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Alcohol and Other Drugs—(Some Discussion Points from Chapter 9):

 

 

I.     Definitions:  Macionis defines the term “drug” as “any chemical substance other than food or water that affects the mind or body” (p. 219).  Although Macionis points out that illegal drugs kill more people than “gunshots, car accidents, and AIDS combined” (p. 219) the real problem lies with the abuse of legal drugs.

II.    Why do people use drugs?  Macionis provides five basic reasons (p. 222). I would add a 6th and call it “social custom or tradition” which is not the same as conformity.  These categories are not mutually exclusive and are often combined.

 

A.     Therapy (medical reasons)

B.     Recreation

C.     Escape

D.     Spiritual or Psychological

E.     Social Conformity

III.   Drug use, abuse, addiction, and dependency (p. 222).

 

A.     The difference between use and abuse is socially constructed and has to d with behavior that is socially accepted and unaccepted.

B.     Addiction is actual physical or psychological craving and involves withdrawal symptoms.  Dependency is another physiological condition where the “body has adjusted to the regular use of a drug.”

IV.   Types of Drugs:  Macionis provides six types according to their physiological effects “they have on the body and brain” (p. 223).  However, there is a problem with his classification because the sixth category, “prescription drugs,” can include all other categories!

 

A.     Stimulants (Caffeine; Nicotine; Cocaine and Crack; Amphetamines; Ritalin)

B.     Depressants (Analgesics; Opiates; Sedatives; Hypnotics; Alcohol; Antipsychotics)

C.     Hallucinogens (LSD; Peyote; Mescaline; Psilocybin;  PCP “Angel Dust”; MDMA “Ecstasy”)

D.     Cannabis (Marijuana and Hashish)

E.     Steroids

F.     Prescription Drugs (Most commonly abused prescription drugs are: codeine, diazepam, oxycodone, hydrocodone).

V.    Some Specific Drugs: Use and Abuse

A.  Alcohol is classified as a “depressant.”  Macionis (p. 221) describes how immigration in the early 20th century brought with it alcohol consumption which stimulated public concern that supported the “Temperance Movement.”  The 18th Amendment (Prohibition) was passed in 1920.  From 1920 to 1933, it was illegal to manufacture, transport, or sell alcohol in the U.S.  (Interestingly, it was not illegal to consume it).  The consequences of prohibition were more serious than the consumption of alcohol, itself.  Prohibition greatly increased organized crime in the U.S.  According to Macionis, Alcohol is the second most addictive legally available drug in the U.S.  Nicotine is the first

               1.)    In the U.S. 90,000 deaths per year are attributed to alcohol; (Palen, p. 364)

2.)    According Macionis, 18 million adults in the U.S. have a drinking problem which is about 10 percent of the total adult population (p. 226).

              3.)    Alcohol sales in the U.S. amount to about $40. billion per year.  Consumption of alcohol in the U.S. has been declining over the last 20 years, BUT Figure 9-1 on p. 221 of Macionis shows an upturn since 2000.                    

   4.)    Macionis claims that as many as 30 million people in the U.S. have had a problem with alcohol at some point in their lives.  Only 1.7 million seek help for alcohol related problems each year (p. 226)

              5.)     Macionis also presents information indicating that the total “cost” of alcohol to this country is about $200 billion per year

              4.)    “Alcohol kills more people under the age of 21 [in the U.S.] than cocaine, heroin, and marijuana combined.” (Palen, p. 370)

              5.)     “Alcohol is currently responsible for about 22 percent of all auto fatalities” in the U.S.  (Palen, p. 371)

 

B.  Tobacco contains nicotine which is a stimulant.  Nicotine is highly addictive and toxic (Macionis, p. 223).  Macionis points out that cigarettes became popular in WWI when they were issued to soldiers.  In 1960 they had increased in popularity to the point where nearly half of the adult population in the U.S. smoked (p. 223).  Now, about 23 percent of adults smoke (p. 223).  Smoking is “the single greatest preventable cause of death” in the U.S. where 440,000 deaths are attributed to tobacco each year (p. 224).  Some more statistics from another text:

              1.)     Nearly one quarter of the U.S. population over 18 are smokers.  (Palen, p. 380)

              2.)     The greatest increase in smoking has been among teenagers—In the 4-year period between 1991 and 1995 the percentage of teenagers who reported smoking in the last month increased from 28 to 35 percent.  (p. 380)

              3.)     It is estimated that… “one-third of today’s young smokers will die from smoking’s consequences.”  (Palen, p. 380)

              4.)     According to the text, the World Health Organization reports that world-wide, 1.1 billion of the world’s population (6.1 billion people) smoke and one half of them are expected to die from smoking related causes.  ((Palen, p. 380)                 

              5.)     World-wide, it is estimated that by 2020, there will be approximately 8.4 million tobacco related deaths in the world—One-tenth of all deaths in the world each year will be attributed to tobacco if current trends continue.  (Palen, p. 380)

 

        C.   Opiates-- opium, morphine, codeine, heroin:  (classified as depressants)  These drugs are highly addictive and withdrawal symptoms are intense.

 

              1.)    Opiate use is relatively rare—A U.S. Census report (1999) indicated that about 1 in a thousand people reported using heroin in the last month (about 285 thousand people)--  (Coleman et. al., p. 396).  Macionis presents statistics indicating that one-tenth-of a percent of the U.S. population are current users of heroin (about 293,000 people).

 

        D.   Cocaine (a stimulant)

 

              1.)     A 1999 federally funded National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, found that approximately 1.5 million Americans of all ages were cocaine users.  However, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, feels that this figure is too low and raised the estimate to 3.6 million.  (Parrillo, p. 371)  Still, cocaine use has been on the decline in this country since the mid-1980s.

               2.)     Macionis presents data suggesting that cocaine “leads to about 3,500 deaths each year in the U.S.”  Crack is cited as one factor behind the increase of crime in the cities in the 1980s.  It is a drug found among the lower classes and poor.  Note from Table 9-1 on p. 233 the Federal mandatory sentencing guidelines are much higher for crack than they are for cocaine.  Does this reflect a lower class bias in sentencing?

 

        E.     Marijuana

 

              1.)     Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the U.S.  More than 90  million (31 percent) Americans have tried it at least once (Macionis, p. 227) Nearly 20 million (7 percent) have used it at least once in the last year.  Rates of use have increased significantly between 1991 and 1999 (Parrillo, p. 374).

 

VI.    Drugs and Related Problems:

 

        A.     Family Abuse

        B.     Homelessness

        C.     Health

        D.     Crime

        E.     Global Poverty

        F.     Terrorism

 

VII.     How the three sociological approaches of Functionalism, Symbolic Interactionism, and Conflict Theory approach the problem of drug abuse.

 

        A.     In this case there is some agreement among conflict theorists and functionalists—Both argue that drug abuse results from other social problems in society.  Problems of poverty, inequality, etc. can promote drug abuse.  Functionalists emphasize the breakdown of social norms and the lack of integration of people into society.  For functionalists, drug abuse is a form of retreatism—rejecting both social goals and socially approved means of achieving them.  It can also be argued that a certain amount of drug abuse is actually “functional” for society—It provides an escape for some (recreational drug use); it also provides for employment in the criminal justice system!

 

        B.     Conflict Theorists depart from functionalists in that they point to the role of powerful groups in society in determining what is a drug and what is not—Marijuana is a classic example.  “As late as 1930, only 16 states had laws prohibiting marijuana use” (Parrillo, p. 405).  (They weren’t enforced).  The Federal Bureau of Narcotics, set up in 1930 to enforce laws prohibiting the use of opium, decided that Marijuana use should also be prohibited and lobbied very heavily throughout the 1930s to make it illegal.  They succeeded in 1937 when Congress passed the Marijuana Tax act (Parrillo, p. 405).  Alcohol is another example.  Powerful groups in society got Congress to ratify the 18th Amendment in 1919 prohibiting the production, sale, or distribution of alcohol. (It later passed the Volstad Act to enforce prohibition).  Prohibition was repealed in 1933.  As a final example, look at the text’s discussion of alcoholism—The text points out that alcoholism is regarded as a “respectable disease” in middle class society.  There are many powerful groups, among them Alcoholics Anonymous that lobby for people who are afflicted with this ailment.

 

        C.     Symbolic Interactionists focus on how people come to abuse drugs.  They tend to see drug abuse as a learned behavior that people are socialized into.  They examine the “drug culture” and how it socializes people into drug use.  How do they recommend solving drug problems?  They argue that to succeed, you must change the “culture of drug use” in society.

 

 

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