2. Myths Reality
Legal drugs are less dangerous than
illegal drugs.
Legal drugs are more dangerous and
kill more people than illegal drugs do.
People who use illegal drugs are
addicted, compulsive, and/or heavy
users.
Most people who use illegal drugs are
using experimentally, occasionally, or
moderately.
“Once a junkie, always a junkie”;
people addicted to heroin will never be
able to stop using.
If the cause of heroin use is removed,
the addiction can go away.
Because of tough laws against drug
use, the United States has a lower rate
of use than most other countries.
The United States has the highest rate of
drug use in the world.
Drug use is even in all classes of
Americans.
The highest number of drug users are in
the lower classes, and usually socially
and/or economically oppressed.

3. Myths Reality
Most cigarette smokers are unaware
of the dangers of smoking.
Most people are in fact aware of the
dangers and often overrate the risk of
smoking.
Drug use causes criminal behavior
because there are so many poor users
who need to rob or steal money to get
their drugs.
Drug use doesn’t necessarily cause
crime. Most drug users have a
criminal record before they began
using drugs.
People who use marijuana WILL
progress to harder drugs.
Marijuana use doesn’t cause drug
escalation; the cause is most likely
due to the user having friends who are
using harder drugs.
Marijuana use is so dangerous that is
banned in almost all 50 states.
11 states have legalized marijuana
use for medical purposes.

4.  There are more people who use legal drugs than illegal drugs.
 125 million Americans drink alcohol.
 62 million Americans smoke cigarettes.
 20 million Americans use illegal drugs.
 Each year, two legal drugs (alcohol and cigarettes)
combined kill at least 60 times more people than all the illegal
drugs combined.

5. Types of drugs are separated into 3 categories in accordance to
their effect on the central nervous system.
› Stimulants (stimulate activity of the CNS and produce alertness)
› Depressants (reduce activity of the CNS and cause relaxation)
› Hallucinogens (disturbs the CNS and alters perception of reality)
Marijuana is in a class by itself because it can cause the user to
react in ways that could be considered be similar to any of the
three types of drugs.
Certain factors influence the effect of the drug on the user.
1) Dosage
2) Purity/potency
3) Drug mixing
4) Method of administration

6.  Most used illegal drug in the U.S.
 Short term effects include:
› Memory Loss
› Anxiety
› Increased heart rate
 Long term effects include:
› Cancer
› Respiratory diseases
› Heart problems
 Withdrawal symptoms are:
› Mild nausea
› Restlessness
› Loss of appetite
 Believed to be the “gateway” to harder drugs
 Used in some states for medical purposes

7.  Can be smoked, sniffed through the nose, taken orally, or injected
into the skin, muscle, or vein
 A psychological dependence can easily be developed because of
the “rush” users experience.
 Also very physically addictive
 Withdrawal symptoms include:
 Profuse sweating
 Running nose
 Watering Eyes
 Chills
 Cramps
 Nausea
 Diarrhea
 A user must keep using in order to relieve withdrawal symptoms.

8.  Effects of this drug are:
› Provides a sense of elation and well-being
› Enhances self-confidence, supplies a sense of mastery and competence at whatever the
user is doing
› Increases energy and suppresses fatigue, enabling the user to continue mental and/or
physical activity longer and more intensely
› Physical effects are increased heartbeat and raised body temp and blood pressure
 Physically addictive and withdrawal symptoms included exhaustion
and stomach cramps
 Extremely psychologically addictive due to the high quality of
pleasures the user derives from it
 The “coming down” process cause such gloom that the only
remedy is to use more cocaine.
 The most expensive drug and a status symbol of wealth and used
primarily by affluent whites.

9.  Crack cocaine is the less pure and cheaper form of cocaine
 Users of “crack” are often younger and poorer
 More addictive and dangerous than cocaine; the National Institute
on Drug Abuse states that crack addiction develops in only 6-10
weeks
 Can be extremely dangerous if taken in large doses or used
frequently over an extended period of time and can cause:
› Insomnia
› Impotence
› Extreme irritability
› Paranoia
› Symptoms of psychosis
› Sensation of bugs crawling under the skin
› *OVERDOSE can cause severe headaches, nausea, and convulsions with the possibility of
the total respiratory and cardiovascular system to collapse

10.  Relatively cheap and very available
 Used to be known as “poor man’s cocaine” and popular among
white men in the working class, ages 18 to 34, but currently has
spread to men and women of all classes
 Easily made from cold medicines like Sudafed, so congress passed
the Combat Methamphetamine Act, which required them to be
purchased from behind the counter in pharmacies
 When initially used, suppresses appetite, causes euphoria, boosts
self-confidence, and energy…but after a tolerance is developed, it
causes depression and intense paranoia.

11.  Related to the sedative Valium but 10 times stronger
 Actually a prescription drug for severe insomnia
 Also known as “the date-rape drug” after men began using it on
women to make them blackout and rape them
 Besides memory loss and blackouts, it can cause aggression,
fearlessness, addiction, and/or lethal overdoses.
 Sometimes combined with alcohol to produce a quick high

12.  Chemical name: methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)
 Popular amongst high school and college students as well as affluent
young adults
 Often taken at a dance club or party
 Mood-altering, psychedelic drug that causes a strong desire for human
connection
 A single dose can cause brain damage
 Causes the body to overheat; if people who use it do not take in
enough water, they may suffer from dehydration, organ failure, or brain
damage….drinking too much water can cause death from thinning out
the blood as well.

13.  Drug use is not an individual behavior….it is a social behavior!
 Many drug users are involved and it doesn’t affect just the
individual, it affects the entire society!
 Four social dimensions of drug use:
› The extent of drug use in the United States
› How U.S. society reacts to drug use
› The impact of drug use on the spread of AIDS
› The influence of drug use on crime

14.  Young adults ages 18 to 25 have the highest rate of drug use and
teenagers ages 12 to 17 have the second highest
 The United States has the highest rate of drug use in the world
 Most drug problems, such as drug addiction, death from overdose,
and drug-related homicides are more common in lower-classes
 Table 11.1 Users of Drugs in 2006:
Drug # of People Using the
Drug in the Past Month
Marijuana 14.8 million
Cocaine 2.4 million
Meth 0.7 million
Ecstasy 0.5 million
Heroin 0.3 million

15.  Intravenous injection of illegal drugs can spread HIV, the virus that
causes AIDS, from one user to another.
 Most drug users with AIDS are heroin users and caught the disease
by sharing needles with other addicts.
 Of all AIDS cases in the United States, 30% resulted from drug use,
and even higher in some cities, such as:
› New York City- 40%
› Newark- 65%

16.  Almost half of people arrested for crimes in the United States used
illegal drugs within three days of committing the crime.
 Studies have shown that drug users are 3 to 4 times more likely to
commit a crime when compared with nonusers.
 Drug Enslavement Theory: “drug users are forced into a life of crime
because they cannot pay for their prohibitively expensive drug habits
unless they rob or steal the money to get their next fix”
› “Users living in poverty, have inadequate education, lack job skills, face racial
discrimination, and/or suffer other social disadvantages because they are relatively
poor, uneducated, and economically unskilled”
 General Deviance Syndrome Theory: drug users who are criminals
continuing deviancy and were committing crimes before starting drug
usage

17.  The higher the status, the more likely to use marijuana
 Heroin is the most popular among lower status people, especially
those who live in poor, inner city areas
 Cocaine is more common with affluent people because of its
expense and crack cocaine is more common among poor people
because it is cheaper
 Meth and roofies are found more among the working class and the
young
 Ecstasy is mostly used by high school and college students or
young professionals

18.  Four stages associated with becoming a drug user:
› Experimentation
› Occasional Use (once a week or less)
› Regular Use (once a day or more)
› Addiction (unable to break the habit)
 A user may go through all stages or stop at any stage
 Most users are introduced to drugs by their friends
 Howard Becker (1963) identified 3 steps of learning how to become
a marijuana user:
› Learning the technique of how to get high by watching friends
› Learning to recognize the effects of the drug
› Learning to enjoy the effects

19.  Male
 18-25 yrs old
 Learn to use
from
parents/peers
 If in high school
more likely to
skip
class/school/dr
op out

20.  Biological
 Psychological
 Sociological

21. Economic Deprecation
 The link between drug
abuse and deprivation
 Explanation on why
poor people turn to
drugs
Cognitive Association
 Designed to explain
drug addiction

22. Social Psychological
Explains why people of all walks of life use drugs

23.  Drug laws against minorities
 Law enforcement aimed at foreign
countries
 Advocates fight the idea that current
drug laws do more harm than good
 Most Americans oppose legalization –
fear of drug addiction rise

24. HistoricalPattern
 Two basic strategies:
› Punitive
 “Using law enforcement to stop the supply of drugs
and punish drug sellers and users” (Thio, 2010, P. 288).
› Supportive
 “Using drug prevention (or education) and treatment
to reduce the demand for drugs and help drug
addicts” (Thio, 2010, P. 288).
 In 2008 $8.3 billion spent on enforcing drug
laws.
 In 2008 $4.6 billion spend in incarcerating
drug offenders.
 Fist battle on drugs was in 1875

25. Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE)– This
program is taught in schools all over.

26.  Chemical Treatment
 Detoxification
 Psychological
Therapy
 Aversion Therapy
 Personal Therapy
 Group Therapy
 Therapeutic
Community

27. -Legal drugs are more
prevalent
-Legal drugs are more
dangerous over time
-Smoking is related to lung
cancer
-Smokers make up 25% of U.S.
population
-13 % of young adults (12-17
years old) smoke in any given
month
-White teenagers are more
likely to smoke over blacks but
as adults blacks are more likely
to smoke.
-Those with less education are
more likely to smoke.
-There are many more adult
male smokers than adult
females

28. Thio, Alex. Deviant Behavior. Tenth Ed. 2010. Boston, MA. Pages 269-284.
“Preincarceration Patterns of Drug and Alcohol Use by Jail Inmates.” Criminal Justice
Policy Review. 1991. Pages 5-40. Sage Publications. Accessed on Sept. 16,
2010. http://cjp.sagepub.com
Stein, Judith A., Michael D. Newcomb, and P.M. Butler. “An 8-Year Study of Multiple
Influences on Drug Use and Drug Use Consequences.” University of California, Los
Angeles. American Psychological Association, Inc. 1997. Accessed on Sept. 16,
2010.

29.  Bogenschneider, K., Wu, M., Raffaelli, M., & Tsay, J. C. (1998). "Other teens drink, but
not my kid": Does parental awareness of adolescents alcohol use protect
adolescents from risky consequences? Journal of Marriage and Family, 60(2),
356-373. Retrieved September 17, 2010, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/353854
 Simons, R. L., & Robertson, J. F. (1989). The impact of parenting factors, deviant peers,
and coping style upon adolescent drug use. Family Relations, 38(3), 273-281.
Retrieved September 17, 2010, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/585052.

30.  Thio, A. (2010). Deviant behavior (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn
& Bacon.
 Thomas, G., Farrell, M. P., & Barnes, G. M. (1996). The
effects of single-mother families and nonresident
fathers on delinquency and substance abuse in black and
white adolescents. Journal of Marriage and Family, 58(4),
884-894. Retrieved September 17, 2010, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/353977.