Substance abuse and addiction

Question 1

Social Role of Substance Use

Answer 1

The relationship between drugs and deviant behaviour is defined by both socio-cultural and biochemical factors (social roles and biology of certain individuals are more susceptible)

Question 2

The Importance of Place

Answer 2

Situational factors contribute to the impact of substance use
- Different situations can encourage or discourage drug use, which is why people are more likely to consume drugs in the company of others

Question 3

Socio-cultural impact

Answer 3

Substance use serves both social and cultural purposes

Question 4

Howard Becker described how people learned to appreciate marijuana

Answer 4

He asserted that to smoke and appreciate marijuana:

• The drug must be available
• A knowledgable person must teach the newcomer how to properly use the drug
• A knowledgable person must explain how to detect and appreciate its physical effects

Question 5

Factors Affecting Alcohol and Substance Abuse

Answer 5

Alcohol use interacts with variables such as gender, class, and race to produce a deviant label
Media depictions of substance use vary depending on social context

Question 6

Communities and Subcultures of Drug Users

Answer 6

Drugs can be a means of cultural and sub-cultural expression

Drug community members:

• Lead lives that are unusual, dangerous, and secretive
• Develop distinctive practices, customs, terminology, and safety and support systems
• The more dangerous or hard to get the drug is, the more restrictive and mysterious the associated community is

Question 7

Cultural History of Canadian Drug Policy

Answer 7

Opium Act (1980) and Opium and Narcotic Drug Act (1929) contradicts the assumption that drugs are illegal based on the severity of the harm they cause

Opium Act (1980) was introduced to deter Chinese immigration by rendering opium criminal

Emily Murphy (1922) connected recreational substance use with trends in moral decline

Question 8

Political Rhetoric

Answer 8

Popular discourse surrounding the dangers of drugs often overstate the risks inherent to using substances and overestimates the prevalence of their use
- The way in which politicians, authorities, and social elites talk about social issues, influencing the mass media and the public perception of harms posed by substance abuse

Question 9

Ronald Reagan (1980s) - “War on Drugs”

Answer 9

• Illegal drugs considered an affront to morals and a threat targeting youth
• Aimed to control people who use drugs or drug pushers

Question 10

Mass Media Representations

Answer 10

Highly moralistic content of media representation of substance users

Two categories:

• Populations in danger: youth/adolescents
• Populations that pose danger: racialized peoples, those living in poverty

Question 11

Media representations pertaining to youth substance use reinforce two ideologies:

Answer 11

1. Characterizing illicit substance use as a social threat
2. Characterizing youth as being incapable of individual responsibility and in need of legislative regulation (usually overemphasized leading to more control measures over youth)

Question 12

What is an addiction?

Answer 12

A psychological and/or physiological need for a drug to maintain a sense of well-being and avoid withdrawal symptoms
Can only achieve euphoria by using a specific substance = cannot get this pleasure elsewhere

Question 13

Characteristics of addiction

Answer 13

• Changes in mood
• Relief from negative emotions
• Experience of pleasure
• Preoccupation with the use of the substance
• Ritualistic use of the substance (time, environment, etc.)
• Engagement in addictive behaviours DESPITE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES

Question 14

Sociological Perspectives on Addiction and Patterns in Substance Use

Answer 14

Stereotypes of substance users: criminal, deficiencies in impulse control, violent

The concept of addiction has changed
- Presence of the “four Cs”: cravings, control, compulsion, cease

Sociological theories explain trends in drug use using two traditions:

• Macro-level perspectives
• Micro-level perspectives

Question 15

Functionalist Theories (Macro-level)

Answer 15

Drug and alcohol use are common because they fulfill an important social role
- Drug use contributes to social cohesion, helping to maintain communities of drug users

The need for both cohesion and comfort are sometimes great enough to have drugs play an important role

According to social disorganization theory, drug and alcohol abuse increases when institutions that usually curb drug use are less effective

Theory of Anomie: the cause of excessive drinking and other substance abuse lies in the conflict between values and institutions

Question 16

Community/Cultural Perspectives (Macro)

Answer 16

Features in social organization can be correlated with increasing rates of substance use and abuse

• Social disorganization theory
• Historical trauma: collective trauma inflicted on a group of people who share a group identity or affiliation
• Intergenerational trauma: how the trauma inflicted on entire communities who have been subject to abuses based on ethnicity/group identity transfers to their children, who also carry the effects

Question 17

Symbolic Interactionist Theories (Micro)

Answer 17

Focuses on the (positive) social meanings people associate with alcohol and drug use and the labels they attach to those who use drugs (e.g stoner, addict, alcoholic, etc)

Interested in seeing what kinds of people are labelled deviant and why
- Most people drink from time to time, but few are called ‘problem drinkers’

Often a transition from ignoring behaviour to considering it immoral, then medical or psychological
- The last stage is called the medicalization of deviance (diagnosis can legitimize addiction rather than it being a personal problem, can help stigmas as well)

Question 18

Individual-Based Perspectives on Drug Use (Micro)

Answer 18

Pathways: unique circumstances in which a person comes to problematically use alcohol/other substances

• Mental health issues
• Self-medication hypothesis

Subcultural Perspectives
Introduction to deviant groups that use substances because of social discontent (drug cultures)

Question 19

Sato marks six phases in the medicalization of deviance (increases chance of master status label):

Answer 19

1. Definition: alleged abuse of a drug
2. Prospecting: discovery and interest in the medical community
3. Claims making: increased claims by the medical community that the problem is social
4. Legitimacy: government definition of drug use as a medical problem
5. Institutionalization: emergence of laws prohibiting a drug
6. Designation: stricter legal prohibition

Question 20

Critical Theories

Answer 20

Alcohol and drug use affect socio-economic groups differently. (whose drug use is justified vs unjustified)

Critical theorists ask who benefits from drug use and who is harmed
- Some benefit from drug sales and/or drug laws, including alcohol and cigarette companies and legislators

Question 21

Feminist Approaches

Answer 21

Patriarchy (male dominance) controls how societies work. Women who use drugs are deviant because of male dominance in drug use. This means that women have more reason to use drugs, as a form of retreat (were considered unable to make decisions, especially about children)

Though women are less likely to become alcoholics or drug abusers, they are likely more distributed and deviant when they do develop addictions
- Women are also likely to face hostile receptions from families and other members of a society when they divulge their addiction

Question 22

The War on Drugs

Answer 22

The greatest costs relating to substance abuse flow from governmental attitudes towards the drug trade and drug use

Both Canadian and American governments have undertaken a “war on drugs” for being tough on crime b/c drug use = more crime

Legislations centre around imposing harsher and mandatory sentencing for drug offences

Question 23

Do mandatory minimum sentences deter substance use?

Answer 23

The biggest failure of mandatory sentencing and other deterrence policies is the war on drugs

• Even a high threat of death does not deter drug dealers
• Mandatory minimums just encourages drug use to go underground
• Best deterrence is the certainty of being caught and robust education systems
• However, people are still going to use drugs no matter what

Canadian courts have overturned parts of the Harper government’s tough-on-crime laws on the grounds they violate Charter rights.

The existing level of punishment is severe enough for most people

Question 24

Social Policy Implications

Answer 24

Much disagreement surrounds different strategies for “curing” substance abuse

• Some believe Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) - 12 step program is the most successful of all addiction treatments
• Others maintain that harm reduction strategies are prudent to adopt in order to regulate drug use
• Most arguments that support legalizing cannabis stress the practical benefits of legalization (opportunity to ensure quality control and to tax drug sales–and the harm done by failing to legalize these drugs)

Question 25

Communities and Subcultures of Drug Users

Answer 25

Drugs can be a means of cultural and sub-cultural expression

Drug community members:

• LEad lives that are unusual and secretive
• Develop distinctive practices, customs, terminology, and safety and support systems
• The more dangerous or hard to get the drug is, the more restrictive and mysterious the associated community is

Question 26

Decriminalization and Legalization

Answer 26

Decriminalization: removing the Criminal Code laws against marijuana possession and use -> eliminating all current penalties

Legalization: taking state control of the sale of these substances, as well as removing penalties for possession and use

Both forms of harm reduction, evidence suggests that legalization is better because it would erase a criminal drug trade and ensure safe drugs for consumers

Question 27

Drug Treatment Strategies in Canada

Answer 27

Most treatment services in Canada have adopted a client-centred approach that sees substance users as vulnerable populations

• Services that combat substance-abuse issues, as well as offering counselling, spiritual guidance, and the development of self-esteem and pro-social skills
• Programs that emphasize ender sensitivity and are culturally sensitive
• Harm reduction

Question 28

Canadian National Drug Strategy

Answer 28

Canada’s first federal drug strategy (1987) four pillars:
- Treatment, prevention, enforcement, harm reduction

Election of conservative government (2004)
- Increased mandatory minimum sentences relating to illicit substances and eliminated pillar of harm reduction

National drug strategy suggests that recent trends in Canadian drug legislation parallel the drug rhetoric once promoted by Ronald Reagan, that illicit substances constitute a social danger best combated through criminal judicial response rather than healthcare initiatives