Migration, acculturation, displacement: migratory workers and "substance abuse"

The following essays represent the topics and issues raised by the panel presenters. A diverse group of researchers came together to compare and contrast the substance use and "abuse" practices and patterns of marginalized groups in their region of the world. The panelists included researchers discussing: the hill people of Burma, Mäori in New Zealand, Algerians in France, Mexican-Americans in the United States and predominantly African-American homeless males in New York. We found many common themes. In particular, we found that each of the marginal populations increased their use of substances with increased time in the host society/culture. It was agreed that substance use is not only a process of adaptation but also a coping mechanism in, for the most part, hostile and unwelcoming environments. We also agreed that "abuse" of substances is not common to traditional cultures. Migration to a more modern society was accompanied by initiation and/or increase in substance use. When used at all, indigenous people tend to use substances in the controlled form of ritual and ceremony. The use of substances as a method of desensitizing to day-to-day stressors was adopted with exposure to the practises of their new surroundings. We found that there are more commonalities in the processes we examined than differences independent of location and race/ethnicity.