Chapter 6 + Lecture 8 Flashcards
Why are substance users targeted more than some other social problems?
The public fears threats less according to their statistical likelihood than to the extent that they are seen as involuntary, uncontrollable, unknowable. unfamiliar, catastrophic and certain to be fatal
The War on Drugs in the United States started by President Nixon during the Vietnam War to…
divert attention away from domestic political issues
Does research support the claim that there is a direct causal connection between a mother’s crack cocaine use and an infant’s physical and developmental concerns?
No research does not support this claim.
The infant’s physical and developmental concerns cannot be entirely separated from other aspects (i.e., poor nutrition, inadequate housing, inadequate parenting, etc.)
Hallum Hurt and colleagues found that ____________ was a far more powerful influence on the academic outcomes of inner-city African-American children than gestational exposure to crack.
Poverty
Of all the pharmacological categories of drugs, _________ have the least serious physical side effects when used as prescribed
opioids
The government and the media help to create…
moral panics
Describe “moral panics”
Widespread feeling of fear, often irrational, that something threatens the values, interests and well-being of a community or society
Moral panic can give rise to
new laws aimed at controlling the community
Objective versus subjective reality of drugs
Objective reality of drugs:
- Facts
Subjective reality of drugs:
- How the media presents it (exaggerated and misrepresented)
What are mandatory minimum sentences problematic and harmful?
They remove decision making from judges and thus situational/ environmental conditions are ignored
Fentanyl absorption through the skin is possible but only if…
- The substance is potent
- The substance stays on skin for a long time
Inhaling fentanyl dust is unlikely because…
Number of airborne particulars would be too few
