DRUG ABUSE?
(See: Drugs in American Society,
5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th editions, Erich Goode, McGraw-Hill, 1999/2005/2008/2012/2014. Chapter 1/4)
It seems to be measurable:
- Disease
- Sickness needing cure
- Harm to the user
- Deleterious effects on the users life or those who interact with the user
Basic Issue: What is the perspective of those who define the problem?
"Does our definition define abuse on a case by case basis?" Or, does it lump a variety of different cases into the same group? (See: "Through a Blue Lens," a 1999 film on the streets in Vancouver, BC by Veronivca Alice Mannix)
For example: Time Magazine reports, on November 18, 2015: "One in Ten People in U.S. have Abused Drugs" or "5 percent of world population recently abused drugs: UN" (June 22, 2017). Does either really make any sense?
2016: Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General's Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health. US Department of Health and Human Services (local copy)
Most definitions rely on:
- Legal criteria
- Medical criteria
BUT, a good definition must be:
- Useful
- Internally consistent
- Make sense
Legal (use of illegal drug equals abuse)
- Some legal drugs are very problematic
- Includes even moderate use of illicit drugs??
- If include frequency of use, then illegal status is inconsistent
- Assumes legal status is correlated with cultural acceptability
- Assumes CONSENSUS
Medical
- Only physicians should administer drugs
- Click here and search for "drug abuse"
- Applies to legal drugs, too?
- Illegal drugs are not available for medical use
- Yet, drugs are social vs. Medical things.
1973 National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse:
- Delete "drug abuse"
- Codeword for use considered to be wrong
Goode:
- Word claims objectivity, yet structures perceptions
- Discredits the phenomenon it categorizes: It becomes possible only to see the "abusive aspects of use.
- Data is then collected to demonstrate the damage
- "Science and medicine become handmaidens to morality and politics."
Inciardi: above is a "Semantic Game" versus Goode: understanding ideology and cultural control??
Maybe for 2016--Substance Misuse: Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General's Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health. US Department of Health and Human Services (local copy)
Let's talk about addiction, too.
Drug Use as a Social Problem
Objectivist versus Constructionist Perspectives
- Objectivist: Real, Damaging Conditions Resulting in Harm to People or Society
- Constructionist: Things Seen, Judged, Defined to be Problems. What People THINK They Are. Thomas Theorem (see also).
- Objective conditions are not necessarily problems
- Social problems do not necessarily have objective reality
- Why are some things considered problems and others not?
Measuring Social Problems
- Movement to protest or change
- Legislation
- Public ranking
- Media discussion
- Steps taken to deal with it
Problem here is that objective conditions and subjective concerns sometimes overlap and sometimes don't. Why some do and others don't is the interesting question.
The Culture and Politics of Social Problems
- What forces are involved?
- Who is involved?
- Who benefits?
- What values are involved?
Legal versus illegal drug use as a Social Problem?
Objectively: More deaths and problems from legal drug use.
BUT,
- Dose for dose?
- Age at which user dies?
- Acute versus chronic?
- Other associated problems?
These variations contribute to our subjective understanding
Constructing Drug Use as a Social Problem, 1980's
A Moral Panic (And, Watch Out-- It happened again at the end of the 1990s, and may be happening again and again and again)
- Media attention (peaks 1986, use at low point)
- Public Opinion (peaks 1989: 64% list as number 1)
- Reagan/Bush "War on Drugs"
- Political Climate
- Timing: Crack "explosion," Public figures dying, Media coverage
- Moral Entrepreneurs (Nancy Reagan and "Just Say No.")
The Social Problems Marketplace
Politics--Public Opinion--Symbolism: News Bytes and Media Reality
Yet, Objective Reality is still significant!
- Occasional and recreational use down during the 80's, now going back up.
- Frequent, heavy use (small proportion of users) increasing.
- Impact on community structures
- Impact on Children (Myths and realities of "Crack Babies")
The Problems are not just "Smoke and Mirrors," BUT understanding the source of the problems is important
Crime and the Criminalization of Drugs (and Drug Users)
- Rationalist view of law (protect and deter)
- Constructionist view of law (power and vested interest)
- Law as a Political Process
- Drugs and Crime: Pharmacology vs. Sociology
- Criminalizing Drugs and Drug Use--an outcome of the definition of drug use as a problem:
Which and Why?
-
Harrison Narcotics Act, 1914: concern over user populations versus the drug. Significant media scare over cocaine use by African-Americans, leading to violence against whites, was a key element in including cocaine as a controlled drug in the act.
Drugs vs. The People who use them
Law and Symbolism: Nevada vs Utah (1970s-1990s and today).
URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/180/abuse.html
Owner: Robert O. Keel rok@umsl.edu
References and Credits for this Page of Notes
Last Updated: Wednesday, September 6, 2017 3:39 PM