Sociology Final Exam Study Guide Chapter 8 What is a Drug Drug any chemical substance other than food and water that affects the mind and body Caffeine and aspirin are very commonly used drugs 60 of adults in the US worry about drug use and consider this issue to be a serious social problem Attitudes about marijuana are evenly divided with slightly more than half of adults viewing marijuana use as a serious problem and the other half saying that marijuana should be legalized of adults support making marijuana available to people for medical use How people view drugs varies from one society to another Europeans have enjoyed alcohol for thousands of years but Native Americans had bad first contact with alcohol and define it as a serious problem Native Americans use peyote in religious rituals but Europeans use it and are terrified by the hallucinations so it was declared dangerous by the Europeans The coco plant is used and legal in Bolivia Peru and Columbia chew or make tea to give farmers a lift Coca Cola used to contain cocaine as one of it s ingredients In the 19th century in the South white people feared that blacks would get a hold of cocaine and commit crimes or violence towards whites In 1903 Coca Cola stopped putting cocaine in the beverage In 1914 Congress passed the Harrison Act a national law restricting the sale of cocaine and heroin By 1919 doctors couldn t write prescriptions for cocaine or heroin In 1920 the nation s attention turned toward alcohol As the number of immigrants increased in the US the views of alcohol changed to negative ones Common stereotypes linked immigrants with alcohol Temperance movement social movement seeking to ban alcohol 1920 Congress passed the 18th amendment which outlawed the manufacture and sale of alcohol in the US The ban of alcohol is known as prohibition Prohibition created the demand for illegal alcohol Speakeasy nightclubs in the north Moonshine in south In 1933 congress passed the 23rd amendment which repealed prohibition Most people in the US rely on drugs to help them wake up stay alert relax ease aches and pains and go to sleep We live in a drug culture In 2012 9 2 of the population aged 12 and over had used some illegal drug at least once in the past thirty days Cigarettes are used occasionally by about 22 of adults The share of the population reporting illegal drug use is in their late teens People use drugs for therapeutic uses such as controlling seizures lessening depression and reducing pain People use drugs recreationally like having wine a or beer with a meal Spiritual or psychological uses for drugs are found in native American societies People use drugs usually in large doses for escape for everyday life People use drugs for social conformity so they can fit in socially Two ways to distinguish abuse of drugs are based on law and social norms and the effect of the drug Most common way to ingest nicotine is through cigarettes Cigarettes became popular during the WWI when the armed forces issued free cigarettes In the 1960s 45 of US adults smoked 2012 19 6 of US adults smoked States in the Midwest and south have higher rates of smoking As of 2013 about 30 of adults smoke worldwide Worldwide about 1 billion people smoke and 80 live in middle to low income nations Trend of US smoking is going downward the worldwide trend is going upward 500 000 people die annually due to tobacco use second hand smoke is blamed for nearly 50 000 deaths a year 1998 US tobacco companies reached a settlement with a number of states that had filed lawsuits seeking compensation for harm caused by people smoking Ritalin and Adderall are regulated drugs that are prescribed by doctors to treat children with ADD About 8 of college students have prescriptions for ADD medication Cocaine and crack are powerful stimulants that heighten alertness and raise blood pressure and pulse rate In 2012 about 1 8 of people over the age of twelve had used cocaine in some form during the past year Cocaine s popularity peaked in the 1980s when it was the drug choice of many young urban professionals Crack s popularity in large US cities caused an increase in crime rate African Americans are twice as likely to use crack than whites Amphetamines were first developed for the medical treatment of personality disorders and obesity After cocaine amphetamines are the most popular of the illegal stimulants About 5 of adults claim to have tried amphetamines at some time in their lives Withdrawal symptoms from amphetamine include apathy depression irritability and disorientation Depressants are drugs that slow the operation of the central nervous system Analgesics are a type of depressant that dulls pain aspirin ibuprofen Tylenol Heroin is made from morphine which comes from the seeds of poppy plants According to the Center for Disease Control the fastest growing drug problem involves abuse of deaths from unintentional drug overdoses involving opioid analgesics Sedatives and hypnotics are drugs that help people relax and at higher dosages cause sleep and drowsiness Examples of sedatives and hypnotics include barbiturates and tranquilizers 7 of US adults become dependent on or abuse alcohol 17 of men and 8 of women have a problem with alcohol at some point in their lives 40 of college students reported binge drinking 5 drinks in a row for men 4 for women at least once in the past month Antipsychotics are prescribed to people with severe personality disorders or schizophrenia Hallucinogens include LSD peyote PCP MDMA ecstasy Hallucinogens are non addictive but powerful The use of hallucinogens in the US peaked in the 1960s whites are twice as likely to use hallucinogens than blacks or Hispanics cannabis and hashish make up about 79 of the US illegal drug use Cannabis and hashish became popular in the 1960s 15 states has decriminalized marijuana reducing penalties for possession replacing jail times with fines and in some cases involving no permanent criminal record Some amateur and professional athletes use steroids in cycles like a few weeks or months on and then a few weeks off before a drug test The number of deaths from overdose of prescription drugs is greater than deaths from overdoses of cocaine and heroin combined Today the abuse of prescription drugs is the fastest growing dimension of the drug problem The typical person who abuses prescription drugs is likely to be in the midtwenties or older Drugs and other social problems Drug use harms our society involving