policy of the past decades, understanding addiction essentially as a chemical and biological problem: once the brain comes into contact with a substance, it will inevitably develop an addiction that would lead to self-destruction, so the priority should be avoided at all costs the first contact.

Alexander, however, conducted this experiment by making a very important change: instead of giving the drug to an isolated mouse in an empty cage, Alexander placed it in the middle of a colony of rats living in a large area full of stimulating activities, which he christened “Rat Park “. The results were night and day. In this environment where they lived in a community and socialized and were active, the rodents rarely used drugs, and those who did did not develop addictions or die of overdoses. An even bigger surprise was when Alexander let rats into the colony that were already addicted, who voluntarily stopped taking drugs in a relatively short time and were cured of their addiction. The results were instructive: the environment and social situation in which the rodents lived were decisive factors in whether or not they would develop addiction.

Poverty, loneliness and neglect are as much responsible for the drug epidemic as drug dealers…

Today, most governments continue to reduce the problem of drugs and addiction by trying (unsuccessfully) to keep these substances out of the hands of consumers through criminal and repressive policies. However, the “Rat Park” experiment reveals the short-sightedness of this approach. The drug problem is in many cases only one part of a network of complex social problems that must be addressed together if real results are to be achieved. The problem of addiction is not an “individual” problem, but a true community problem that must be approached as such. Like mice locked alone in empty cages, our increasingly fragmented and atomized modern societies create isolating conditions that drive vulnerable individuals to fill the void with narcotics. Poverty, loneliness and neglect are just as responsible for the drug epidemic as the drug dealers who produce them. Until we free those trapped in these cages, the problem of addiction will not be solved. (OR)