37321_CH01_pg_002_051.qxd 9/28/05 5:18 AM Page 2 © Jones and Bartlett Publishers. NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION CHAPTER 1 ChapterIntroduction Title to Drugs and Society Did You Know? The popular use of legal drugs, particularly Drug use — both licit and illicit drugs — is an alcohol and tobacco, has caused far more deaths, “equal-opportunity affliction.” This means that drug sickness, violent crimes, economic loss, and other consumption is found across all income levels, social problems than the use of all illegal drugs social classes, genders, races, ethnicities, lifestyles, combined. and age groups. The effect a drug has depends on multiple Approximately $102 billion in sales per year factors: (1) the ingredients of the drug and its of prescription drugs has been reported in the effect on the body, (2) the traditional use of the United States. drug, (3) individual motivation, and (4) the In 2003, approximately 46% of the U.S. population social and physical surroundings in which aged 12 and older reported using illicit drugs at the drug is taken. some point in their lives. Attempts to regulate drug use were made as There is a tendency to eventually become addicted long ago as 2240 B.C. Ancient literature is filled with repeated use of most psychoactive drugs. with references regarding the use of mushrooms, Eighty-two percent of local jail and state prison datura, hemp, marijuana, opium, poppies, and inmates have self-reported that they used drugs at so on. some point in their lives. In the past, the penalty for cigarette smoking was Approximately 76% of drug users in the United having the nose cut off in Russia, the lips sliced States are either employed full- or part-time. off in Hindustan (India), and the head chopped off Approximately 41% of convicted inmates had been in China (Thio 1983, 1995, 2000). drinking alcohol, and 36% were using drugs at the Today, drug abuse is a more acute problem and time they committed their offense (Harlow 1998). more widespread than in any previous era. Health and wellness can only be achieved when Designer drugs are instantly created from existing the mind, body, and spirit are free from the illicit-type drugs both for profit and to circumvent unnecessary use and abuse of nonprescribed the laws against drugs. psychoactive substances. 1st Pass Pages 37321_CH01_pg_002_051.qxd 9/28/05 5:18 AM Page 3 © Jones and Bartlett Publishers. NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION Learning bjectivesbjectives On completing this chapter you will be able to: Explain how drug use is affected by pharmacological, cultural, social, and contextual factors. Recognize the key terms for initially understanding drug use. Explain when drugs were first used and under what circumstances. Indicate how widespread drug use is and who the potential drug abusers are. List four reasons why drugs are used. Rank in descending order, from most common to least, the most commonly used licit and illicit drugs. Name three types of drug users, and explain how they differ. Describe how the mass media promote drug use. Explain when drug use leads to abuse. List and explain the phases of drug addiction. List the major findings regarding drugs and crime. Define employee assistance programs and explain their role in resolving productivity problems. Explain the holistic self-awareness approach. Drugs and Society Online is a great source for additional drugs and society information for both students and instructors. Visit http://drugsandsociety.jbpub.com to find a variety of useful tools for learning, thinking, and teaching. 1st Pass Pages 37321_CH01_pg_002_051.qxd 9/28/05 5:18 AM Page 4 4 CHAPTER 1 ■ Introduction© Jones to Drugs and andBartlett Society Publishers. NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION Introduction follow similar paths of evolution. Today, there are thousands of new drugs available that are used ACH YEAR, AT AN ACCELERATING RATE, as technol- either legally or illegally. These drugs are used for Eogy brings about new changes, our family, com- medicinal purposes, recreational purposes, or to munity, city, and nation, as well as the entire achieve effects that do not include maintaining world, experience social change. These technol- health. Other people in society use drugs to cope ogical changes affect our everyday lives. It is no with pressures emanating from social change. Some exaggeration to say that today, more than ever people use and eventually abuse drugs to cope before, technology drives social change. More with, delay, or even avoid social change. importantly, this change affects our lives. As an Despite the wealth of knowledge regarding the example, let us look at the cellular phone as a dangers of unnecessary drug use, together with recent innovation. Your great-grandparents may the recent laws prohibiting drug manufacture and have been fortunate to have a black stationary and consumption, and the ensuing stiff penalties for wired telephone at home to communicate with violating such drug laws, many more people today friends and neighbors living at a distance. Like- than in the past use legal and illegal types of drugs wise, your grandparents had newer versions of the without any medically approved reason. same telephone with an extension telephone used in other parts of their homes. Your parent(s) had the same type of telephone, but it was more styl- Drug Use ized with several extension phones in their homes. Today, your technological reality includes home- Anyone can become dependent and addicted to based telephones, facsimile machines, pagers, and a drug. For example, the desire to use a drug be- mobile (cellular) telephones, with Internet capa- fore drug dependence (addiction) sets in is both bility, instant messaging, speaker capability, caller seductive and nondiscriminating of its users. Most identification, alarm clock, games, and other soft- people do not realize that drug use causes at least ware that were never imagined 20 years ago. Fur- three major simultaneous changes: ther, we now have another generation of mobile 1. The social and psychological basis of the attrac- phones with which you can have a live, visual con- tion to a particular drug can be explained as versation with a friend living practically anywhere feeling rewarded or satisfied from social pres- in the world. sures that have become postponed, momen- Consider another example. More than likely, tarily rectified, or neutralized and defined as your great-grandparents wrote letters on manual nonproblematic. typewriters. Your grandparents wrote letters on 2. Pharmacologically, the use of such a drug alters electric typewriters, whereas your parents started body chemistry largely by interfering (affect- writing letters on electric typewriters and then had ing) with the proper (homeostatic) function- to change to computers. Today, you often commu- ing. Drugs enhance, slow down, or distort nicate with family members and friends by email the reception and transmission of reality. and instant messaging. Although the electronic 3. The desire may satisfy an inborn or genetically “gadgets” that surround your life are perceived as programmed need or desire. normal, a visit to a museum displaying science and technology offers many surprises and, more than (Much more detail regarding this example is pre- likely, an appreciation for how “things were and sented later in this chapter and in Chapter 2.) how much they have changed.” This example illus- Many argue that our “reality” would become per- trates how the way we do things is in a continuous ilous and unpredictable if people were legally free state of development. Life is changing so rapidly to dabble in their drugs of choice. Many do not that there is constant demand to keep pace and realize, however, that if abused, even legal drugs remain current with newly developing “gadgets.” can alter our perception of reality, become severely What does this have to do with drug use and/or addicting, and destroy our social relationships with abuse? Just as electronics continually evolve, drugs loved ones. Before delving into more detailed in- 1st Pass Pages 37321_CH01_pg_002_051.qxd 9/28/05 5:18 AM Page 5 © Jones and Bartlett Publishers. NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION Dimensions of Drug Use 5 formation, which is the basis of the other chapters and professions are battling or have caved into in this book, we begin by examining and answering their drugs of choice. some key questions related to drug use: How many workers are there on a daily basis doing jobs that require safety and are 1. What constitutes a drug? “high” on drugs? This is a scary thought. Just 2. What are the most commonly abused drugs? think of a surgeon on drugs, or an airline pilot. 3. What are designer drugs? Yes, we have big monster problems with con- 4. How widespread is drug abuse? trolling drug use. (From Venturelli’s research files, 5. What is the extent and frequency of drug use 43-year-old female dietician, in Chicago, Illinois, in our society? February 9, 2003.) 6. What are the current statistics on and trends in drug use? A second response to the same question: 7. What types of drug users exist? 8. How does the media influence drug use? Every effort by the government to stop illegal 9. What attracts people to drug use? drug use has failed miserably. Even legal drug 10. When does drug use lead to drug dependence? use, like alcohol and cigarettes, continues 11. When does drug addiction occur? despite what the governmental public health 12. What are the costs of drug addiction to society? media say. People should be left alone about 13. What can be gained by learning about the their drug use unless such drug use is poten- complexity of drug use and abuse? tially harmful to others. I know that if I ever quit using both legal and illegal drugs it will be my own decision, not because the law can punish Dimensions of Drug Use me.