Substance abuse and addiction Flashcards
Social Role of Substance Use
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)
The Importance of Place
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
Socio-cultural impact
Substance use serves both social and cultural purposes
Howard Becker described how people learned to appreciate marijuana
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
Factors Affecting Alcohol and Substance Abuse
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
Communities and Subcultures of Drug Users
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
Cultural History of Canadian Drug Policy
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
Political Rhetoric
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
Ronald Reagan (1980s) - “War on Drugs”
- Illegal drugs considered an affront to morals and a threat targeting youth
- Aimed to control people who use drugs or drug pushers
Mass Media Representations
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
Media representations pertaining to youth substance use reinforce two ideologies:
- Characterizing illicit substance use as a social threat
- Characterizing youth as being incapable of individual responsibility and in need of legislative regulation (usually overemphasized leading to more control measures over youth)
What is an addiction?
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
Characteristics of addiction
- 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
Sociological Perspectives on Addiction and Patterns in Substance Use
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
Functionalist Theories (Macro-level)
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
Community/Cultural Perspectives (Macro)
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
Symbolic Interactionist Theories (Micro)
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)
Individual-Based Perspectives on Drug Use (Micro)
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)
Sato marks six phases in the medicalization of deviance (increases chance of master status label):
- Definition: alleged abuse of a drug
- Prospecting: discovery and interest in the medical community
- Claims making: increased claims by the medical community that the problem is social
- Legitimacy: government definition of drug use as a medical problem
- Institutionalization: emergence of laws prohibiting a drug
- Designation: stricter legal prohibition
Critical Theories
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
Feminist Approaches
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
The War on Drugs
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
Do mandatory minimum sentences deter substance use?
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
Social Policy Implications
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)
Communities and Subcultures of Drug Users
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
Decriminalization and Legalization
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
Drug Treatment Strategies in Canada
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
Canadian National Drug Strategy
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
