Test 4 Flashcards
1
Q
What is a social problem? The objective and subjective components?
A
- Any condition or behavior that has negative consequences for large numbers of people and that is generally recognized as a condition or behavior that needs to be addressed.
- Objective: negative consequences for large numbers of people
- Subjective: generally recognized as a condition or behavior that needs to be addressed
2
Q
How is the use of legal drugs policed?
A
- licensed dispensing
- corralling (public intoxication, driving under the influence)
- age restrictions
- economic measures (increasing prices, taxing) - makes lots of people unable to afford it, specifically youth
- “Public Education” - legitimacy in recognizing it is a social problem through state funded education and advertising
3
Q
War on drugs video - U.S perspective
A
- 1990s incarceration rates in the US blew up, more than anywhere else in the world
- crack & cocaine the same drug but administered differently, crack seen as a black drug, even though white people use it, and has a worse outcome legally for black people
- war on drugs increased black/latino prisoners, 1971 prison population was 200,000, today it is over 2 million, growth of 900%
- 1.5 mill drug arrests in 2014, more than 80% possession only, 1/2 for marijuana
- white people are less targeted and ticketed
- different approach to street drugs vs legal drugs
- the way we focus the instrument of the criminal justice system is disproportionately, police presence & tickets is focused in certain neighbourhoods and not in others
- war on drugs becomes a war on certain communities- racialized elements
- no decrease in drug use because of this war on drugs, what are the gains?
4
Q
Canada’s War on Drugs
A
- also had its own war on drugs
- similarities in Canadas war on drugs to the U.S (some differences) and the overall message is of similar harms
5
Q
Canada Policing Drugs (2014)
A
- total drug offence arrests = 103,757
- cannabis possession arrests = 57,314 - we dedicated over 50% of resources to something that is now legalized
- trafficking/ production/ distribution arrests = 10,696
- CAD gov’t spends $50 bill annually in policing drugs and drug habits
- majority (55%) was spent for arrested people for possession of cannabis
- money not being spent in best possible way
- 3x as much money used for inmates than for students
- Canada in partnership with U.S to attempt to dismantle drug cartels in southern countries, using military efforts
6
Q
Canada Policing Drugs (more recent data - 2020)
A
- $9 billion was spent on criminal justice associated with substance abuse, which amounts to $252 for every Canadian
- Alcohol = $3.2 billion or 35.2%
- Cocaine = $1.9 billion or 20.8%
- Cannabis =$1.8 billion or 19.7%
7
Q
CBC interview
A
- wide spread drug use hasn’t decreased because of prohibition, prohibition just increased other issues such as criminal organized crime
- more policing leads to more dangerous drugs
- drug prohibition contributes to drug market violence and higher homicide rates, as well as criminalizing the population of dependent users (medical and social issue)
- majority of people who are swept up into this are dependant users, which is not a policing issue its a medical issue
8
Q
CBC interview 2
A
9
Q
Pros and Cons to a CJS approach to substance abuse
A
Pros
- created many jobs in the criminal justice system (structural functionalist perspective)
Cons
- targets the victims of substance abuse, people addicted to it (the abusers)
- mass incarceration (often black people, indigenous, people of colour)
- over policing leads to seeing more violence (not regulated, can’t go to courts to settle cases, unregulated production of drugs, cutting costs, lacing drugs, etc)
- not reducing substance use, actually creating more social problems
10
Q
degree of criminal justice involvement
A
criminalization - to make something illegal (different degrees within)
- responses on a scale: (lower end) fines, community service, probation, charges, sentences, incarceration (higher end), death penalty (most criminalized degree)
decriminalization - measures for harm reduction
- criminal justice as diversions
- still fines, but more similar to speeding tickets
- ex. public intoxicated, get fined but not arrested
- decriminalization beneficial as it lessens fear & the attempt to hide, especially in terms of overdose
legalization - to make legal
- alcohol, nicotine, marijuana
- regulatory retail measures of dispensing and licensing
- commercial production
11
Q
Canada’s degree of criminal justice involvement
A
Alcohol
- legalized
- regulated retail
Marijuana
- legalized
Opioids
- criminalized
12
Q
Video: Unsanctioned Hoping to be policed
A
- toronto
- pop up supervised injection sites for overdose prevention
- naloxone to prevent overdose
- fentanyl overdose increased
- injection sites actually illegal and could be shut down by police
- illegal because there is a delay in getting a sanctioned site opened, in attempt to save lives earlier they broke the law and opened this popup site
- considered innovative, “extraordinary” because the actions that need to be taken are illegal
13
Q
“Losing the uphill battle?”
Article
A
Politics and policies need to be more receptive to and encourage:
- ## Innovation and experimentation
- Harm reduction
- Addressing social-structural factors
14
Q
“Losing the uphill battle?”
Article
A
Politics and policies need to be more receptive to and encourage 3 things :
- separates politics (politicians receptiveness and encouragement) and policies (laws, legislation)
- Innovation and experimentation
- innovation is creating new ideas to try rather than policing and war on drugs to see new solutions
- being experimental to try the new ideas and test them out, and then measure it… ex. pop up site, does it work? do we want to continue it?
- difficult to be experimental if there is fear of intervention of the CJS - Harm reduction
- there is tons of harm
- focused first is reducing the harm (fewer over doses, fewer deaths related to overdose, etc) - Addressing social-structural factors
- economic factors, CJS factors, etc
- not only locating the issues to the individual who is using the drugs, but also to find the innovative/experimental solutions to reduce harm at a social structural level
15
Q
Article - “Losing the uphill battle?”
A
Politics and policies need to be more receptive to and encourage 3 things :
- separates politics (politicians receptiveness and encouragement) and policies (laws, legislation)
- Innovation and experimentation
- innovation is creating new ideas to try rather than policing and war on drugs to see new solutions
- being experimental to try the new ideas and test them out, and then measure it… ex. pop up site, does it work? do we want to continue it?
- difficult to be experimental if there is fear of intervention of the CJS - Harm reduction
- there is tons of harm
- focused first is reducing the harm (fewer over doses, fewer deaths related to overdose, etc) - Addressing social-structural factors
- economic factors, CJS factors, etc
- not only locating the issues to the individual who is using the drugs, but also to find the innovative/experimental solutions to reduce harm at a social structural level
16
Q
4 harm reduction interventions
A
- Naloxone distribution programs
- Make life-saving medication widely/universally available
- medication to save lives needs to be readily accessible
- but it is cost prohibitive which needs to be addressed - Injectable opioid agonist treatment (I-OAT)
- Prescribe (safe) opioids (=no street drugs)
- intervention that medical institutions prescribe a similar drug to the addiction, to meet the craving the body desires, but the prescription is safe because its not unregulated (not cooked elsewhere, not laced)
- measure to get rid of street drugs
- other potential benefits, the drug itself is safer because they are used for other medical reasons - Overdose prevention sites (OPS)
- Low-budget, pop-up supervised consumption site
- often pop-up which means temporary, out door tent(s), supervised by volunteers
- supervised which offers benefits, supervisors are from the medical community and can prevent overdoses
- beginning now to open sanctioned sites or request for them across Canada
- BC declared a state of emergency and now have sanctioned permanent prevention sites - Drug checking services
- Analyze drugs for foreign substances
- not only supervised consumption, but now also safe consumption because they are checking for lacing
-
17
Q
Perceptions of risk and safety within injections settings
A
- Injection sites (temporary or permanent) are used to reduce health risks AND “everyday forms of risk”
- Safety and Risk
1. Health - overdose prevention
2. Hygiene - clean needles, safe clean place to inject,
3. Violence - safe from violence
4. Law - safe from criminal justice system
- no fear to hide from surveillance and apprehension
18
Q
How Harm Reduction Interventions reduce Health-Related Risks
A
Reduce blood-borne viruses
- Sterile syringes and paraphernalia to prevent viruses
- Clean (where you are injecting is clean)
- Segregation, safe & by yourself, less at risk from attack (violence) and any health risks, no chance of mixing drugs
Over-dose
- Supervised so they can watch for overdose & health hazards
- Naloxone provided to save life
19
Q
How Harm Reduction Interventions reduce “everyday forms of risk”
A
Clean, warm, no cost environment
- not using an abandoned building or unsafe setting like back lanes
- no worry of weather (Canadian winters)
Safe from attack and robbery
Sanctioned
- No charges
- No confiscation
No public exposure
- takes away risks for the community/public, especially young people
- users don’t want to be using out in the street and visible to the public
- reduces many harms by providing a safe place for them to use
20
Q
Video - Site had to cut back on services after not receiving money from the province (APTN)
A
- Prairie harm reduction safe consumption site in Saskatoon
- no provincial funding they were depending on
- help from community partnerships allowed them to finally open
- more difficulties with covid-19 (delayed opening, now have to implement social distancing measures)
- overdoses have increased since covid (230 overdose deaths in first 8 months of 2020)
- Measurement of harm reduction: are needles on the streets or are they now reduced because of measured implemented?
- health: cleanliness, aerosol
21
Q
Article - Illicit and prescription drug problems among urban Aboriginal adults in Canada
A
- there are more aboriginal adults now living in urban settings than anywhere else (moved from rural and reserves) - high / over-represented drug use among aboriginal adults who live in urban settings
- how do we reduce this harm???
- there is a need for enculturation!!! (specifically in aboriginal adults living in urban settings!)
- Enculturation: the degree to which Aboriginal people identify with, feel a sense of pride for, and integrate the values and norms of their Aboriginal heritage culture
- there is an inverse relationship between enculturation and drug usage, as enculturation goes up, drug use goes down. as enculturation decreases then drug use increases
- Enculturation inversely associated with illicit drug use
- Enculturation inversely associated with prescription drug use
- Enable & encourage Indigenous identity & traditions in cities
- as aboriginals have moved into urban settings they have lost some of their culture, a disassociation
- reintegration of the culture with reduce the drug use
22
Q
Belonging and connection - in relation to aboriginals and drug usage
A
- Lack of social integration in urban, settler-colonial societies (as aboriginal people move into canadian cities), losing a connection to their own communities, the city is a very different cultural place, so they lose their own culture and social bonds, and they don’t gain a lot of the social connection/bonds in settler colonial societies
- leads to lots of pain and discomfort
- Addictive behaviours to adapt to pain to deal with the pain & harm
- solution is re-connecting to Indigenous culture is a social integration (finding our communities)
- answer to ultimately reducing this type of drug use - reconnection to their culture, we need to do a better job of providing room for aboriginal culture so they can maintain their integration
