Alcohol and Drug Use as Deviance

(these ideas drawn from Goode, 1994-2008 chapter 8. See the disclaimer)

• Identity
• Dose
• Potency and Purity
• Drug mixing (synergy)
• Route of Administration
• Habituation:
  • Pharmacological Tolerance
  • Behavioral Tolerance

• Set and Setting

Drug Classification

• Perspective of observer
• Central Nervous System impact
• Cross tolerance
• Cross dependence

History, Types, Patterns, and Extent of Use

• Prescription and OTC ~$110 Billion/year
• Changing pattern-significant decline
• Exceptions: Prozac, Xanax
• Pharmacological Revolutions
  • Vaccines
  • Antibiotics
  • Psychopharmacology
  • Birth Control,
  • "Drug Free"
  • Better Living Through Chemistry??

Illegal/Instrumental

• User and societal definition

Legal/Recreational

• Caffeine, Nicotine, Alcohol

Illegal/Recreational (NHSDUH)

• 45% tried
• 14% past year
• 8% current
1. Marijuana
2. Psychotherapeutics
3. Cocaine/crack
4. Hallucinogens
5. Narcotics
6. Others

Issues

• User Loyalty
• Drugs most likely to be given up
• Harm

Brief History of Drugs, Legalization and Criminalization: Racism and Social Control

• Harrison Narcotic Act- 1914
• The Volstead Act-1920 (Prohibition)
• Marijuana Tax Act-1937
• The re-emergence of the sub-culture (1960's)
• Drug use in the 1970's
• The decade of decline: 1980's
• What's up in the 1990's
• Drugs in the Twenty-first Century

Myths and Realities

• Drug use and Social Problems: DAWN
• Crack and Crack Babies
• Heroin and Addiction
  • Lindesmith and Reinforcement Theory (positive and negative)
  • Euphoria Seekers
  • Maintainers
• Drunken Comportment: Social Norms vs. Biological determinism
• Alcoholism, Problem Drinking and Control
• Drugs and Crime
• Users
  • Illicit Drugs
  • Alcohol
• Media and Reality: The Case of LSD, Crack, or maybe Caffeine

Economic Crime

Violence

URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/200/drugetoh.html
Owner: Robert O. Keel rok@umsl.edu
References and Credits for this Page of Notes
Last Updated: Sunday, March 23, 2008 3:56 PM