Drug Use and

Addiction
Chapter 8
Introduction

• Drug use is a common way of life for many

Americans.
• Drug use is found among both the
delinquent and the hard working parent.
• People recognize a close connection
between drug use and their physical
well-being.
• Many events and holidays are
associated with drinking (i.e., Birthdays,
New Year’s Eve, Sporting event,
Celebration parties, etc.)
Drug Taking as Deviance

• “Drugs” is a loosely defined term that

covers a range of substances from aspirin
to alcohol and cocaine to cough syrup.
• Heroin is a psychoactive narcotic that
affects the central nervous system,
influencing mood, behavior, and
perception through action on the brain.
Drug Taking as Deviance

• Deviant character of drugs does result

from the effects of characteristics of
particular substances.
• The purpose for taking a drug is one
criterion of deviant use.
• A drug is a socially defined and labeled
by society.
Drug Taking as Deviance

• Nothing distinguishes non-deviant from

deviant drug use.
• Goode (2008: 58) defined a drug as:
• “Something that has been defined by certain
segments of the society as a drug.”
Drug Taking as Deviance

• Deviant character of using a particular

drug depends on the social norm.
• For example: Cocaine was an acceptable drug
in the 1850s that was used as a stimulant in
wine products; however, it has since become
the forefront for the war on drugs.
In-Class Question

1. During the 19th century people regarded

drug addiction as a ____________ problem.
a. National
b. Universal
c. Personal
d. Private
In-Class Question

1. During the 19th century people regarded

drug addiction as a ____________ problem.
a. National
b. Universal
c. Personal
d. Private
Answer C
Drug Taking as Deviance

• Social Attitudes About Drugs:

• During the 19th century people regarded drug
addiction as a personal problem.
• Most attitudes identifying drug use as
deviance developed during the 20th century.
Drug Taking as Deviance

• The change in public opinion for some

drugs seem to have followed public
acceptance between drug use and
disvalued lifestyles.
• For example: Cigarette smoking
was commonly accepted and
tolerated until recent changes in
laws have disvalued the behavior
by banning smoking in public
places.
Drug Taking as Deviance

• The Case of Marijuana:

• The Harrison Act of 1914 prohibited
selling and using opiates, cocaine,
and marijuana without a doctor’s
prescription (Musto, 1973).
• Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was
designed to stamp out use of the
substance by subjecting smokers to
criminal-law proceedings.
Drug Taking as Deviance

• Marijuana became a national problem:

1. The illegal behavior was visible to all
segments of society.
2. The public came to perceive such drug
use as a threat to personal health and
morality and to society’s well-being.
3. The perception of a significant problem
grew out of broader changes in the
status of youth and wider social
conflicts and issues.
Drug Taking as Deviance

• Marijuana symbolized the cleavage

between youthful protest and mature
conservatism, between the status quo
and change.
• “Medical use of marijuana” is permitted
in the following states:
• Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine,
Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico,
Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and
Washington (Drug Policy Alliance Network,
2009).
Drug Taking as Deviance

• The Case of Cocaine:

• Cocaine use generally occurred among well-to-
do people as an occasional practice.
• Over the past few decades, the price of
cocaine dropped due to the efficiencies in
transportation and marketability in the U.S.
• With lower costs for cocaine the demographic
began to consume of working people, students,
and others who could begin to afford the drug.
Drug Taking as Deviance

• Social Attitudes About Drugs:

• During the 1980s, the public attention shifted
from marijuana to cocaine as people identified
dugs as the biggest single problem confronting
schools and society.
• Crack cocaine became the cheap form of
cocaine that quickly flooded urban areas.
Drug Taking as Deviance

• Social Attitudes About Drugs:

• Indications of Changing Attitudes:
• National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) – solicits
responses from a sample of about 50,000
students in more than 400 schools throughout
the U.S.
Drug Taking as Deviance

• Public Policy and the War on Drugs

• Two aspects of the overall
context of drug use:
• Public concern over drugs varies.
• Links between drug-taking behavior and the
general behavior patterns of people in the U.S.
Drug Taking as Deviance

• Public Policy and the War on Drugs

• Judgments of deviance will likely target use of
drugs perceived as popular among less
powerful groups.
• Lower-class individuals
• Workers in socially marginal occupations
• Students
• People not fully assimilated into U.S. society.
Legal Drug Use

• Drug use also involves legal substances

with socially approved applications:
• For example: alcohol, tobacco, tranquilizers,
barbiturates, etc.
Legal Drug Use

• Pharmacies provide prescription drugs to

consumers.
• Women are more likely than men to consume
prescription drugs (Siegal, 1987)
• Over The Counter (OTC) drugs are
available for consumers without a written
prescription from a physician.
Legal Drug Use

• Amphetamines are commonly

found in many types of stimulants,
pep, and diet pills.
• Barbiturates are a class of drugs
that act as depressants in the
central nervous system, sometimes
supplement amphetamines in
programs to achieve weight loss.
Types of Illegal Drugs

• Drugs fall into categories depending

on their general effects on the body.
• For example: Depressants and
stimulants each have different
effects on the users.
• Morphine and heroin are derived
from opium and produces a highly
toxic, or poisonous, effects that
require diluting before use.
In Class Question

2. Methadone is a synthetic narcotic

analgesic originally developed in
Germany during World War II also known
as:
a. Dolophine
b. Delpaine
c. Dalphine
d. None of the above
In Class Question

2. Methadone is a synthetic narcotic

analgesic originally developed in Germany
during World War II also known as:
a. Dolophine
b. Delpaine
c. Dalphine
d. None of the above
Answer A
Types of Illegal Drugs

• Methadone (also known as

dolophine) is a synthetic narcotic
analgesic originally developed in
Germany during World War II.
• Cocaine is a stimulant drug that is
commonly inhaled or snorted
through the nose. Cocaine can also
be freebased when combined with
volatile chemicals
Types of Illegal Drugs

• Crack is a derivative of cocaine that

is produced by mixing it with water
and baking soda or ammonia.
• Marijuana is derived from leaves
and tender stems of the hemp
plant.
• This stimulant allows the user to experience
euphoria, intensified feelings, and a distorted
sense of time and space.
Types of Illegal Drugs

• Barbiturates are a sedative

hypnotic drug that exert a calming
effect on the central nervous
system.
• Methamphetamine (sometimes
called crank) is a derivative of
legitimate amphetamines that
produces a cocaine-like high. Users
often receive long-term energy.
Types of Illegal Drugs

• Hallucinogens drugs include

marijuana, hashish and other
“consciousness-expanding” drugs
produced from plants such as
mescaline, peyote, and morning
glory seeds.
Types of Illegal Drugs

• LSD is a synthetic hallucinogen

made largely from lysergic acid.
• “Club” or “Designer” are stimulants
that have a psychedelic effect that
can last from 4 to 6 hours. These
drugs include MDMA an ecstasy.
Marijuana Use

3. What is the most widely used illicit

drug in the United States?
a. Methamphetamine
b. LSD
c. Cocaine
d. Marijuana
Marijuana Use

3. What is the most widely used illicit

drug in the United States?
a. Methamphetamine
b. LSD
c. Cocaine
d. Marijuana
Answer D
Marijuana Use

• Marijuana is the most widely used

illicit drug in the U.S.
• Extent of Use:
• More than 96 million Americans have smoked
marijuana at least once (Volkow, 2005).
• Marijuana is essentially a social drug.
Marijuana Use

• Marijuana can help to establish the

pattern of social relations in some
groups.
• For example: Marijuana may contribute to
such a group’s long-term, continuing social
relations, helping to forge some value
consensus.
Marijuana Use

• Marijuana and Heroin:

• Previous research have found no relationship
linking marijuana use to the use of other
drugs.
• There is no evidence for the
gateway theory.
• Research on heroin users found that these
individuals used marijuana; however, no
causal relationship between marijuana use
and subsequent heroin use has been
established.
Opiate Use and Addiction

• The term addiction refers to

physical dependence, “an adaptive
state of the body that is manifested
by physical disturbances when drug
use stops” (Milby, 1981: 3).
Opiate Use and Addiction

• Many professionals prefer to discuss

“tolerance,” “dependence,” and
“abstinence syndrome” instead of
addiction.
• Abstinence from the drugs may cause
withdrawal distress.
• Users build up a tolerance of the drugs which
requires that he or she take larger and larger
doses to produce the desired effect.
Opiate Use and Addiction

• Patterns of Heroin Use:

• In the 19th century nearly two thirds of heroin
users were women. The average age of uses
were between 40 and 50.
• During the 20th century the drug’s popularity
peaked in most large U.S. cities during the
1960s.
Opiate Use and Addiction

• The United Nations estimates that

25 percent of those who have AIDS
contracted the disease through
intravenous drug use.
• Number of Heroin Users:
• Estimates suggest that the U.S. may lead all
counties in the number of addicts.
Opiate Use and Addiction

• Types of heroin users:

• Experimenters
• Recreational users
• Frequent users
Opiate Use and Addiction

• Characteristics of heroin users:

• Common among young, urban,
lower-class males from large cities,
particularly among blacks and
Hispanics from Puerto Rico.
• Heroin use ranges from street
addicts to performers to physicians.
Becoming an Opiate Addict

• Opiate addiction is learned just as

any other behavior.
• Primarily in association and communication
with others who are addicts.
• Most addicts knowingly approach
their initiations into drug use,
usually in their teens, by friends,
acquaintances, or marital partners.
Becoming an Opiate Addict

• The Process of Addiction (Waldorf,

1983):
1. Experimentation or Initiation.
2. Escalation.
3. Maintaining or “Taking Care of Business”.
4. Dysfunction or “Going through Changes”.
5. Recovery or “Getting Out of the Life”.
6. Ex-Addict
Becoming an Opiate Addict

• Theories of Addiction:
• Lindesmith’s theory emphasizes the
attractiveness of the drug to users.
• Drug addiction results when people use drugs
because they fear the pain or discomfort
associated with withdrawal.
Becoming an Opiate Addict

• Theories of Addiction:
• Stephens (1991) found street addicts use
heroin not necessarily to counter the pain of
withdrawal but to experience the drug high.
• This concentrates more on the negative
physical consequences of stopping opiate use,
that is, withdrawal symptoms.
Becoming an Opiate Addict

• The Addict Subculture:

• Someone with a career in addiction
participates in a drug subculture largely made
up of urban, slum-dwelling, male members of
minority groups who adhere to a deviant,
drug-related set of norms (Stephens, 1991).
• Their lives revolve around the “hustle”,
“copping”, and “getting off” (Agar, 1973).
Becoming an Opiate Addict

• The Addict Subculture:

• The addict subculture organizes its norms
around the supply and support of heroin use.
• Addicts rely on their subculture to connect
with dealers, to maintain hustles to secure
money for drugs, and to protect themselves
from outside interferences (i.e., the police).
Becoming an Opiate Addict

• The addict subculture organizes its norms

around the supply and support of heroin use.
• Addicts rely on their subculture to connect
with dealers, to maintain hustles to secure
money for drugs, and to protect themselves
from outside interferences (i.e., the police).
Cocaine Use

• Cocaine was discovered in the

1800s and was moved underground
only after the Pure Food and Drug
Act of 1906.
Cocaine Use

4.The spread of cocaine use in the late

1960s and early 1970s was the result
of:
a. World Bank allocated funds to build a
new highway in the high jungles of Peru.
b. Legislation reducing the legal limits on
the production of amphetamines.
c. Legislation increasing control on
depressants.
d. All of the above
Answer D
Cocaine Use

4.The spread of cocaine use in the late

1960s and early 1970s was the result
of:
a. World Bank allocated funds to build a
new highway in the high jungles of Peru.
b. Legislation reducing the legal limits on
the production of amphetamines.
c. Legislation increasing control on
depressants.
d. All of the above
Cocaine Use

• The Cocaine Highway:

• The spread of cocaine use in the late 1960s
and early 1970s was the result of two events:
• U.S. Congress passed legislation reducing the
legal limits on the production of amphetamines
and controls on depressants.
• World Bank allocated funds to build a new
highway in the high jungles of Peru.
Cocaine Use

• The popularity of Crack:

• Users can smoke this form of cocaine rather
than snorting it, which encourages rapid
absorption into the body, producing a quick
high.
• Crack costs less than cocaine.
• Smugglers could easily hide and transport
crack.
Cocaine Use

• Extent of Cocaine Use:

• The availability of cocaine helped increase its
popularity in the 1980s.
• Crack has become widely used among young
people because:
• Cheap for teenagers purchase
• Widely available in cities
Cocaine Use

• Methods of Use:
• Intravenous injections
• Smoked
• Snorted
• Consequences of Use:
• Paranoid psychosis
• Heart failure
• Respiratory collapse
• Fever
• Sudden death
Society’s Response to
Drug Use and Addiction
• Efforts to control illicit-drug use may
target two potential objectives:
• Control the substances themselves
• Control the behavior of people involved with
them
Society’s Response to
Drug Use and Addiction
• Applying Criminal Sanctions:
• Legalist perspective
• Public health perspective
• Drug Policy Topics:
• The relationship between addiction
and crimes committed to fund
purchases.
• The general question of whether to
apply criminal sanctions specifically for
involvement with illicit-drug use.
Society’s Response to
Drug Use and Addiction
• Addict Crime:
• Laws affecting drug use include those who
prohibit manufacturing, selling, and using
certain drugs as well as those that address
crimes associated with drug use.
• Enslavement theory supports the idea that
addicts and other users often commit crimes
to support their expensive habits.
Society’s Response to
Drug Use and Addiction
• Should the Law Prohibit Using Drugs:
• Some believe the attempts to suppress drug
use has actually increased difficulties of
controlling drug traffic and drug prices.
• Should drug use be decriminalized?
• Increase focus on treatment programs.
Society’s Response to
Drug Use and Addiction
• Treatment:
• Treatment programs offer an alternative to a
legally oriented response to drug additions.
• Treatment promotes abstinence from drugs
and pursues an intermediate goal: harm
reduction (Levinson, 2002).
• Harm reduction seeks to minimize the
negative consequences of ongoing drug use.
Society’s Response to
Drug Use and Addiction
• Methadone Maintenance:
• Addicts report daily to a clinic to take a
medically supervised does of methadone,
which acts as a substitute for heroin to
prevent withdrawal symptoms.
Society’s Response to
Drug Use and Addiction

• Heroin Maintenance:
• British drug policy attempts to acknowledge
the need for treating recreations users by
invoking the concept of the problem drug
taker.
• Prescription administration of the drug costs
less than the black market, prevents forced
association with criminals, and helps keep
users out of the criminal subculture.
Society’s Response to
Drug Use and Addiction

• Clinical Tactics to Treat Heroin

Addiction:
• Treatment period is a few months.
• Addicts receive medical examinations to build
their physical conditions in addition to their
drug dependency.
• Methadone is used to treat withdrawals.
• Addicts receive recreational and occupational
therapy and vocational training.
Society’s Response to
Drug Use and Addiction

• Clinical Tactics to Treat Users of

Other Drugs:
• CareUnit programs target their impatient
treatments for young users of any drug,
frequently as a result of referrals by their
parents.
• The Hazelden Model: asserts that any
treatment, even involuntary treatment, is
better than none.
Society’s Response to
Drug Use and Addiction

• Addict Self-Help Programs:

• Addicts may find assistance in quitting drugs
through self-help groups operated by former
addicts, such as NA, Synanon, and various
local groups.
• NA replaces norms and attitudes favoring the
use of drugs with those opposed to drug use.
Society’s Response to
Drug Use and Addiction

• Addict Self-Help Programs:

• Synanon is a group method of treating drug
addiction stressing interpersonal cooperation
and group support for individual addicts who
need help with their problems.
Society’s Response to
Drug Use and Addiction

• They Synanon program applies a

learning or socialization theory of
deviance to the treatments of drug
addicts.
• Therapeutic communities are
expensive treatment options;
however, high success rates might
justify the expenses.
• These programs may run a risk of increasing
dependence for addicts.
Prevention of Drug Use

• Scare Tactics may come in the form

of media messages.
• These messages are typically geared toward
young users and stress the negative physical
consequences of taking drugs.
Prevention of Drug Use

• Two strategies attempt to prevent

drug use:
• Imply threats intended to scare potential users
away from drugs.
• Conduct education programs specially
designed to alert potential users to the
dangers and consequences of drug use.
Prevention of Drug Use

• Drug education programs are used

to define formal, structured
attempts to provide objective
information to potential users to
help them evaluate drug use and
reject it.
• These programs target potential users without
extensive drug experience or backgrounds.