Exam 1 - Drugs and Society

Five general categories of “Drugs of Abuse”:

1. Stimulants (eg. cocaine)

2. Depressants (eg. alcohol)

3. Opioids (eg. opium)

4. Hallucinogens (eg. LSD)

5. Cannabis (eg. marijuana)

6 Characteristics that influence societal perceptions and acceptance of a drug's use:

1. Form (eg. liquid, vapour, pill)

2. Method of consumption (eg. sniffed, injected, ingested)

3. Evidence of harm

4. Physical effects

5. Risk of overdose

6. Potential for developing dependence
   
   

Most widely used stimulant:

Coffee

Effects of Stimulants:

Increased alertness

Agitation

Excitability

Elevated pulse and blood pressure

Loss of appetite

Insomnia

Effects of Depressants:

Slurred speech

Disorientation

Staggering

Lowered inhibition

Effects of Hallucinogens:

Visual illusions

Altered perceptions

Emotionality

The Disease Model:

Biomedical perspectives on addiction

Understanding drug problems as a symptom of disease

Becoming the dominant perspective

Drug dependence:

Defined as frequent use, with clear signs of physiological withdrawal when the user stops taking the drug

• Devoting a considerable amount of time and effort to getting and using the drug

• Taking more of the substance than originally intended and failed attempts to cut down or control the substance use

Drug abuse:

Refers to using drugs in ways that cause physical or psychological problems, difficulty meeting obligations at home or work, or legal problems

The Role of Expectations and Environment

The effects of drugs on users are understood as a three-way interaction between:

1. The drug

2. The individual

3. The environment

High doses —> chemical and physiological reactions more influential

Lower doses —> characteristics of individual user and social context more influential

Expectation effects:

Refer to how preconceived beliefs of the drug’s effects influence the user’s experience

Social control theory:

Argues that failed socialization to conventional norms is the main cause of crime and deviance

• Drug problems are a product of social disorganization

• High rates of illicit drug use are seen in communities characterized by the breakdown or absence of controls

How would social control theory fight back against illicit drug use?

Investment in schools, aftercare programs, recreational facilities, and community associations are among recommended measures for addressing criminality and drug problems in the inner city

Strain theory

Basic Proposition: Individuals share a common set of values and goals that are centred around the pursuit of material success and wealth. These are institutionalized goals in North America

Not everyone has the legitimate means for success or the socially approved methods to achieve agreed upon goals

Limitations: Cannot explain deviance among those with great means. Also is limited to one culture and does not take into account other countries’ goals

5 Modes of Adaptation under Strain Theory

Conformity: accepting the goals and the approved means; they will continue to push through legitimate means.

Innovation: accepting the goals but using illegitimate means to achieve them.

Ritualism: lower or abandon aspirations or goals so that they can more easily achieve them through legitimate means. Unlikely to be deviant.

Retreatism: reject the institutionalized goals and the legitimate means; they retreat from mainstream society. Most likely to become substance users - outcasts.

Rebellion: reject both the goals and the means; instead of retreating, they create new goals and new means - revolutionists. Eg. medical marijuana use - they reject the authority of Western medicine and establish a new set of goals in terms of healing; a more natural source like cannabis

Drug

Refers to any psychoactive substance that is used for the intended purpose of altering one’s mind and bodily functions

Psychoactive Drugs

Substances that alter the central nervous system including one’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviours

Can also affect autonomic nervous system

Genetic Theories

Founded on the assumption that there is some inheritable gene that can be used to explain why some individuals are susceptible to substance dependence as compared to others

Believes that certain inheritable traits affect the way bodies metabolize and/or experience different substances which make us more or less susceptible

Findings of Eng, Luczak and Wall (Genetic Theories)

Found that some groups (based on race and ethnicity) are more vulnerable to the negative reactions from alcohol consumption (how their bodies metabolize it changes their inclination)

Some groups experience more negative effects which serve as deterrents

Reinforcement Theory

Begins with the assumption that behavior is determined by a natural tendency to seek to maximize rewards while minimizing costs

Positive Reinforcement: Explains why users want to repeat the activity (Euphoria, numbing, sociability, pain relief, peers approval, relief from anxiety, confidence, quality of sleep) (exam - EUPHORIC FEELING)

Negative Reinforcement: Removes negative stimulus that arrives when not taking the drug (withdrawal symptoms, pain, facing reality) (exam - PHYSICAL PAIN)

Punishment or Consequence: Financial burden, ostracization, bodily decline, job loss, legal trouble, death, relationship strain

Hirschi’s Social Control Theory aka Social Bond Theory

The stronger the bonds with social institutions, the less likely one is to engage in substance use

Emphasizes bond with family members

Adolescents who have a strong attachment to their parents and believe in conventional beliefs are expected to have lower rates of drug use and misuse.

Limitations: Sometimes parents are the ones who introduce drugs, peers are also a very important relationship influence at the same time of adolescence, the pressure of caring so much about what your parents think about you could lead to using drugs to cope, and ignores systemic social issues that influence drug use.

Four factors that influence social bonds (Social Bond Theory)

Attachment: Attachment to conventional people and institutions. Refers to the care for how other people or groups think about you.

Commitment: The commitment to conformity. The rational component of the social bond - how committed you are to conformity, individuals weigh costs and benefits of drug use against how committed they are to conventionalism. Individuals who give more of their time to conventional activities are more committed, and are less likely to risk substance use.

Involvement: Where individuals are deterred from substance use and misuse because they are participating in more conventional activities. They have less time to be deviant.

Belief: Belief in moral validity of social rules. How an individual internalizes the dominant value system.

Differential Association Theory

People learn behaviours through interactions with others, especially small, intimate groups

In small intimate groups individuals will learn:

Techniques for crime (skills)

Motives (reasons; justifications)

Novice users learn from experienced users

Limitations: Not looking at the broader social factors that create drug problems

Differential Association Theory - 4 factors influencing deviant learning

Not all group interactions have the same impact on deviant learning, they are influenced by 4 factors:

Frequency: how often you interact with deviant groups

Duration: how long of a duration do you interact with the group

Priority: the groups we interact with earlier in life take precedent in how influential they are on our learning

Intensity: the more important a group is to the individual, the greater the influence has on the individual’s learning process

Moral Panic:

A condition, episode, person, or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests; its nature is presented in a stylized and stereotypical fashion by the mass media

Stanley Cohen

“Folk Devils and Moral Panics” (1972)

Examined the impact that the media plays in shaping how crime is defined

The media fueled anxiety over British youth culture in the 1960s

Cohen calls the evil-doers “folk devils” - they are causing harm and threatening our society

Analysis based on the aftermath of a minor altercation between two groups of youth (Mods and Rockers) in 1964

The damage they did was worth no more than 200 pounds

Headlines created fear of these groups

Cohen: Stages of Moral Panic

1. Someone in power defines someone/something as a threat

• Exaggerated claims; Deemed to be a threat to society’s well-being and its values

• Cohen argues the mass media plays a central role here; they create the fear

2. Media depiction of threat in easily recognizable form

• Amplifies perceived danger while offering incomplete information

• Presents the group in a negative stereotypical way; the problem becomes exaggerated

• These representations become embedded in the public’s mind, becoming “factual

3. Public concern increases rapidly

4. Authorities and opinion makers issue a response

• Call for swift action to quell the threat

5. Moral panic recedes or results in social change

• Fear can fade away or it can lead to social change (e.g., new laws, increased law enforcement and surveillance, longer sentences)

• Usually involves strengthening the social control apparatuses of society

Moral Panic: Main Indicators Goode and Ben-Yehuda

1. Concern (over the behaviours of others and the harm or consequences)

2. Consensus (recognizable phenomenon)

3. Hostility (towards an identifiable group)

4. Disproportionality (the perceived danger is greater than the actual or potential harm)

5. Volatility (A MP will erupt suddenly, and then subside; an unpredictable ebb and flow)

5 Indicators of / Criteria for Disproportionality

1. Figures are exaggerated

   
   

2. Figures are fabricated

3. Rumours of harm are invented and believed

4. Other harmful conditions (If the attention paid to this new condition or issue is vastly greater than the attention paid to another condition)

5. Changes over time (If the attention paid to a condition at a certain point in time is vastly greater than a previous or later period of time without corresponding increases in objective seriousness)

The Crack Baby Scare

In the 1980s there was a notable attack in the crack scare hysteria of the 1980s was the widespread dissemination of claims that crack use during pregnancy causes irreparable damage to infants

Researchers found no connection because crack use in pregnancy and baby physical and mental health

The news claimed that crack made a baby 3x more likely to be born with defects

“At least 100,000 crack babies will be born this year and it will cause 500 million to take care of them”

The term “Crack-babies” started being used widespread; harmful label that could be internalized (self-fulfilling prophecy); stigmatizes both mother and child

Work of Hallam Hurt

His work concluded that poverty and social issues were far more powerful influences on the academic outcomes of inner-city Black children than gestational exposure to crack