System and method for interactively simulating and discouraging drug use

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is an object of the present invention to harness the most powerful interactive media available in order to deliver a compelling and lasting anti-drug message to young people.
Further objects of the invention include the following: to provide a simulated experience of actually making a decision whether or not to take a dose of drugs, and then to demonstrate the effects of that decision.
to provide a system that may be used at any time of the day or week and is not limited to certain physical or psychological sessions.
to provide a versatile system that can be used alone; can be used to provide "booster" sessions for renewed impact or to reinforce other treatments; can be used to deter use by people who have never used drugs; or can be used to treat people who have been addicted.
to provide specific implementations of the invention in a variety of embodiments, so as to have the option of obtaining reinforcement either by readministering the original embodiment, or by administering different embodiments, over a period of time.
to provide different and alternative implementations that target different drugs.
to encourage situations wherein a subject who has used the invention and its simulated option to take drugs, will suggest to another subject not to use the simulated drug option.
The objects of the invention are achieved through multimedia electronic games that may be adapted to run in a variety of forms on any of a number of state-of-the-art gaming platforms.
In such a game, a simulated ingestion of drugs provides an initial enhanced sensation of movement and sound, and apparent enhanced player performance.
After a determined time, the effect wears off, the player has to attend to the preoccupations of taking another dose.
The scenario is repeated, but with each repetition tolerance to the drug grows, the "highs" are shorter lived, and a growing percentage of the player's time must be devoted to obtaining and taking the drugs.
After a series of repetitions it becomes clear that rather than enhancing the player's ability to play the game, the drug taking has become a serious limitation that completely frustrates any concerted effort to play the game competitively