Goode: Chapters 1-5Chapter 1: Drug Use: A Sociological PerspectiveWhat is a drug?- Drugs is a concept that is defined both materially, with respect to drugs essential or physically real properties, and socially, as a construct that is both in our minds 0 in the way we picture or represent the world- and in institutions we have built to deal with certain substances. - Can be defined by what they are and what they do, and in a pharmacological sense, what they are thought to do - Definition of drugs:o 1st- definition delineates the “objective,” or essentialist, reality of drugso 2nd –delineates the “subjective,” or constructionist, reality of drugs- Three relevant contexts for drugs:o Medical utilityo Psychoactivityo Illegality- Medical utility - regards a drug as a substance used by physicians to treat the body or mind.- Psychoactivity - regards a drug as a substance that influences the working of the brain or mind, that has an impact on cognitive and emotional processes- Illegality - regards as a drug any substance whose possession and sale are against the law.Medical Utility- a drug can be defined as a substance that is used to treat or heal the body or mind. o Used to return the user to a state of normalcy or “ordinariness”o Used to remove that which is pathological, abnormal, or unnatural (the disease or medical condition).- “socially constructed” medical definition of how drugs are defined. o Ex: heroin used as pain killer in UK but not US so in UK it is a drug according to the definition but not in the US because we do not use it as a medical drug. - Medical definitions may determine substances legal status, if not recognized as a medicine by the gov., its possession and sale is a crime.- Medical definition not useful in our quest to understand the cause, consequences, and implications of drug useIllegality - A drugs defined by a substances legal status – whether the possession and sale of a given substance are legal or illegal. o According to definition, law and law enforcement define what a drug is.- “socially constructed” definition: when a drug law is enacted, a category of illegal substances is created. Though it is a social construct it is hypothetically based on their physical (or essentialist) properties.- Possession and sale of certain drugs result from their physical or material properties: they are considered harmful because, presumably, they are harmful and are a, as a consequence, prohibited by law. Psychoactivity- Pharmacology is the study of the effect of drugs on biological organisms; the scientist who study the effects of drugs are called “pharmacologists,” and psychopharmacology is the study the effect of drugs specifically on the brain, that is, on the mind.- A drug is any substance that is psychoactive, that has an effect on the mind. - Psychoactivity is an extremely important property of chemical substances. o Psychoactive substance is one that affects the workings of the central nervous system. (brain & spinal column) Influences: thinking, mood, feeling, sensation, perception, emotion, behavior- The pharmacological definition – what a drug does the brain, and therefore the mind – is based entirely on the materially real or essential properties of substances. - Have the opposite definition of medical utilityo Medical- bring normalcy back Psychoactive- take the mind out of normalcy- Recreational drugs- taken for purpose of getting high - Alcohol is psychoactive! So alcohol is a drug!Defining Drugs: A Summary- Psychoactivity- based entirely on an essentialist or (presumably) materially real property- Illegality- is partly a socially constructed property and partly a consequence of the effects of certain substances.- Medical definition less useful for criminologist Drug Use and Drug Abuse- Drug use - act of ingesting a given substance or set of substances in any quantity with any frequency over any period of time- Drug abuse- specific subset or type of useTypes of Drug UseDimensions of Drug Use: An Introduction- Illegal instrumental use: users are taking the drug not because they enjoy the effects they experience when they take it but to achieve more effectively a goal of which most member of the society approve: working a job, purusing an education, or advancing in a career. o Goals are approved o Means by which it is attained are considered unacceptable to most Americans. - Combinging two dimensions – legal status and goal – yields four different types of drug useo 1. Legal instrumental use [ex: taking ambient via prescription to sleep]o 2. Illegal instrumental use [ex: using emphetamine to study all night]o 3. Legal recreational use [ex: drinking alcohol to feel pleasant]o 4. Illegal recreational use [ex: taking LSD to get high]Legal Instrumental Use- 2 principle forms of legal instrumental drug use:o 1. Over – the – counter: purchased to publico 2. Prescription drug: manufactured, bought, sold, and used legally, for medical purposes. Legal Recreational Use- Refers to use of alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine productso Psychoactive substance consumed for mental or psychic state. - Alcohol is the most popular legal recreational drug - 2nd is tobacco (but used by more individuals than all illegal drugs combined)Illegal Instrumental Use- Taking drugs without prescription for some purpose which society approves, such as driving a truck, studying for an exam, working at an all night job, falling asleep, achieving athletic excellence, or calming feelings of anxiety to cope with events of a day. - Do not seek intoxication or high off the drug, rather to achieve a goalIllegal Recreational Use- Two major annual surveys to ask about drug useThree Eras of Drug Use: Technological and Socioeconomic ChangeThe Natural Era- 1st era- dawn of prehistory: natural era o Religious and ceremonial context or as medicin- Innovation that yielded psychoactive substances considerably more potent than their natural plant form: the distillation of alcoholic beverageso Distillation=high alcohol content The Transformative Era- Began early 19th century with discoveries and innovations that produced substances that are more potent than natural plant products.o Chemical extraction=increased potency of drugo New means of taking drugs for higher potency IVs, syringeThe Synthetic Era- 20th century: scientist made drugs from chemicals not found in natureo First barbiturate drug o “pharmacological revolution”- the development of
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