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The Relationship Between Psychoactive Substance Users and Animals
Views:11The purpose of the study is to present the wide-ranging relationship between psychoactive drug use and animal welfare based on a literature review. The relationship between drug users and animals is on the one hand under-researched, and on the other hand there are no developed protocols regarding the issue, even though the issue has significant human health and animal welfare effects. There is little awareness of how the positive health and psychological effects of animal keeping could be properly applied to the recovery of people suffering from addiction. There are encouraging initiatives, but there is a lack of a systemic approach to the issue from the side of academic life, professionals and the state, from the protocols, and from the training of people in the helping professions. In Hungary, both psychoactive drug consumption and animal keeping have a detailed and developed legal background, however, the mapping of their connections is still pending. While the literature focuses more on the aggressive actions that addicts may be prone to, practitioners tend to emphasize the supportive force that a companion animal can provide in recovery. In light of all of this, further studies on the subject are recommended, and it would be worthwhile to consider the systematic, more consistent and conscious integration of the use of animals at the legislative level and into some therapeutic protocols.