DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE

Transcription

1 DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE

2 Drug and Alcohol Abuse Lecture Outline History of Drug Abuse Drug Use and Abuse Basics of Drug Use in America Prescription Drug Use Why Do We Use Drugs? Socialization Sociological Perspectives Treatment or Punishment? The War on Drugs and Asset Forfeiture

3 Drug and Alcohol Abuse Lecture Outline History of Drug Abuse Drug Use and Abuse Basics of Drug Use in America Prescription Drug Use Why Do We Use Drugs? Socialization Sociological Perspectives Treatment or Punishment? The War on Drugs and Asset Forfeiture

4 History of Drug Abuse Drugs: Substances that have psychological or physical effects Drug use is not new to the human race Stone Age Intentional fermentation Process used to make alcohol Thousands of years ago Use of narcotics Drugs considered illegal today

5 Drug Use in Ancient Times Citizens of Sumer, first true civilization (3000 BCE) Used opium for medical and recreational purposes Referred to the substance as Gil Hul or joy plant The Torah describes the early origins of winemaking in Middle East Ebers Papyrus Medical document from ancient Egypt Outlines the many medicinal uses of opium

6 Drug Use in the 18th Century Opium was also one of first drugs to be abused for recreational purposes Opium addiction became a serious social problem in China during the 18th century The emperor outlawed the cultivation, sale, and use of the drug The laws failed to impede trafficking or abuse, as opium production was still legal in Western Europe Making something illegal and attempting to punish it out of existence doesn t work

7 Early Drug Use in the United States During the Civil War Opium and its derivative morphine was regularly given to soldiers Dependence lasted long after wounds healed Addiction became known as army disease 1898, Bayer, the company known for producing aspirin, developed heroin Marketed as a nonaddictive substitute for morphine

8 Early Drug Use in the United States Early 1900s Harmful and addictive drugs were readily available Coca-Cola contained cocaine until 1906 Temperance movements for alcohol and drugs began to arise Harrison Narcotic Act of 1914 The first federal law to restrict the sale, manufacturing, and distribution of drugs

9 Drug and Alcohol Abuse Lecture Outline History of Drug Abuse Drug Use and Abuse Basics of Drug Use in America Prescription Drug Use Why Do We Use Drugs? Socialization Sociological Perspectives Treatment or Punishment? The War on Drugs and Asset Forfeiture

10 Drug Use and Abuse Drug Use The act of internally processing chemical substances other than food that have physical effects Drug Abuse The use of drugs despite adverse consequences Adverse consequences are typically associated with street drugs such as cocaine or heroin Seemingly harmless drugs can also damage a person s health when used frequently and in large quantities Addiction A chronic condition that can include psychological and/or physiological compulsion toward drug seeking and use

11 Types of Drugs Person s reaction to a drug depends on the type of drug being used (see next slide) Stimulants Excite the body and stimulate the brain and central nervous system Depressants Slow the activity of vital organs in the body to create a relaxed, sleepy feeling Hallucinogens Distort the senses and cause hallucinations

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13 Drug and Alcohol Abuse Lecture Outline History of Drug Abuse Drug Use and Abuse Basics of Drug Use in America Prescription Drug Use Why Do We Use Drugs? Socialization Sociological Perspectives Treatment or Punishment? The War on Drugs and Asset Forfeiture

14 Basics of Drug Use in America Characteristics of Drug Users Age (see next slide) 1999 more than half of high school seniors used illicit drugs one fourth of eighth graders admitted to having been drunk at least once 44% of eighth graders reported that they smoked cigarettes % of Americans over 26 have used marijuana Only about 16% of young adults have tried it

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17 Basics of Drug Use in America Race Drug abuse occurs among all races in United States More prevalent in some races than others (see next slide) Socioeconomic Status Studies show a connection between illegal drug use and: Dropping out of school Lower educational attainment Unemployment Low rates of advancement in one s career Research suggests that lower incomes for drug users takes time to manifest Effect of drug use has little impact on individual when younger, but increases over time

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19 Drug and Alcohol Abuse Lecture Outline History of Drug Abuse Drug Use and Abuse Basics of Drug Use in America Prescription Drug Use Why Do We Use Drugs? Socialization Sociological Perspectives Treatment or Punishment? The War on Drugs and Asset Forfeiture

20 Prescription Drug Use More than 1.8 billion prescription drugs were ordered or provided in 2006 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) The three types of prescription drugs most commonly abused: Opiates Central nervous system depressants Stimulants Amphetamines, such as Adderall or Ritalin, are some of the most widely abused prescription drugs among teens

21 Why Do We Use Drugs? People have always used drugs and will likely continue to use them Most of society s legal efforts to control drug use fail The issue becomes how to control use while avoiding the harmful aspects of drug abuse

22 Drug and Alcohol Abuse Lecture Outline History of Drug Abuse Drug Use and Abuse Basics of Drug Use in America Prescription Drug Use Why Do We Use Drugs? Socialization Sociological Perspectives Treatment or Punishment? The War on Drugs and Asset Forfeiture

23 Why Do We Use Drugs? Many people do not agree that addiction is a sign of moral or psychological weakness Treating addiction as a medical condition: Arose in 20th century and resulted in a number of treatment programs and models Models hold two common beliefs: (1) Individuals have biological predispositions to addiction (2) These predispositions can be overcome through treatment

24 Drug and Alcohol Abuse Lecture Outline History of Drug Abuse Drug Use and Abuse Basics of Drug Use in America Prescription Drug Use Why Do We Use Drugs? Socialization Sociological Perspectives Treatment or Punishment? The War on Drugs and Asset Forfeiture

25 Socialization The selection of one s peer group provides the foundation for the likelihood of use by adolescents (Denise Kandel)

26 Socialization The United States is increasingly becoming a medicalized society Medicalization The process by which we expand the use of medical terms and solutions to nonmedical problems Medical personnel claim that certain social components are diseases in need of treatment Increases the public s desire for medical solutions

27 Drug and Alcohol Abuse Lecture Outline History of Drug Abuse Drug Use and Abuse Basics of Drug Use in America Prescription Drug Use Why Do We Use Drugs? Socialization Sociological Perspectives Treatment or Punishment? The War on Drugs and Asset Forfeiture

28 Symbolic Interactionism It s not the effects of a drug, but how we perceive the drug that affects our opinions The social acceptability of a drug is linked to how society defines it We see the alcoholic differently than we see the pothead, usually because they come from different social classes

29 Functionalism Drugs have manifest and latent functions in society Functionalists believe most drugs have positive and negative potential and must be controlled The job of social structures is to support the proper use, but not the abuse, of such drugs Efforts to educate the public against illegal drug use are efforts to control use Often have the opposite effects

30 Functionalism Theory of anomie (Robert Merton) Drug use is the result of an individual reaction to social forces Some individuals are blocked from attaining certain societal goals and fail to achieve them The cultural norm of successful life not available to them The person may choose to adapt through retreatism The response of person who has given up trying to achieve the goals of society because they believe the means to those goals have no merit May retreat into addictive patterns of drug and alcohol use

31 Conflict Theory In a perfect legal system, all criminals would be treated equally Underprivileged minorities are more likely to be arrested for drug use and given harsher sentences than middleclass whites Despite the fact that blacks and whites engage in the possession and sale of drugs at similar rates Blacks are arrested on drug charges at 2.8 to 5.5 times the rate of whites The trend is likely due to more frequent police patrols in different neighborhoods

32 Conflict Theory Arrests involve possession of crack cocaine Focus of the war on drugs for the past decade Sentencing tends to be harsher than on individuals who are found with crack cocaine Criminologist Jeffrey Reiman Race and ethnicity have something to do with the discrepancy Large amounts of minority drug abusers use crack (90.2% of African American and Hispanic abusers, compared to 8.8% of white abusers) White addicts prefer snorting powdered cocaine

33 Drug and Alcohol Abuse Lecture Outline History of Drug Abuse Drug Use and Abuse Basics of Drug Use in America Prescription Drug Use Why Do We Use Drugs? Socialization Sociological Perspectives Treatment or Punishment? The War on Drugs and Asset Forfeiture

34 Treatment or Punishment? Rehabilitation (see next slide) Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Formed in 1930s by Bill W. One of oldest and most well-known substance treatment programs in the United States Twelve-Step Program Outlines steps person must take to fully understand addiction and move to a life of sobriety Narcotics Anonymous Follows AA design

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36 Treatment or Punishment? Effective methods have a variety of components that include the notion that no single type of treatment works for everyone The most successful ones include individual plans designed to meet needs using a variety of methods Counseling and behavioral modification Medically supervised detoxification Inpatient or outpatient

37 Treatment or Punishment? In the United States The largest category of criminal behavior for which people are incarcerated is related to drugs Incarceration boom of 1980s and 1990s Fueled by the war on drugs Increased penalties for drug offenders Today it is common for prisons to provide inmates with drug and alcohol treatment

38 Treatment or Punishment? Treatment in the community and/or prison is effective Can treatment prevent incarceration? Center for Substance Abuse Reported an average savings of three to one (every $1 spent on treatment saved society $3) Resulted in: Reduced crime Increased earnings from productive individuals Lower health care costs

39 Social and Financial Benefits The National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study Individuals served by federally funded treatment programs Reduced drug use by nearly 50% within a year after completing treatment Use of primary drug declined from 73% to 38% in the same time period Addicts quality of life improved by 53% Alcohol- and drug-related medical visits declined

40 Social and Financial Benefits Substance abuse treatment programs help improve the quality of life for everyone in society Drug sales decreased by 78% in areas that provided adequate drug treatment programs Assaults decreased by 78% Shoplifting declined by nearly 82% Trends were associated with a 48% decline in individuals who supported themselves through illegal activity

41 Social and Financial Benefits Drug treatment programs not only make neighborhoods safer, but save residents money RAND Corporation study For every dollar invested into a treatment program, taxpayers save $7.56 in criminal prevention costs (see next slide)

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43 The War on Drugs and Asset Forfeiture Drug dealer An occupation we do not want to be financially successful Most drug dealers are small-time and not wealthy Asset forfeiture Allows the government to seize any item believed to have been purchased with proceeds from illegal activities Any assets being used in illegal activity can be seized immediately

44 Drug and Alcohol Abuse Lecture Outline History of Drug Abuse Drug Use and Abuse Basics of Drug Use in America Prescription Drug Use Why Do We Use Drugs? Socialization Sociological Perspectives Treatment or Punishment? The War on Drugs and Asset Forfeiture

45 The War on Drugs and Asset Forfeiture Asset forfeiture is controversial The burden of proof rests on the accused The individual must provide evidence that the assets are not associated with illegal activity The practice deviates from the civil rights standard of innocent until proven guilty 10-month national study Over three quarters of people required to forfeit property were never charged with a crime

46 Drug and Alcohol Abuse Lecture Outline History of Drug Abuse Drug Use and Abuse Basics of Drug Use in America Prescription Drug Use Why Do We Use Drugs? Socialization Sociological Perspectives Treatment or Punishment? The War on Drugs and Asset Forfeiture