Goode Chapters 1 5 Chapter 1 Drug Use A Sociological Perspective What 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 o 1st definition delineates the objective or essentialist reality of drugs o 2nd delineates the subjective or constructionist reality of drugs Three relevant contexts for drugs they are thought to do Definition of drugs o Medical utility o Psychoactivity o Illegality regards a drug as a substance used by physicians to treat the body or Medical utility mind Psychoactivity 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 regards a drug as a substance that influences the working of the brain or 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 use Illegality 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 utility o 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 act of ingesting a given substance or set of substances in any quantity with any Drug use frequency over any period of time abuse specific subset or type of use Drug Types of Drug Use Dimensions 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 use o 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 2 principle forms of legal instrumental drug use o 1 Over the counter purchased to public o 2 Prescription drug manufactured bought sold and used legally for medical Legal Instrumental Use purposes Legal Recreational Use Refers to use of alcohol tobacco and caffeine products o 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 goal Illegal Recreational Use Two major annual surveys to ask about drug use Three Eras of Drug Use Technological and Socioeconomic Change The 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 beverages o 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 drug o New means of taking drugs for higher potency IVs syringe The Synthetic Era 20th century scientist made drugs from chemicals not found in nature o First barbiturate drug o pharmacological revolution the development of synthetic chemicals used in the treatment of mental illness The synthetic era spawned by the search for psychotherapeutics is crucial for our understanding of the use of psychoactive drugs for recreational purposes pg 17 Sociological Changes Two changes that
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