THIS IS YOUR SOCIETY ON DRUGS. Any questions?
Remember the good old days? When if you needed clean needles for morphine injections you could just order 'em out of the Sears Roebuck catalog? Before Bayer was all about aspirin, and they branded Heroin for your common cold? When Coca Cola wasn't just a clever name--because there was actually coca (cocaine) in it? Things were simpler then...of course, alcohol was clearly off limits for Americans; without any customs to guide its use, we couldn't handle our booze. Still, back then we waged war on things like communism and nazis--not potheads and poor people.
Truth be told, sociologists are not out to judge any given zeitgeist as good or bad, better or worse. Sure, the 1950s had a nuclear family still intact; they also had segregated schools and tuberculosis. Today modern science has made leaps and bounds to extend mortality, produce on an incredibly mass scale, and has made sometimes successful attempts at killing our pain. We tend to think we have it figured out. Heroin for a cough?! Preposterous! We know better now.
What are we legitimately "on" today that we may decide we shouldn't be in the future? Who decides what a drug is? What makes a drug legal or illegal? To this date, there are no known cases of marijuana overdose (illicit drug), while cigarettes continue to be just about the worst thing you can do for your health (perfectly legal). What gives?
Pharmacologically, a drug is any substance other than food that alters the functioning of a living organism when it enters the bloodstream. Sociologically, a drug is a chemical substance that has a direct effect on the user's physical, psychological or intellectual functioning, has the potential to be abused, and has adverse consequences to society.
Social theories are tools that help us reflect on where our society stands today when it comes to drugs, and can help us understand what makes one drug a solution one day, and a deadly danger the next....
Structural functionalists see functions and dysfunctions of drugs in society. On the one hand, alcohol is a social lubricant, helping us to relax and interact with people (sometimes people we might not interact with in the first place, but that's another story...). On the other hand, booze can seriously disrupt households, relationships, and personal lives...not to mention bang-up finances and lead to bodily injuries. The manifest function of Ritalin is to help kids focus...the latent functions are addiction, recreational use by people of all ages, and high accessibility of a legitimized form of speed.
Conflict theorists always wondered why the penalty for 5g of crack is equal to the penalty for 500g of cocaine. Isn't crack diluted cocaine? Statistically, lower income minorities are smoking crack while rich white execs are sniffing cocaine. Who does society want locked up?
Opium was outlawed as the "Chinese Menace"...prohibition outlawed all that German beer, Italian wine, and Irish whisky..outlawing marijuana came at a time of increased immigration from Mexico...
Symbolic Interactionists note that if the initial drug experience is good, you might do it again. If you are labeled a "drug user"--a "criminal"--you might use for a long time. Drugs are social constructions, like illneses. Why are some drugs legal in some places and illegal in others? Who is right? And how long will those distinctions hold?
Drugs have been a part of society for a very long time and will continue to be. What are the consequences for legitimizing, delegitimizing, criminalizing and decriminalizing certain substances?
What are you "on"? Are you legit? Can you quit? Think about it.References:
Brownstein, Henry. "Legend of the Drug Crazed Killer". Allyn and Bacon. 2000.
Mooney, Knox and Schadt. Understanding Social Problems. 2006.
Musto, D. 1997. "Opium, Cocaine and Marijuana in American History" in L.K. Gaines and P.B. Kraska (eds). Drugs, Crime, and Justice--Contemporary Perspectives. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland
NCHS Press Room. "Historical Causes of Death" 2006. Recommended Reading:
Doors of Perception by A. Huxley
Selling Crack in El Barrio by Philippe BourgoisRecommended Viewing:
American Drug War: The Last White Hope (2007)
Happy Valley (2008)
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