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Drug Addiction Functionalism

999 Words4 Pages

Drug Addiction itself affects almost every family in the United States almost Drug Addiction is it indeed a disease or a choice? Many state authority figures say it's a choice, not a condition much of science says it's a choice disease, both in a sense are correct, this paper will outline both aspects and possibly give new insight to you, the reader. However, it may back up what the reader believes to be right in the first place. The history of drug use is almost as old as humankind itself. However, the drug abuse only qualifies as an issue because of the problem of control.
The access to controlled substances is difficult they are illegal, and use is regulated. That means users of these substances have to go through unlawful means to these …show more content…

These many parts of the community only tell drug users the positive effects that drugs have and leave out many of the negatives. For those who sell and manufacturer drugs giving them in many cases income that is under the table and untaxed. Addiction and drug use is big business for the federal and state governments creating jobs from police to the DEA. “The fact is all drugs can contribute to dysfunctions in society.” The Functionalist theory needs to develop social stability within society and its wellbeing to preserve the culture. That is why drugs generate such controversy among the citizens (University of Minnesota Libraries 2016 & …show more content…

Example, the penalties for crack before 2008 where much harsher on those found guilty of crack even though, gram for gram powder cocaine, is pharmacologically identical. However, at the time people that use crack at the time were primarily poor black Americans in inner cities. Cocaine users at the time were whites, that lived in the suburbs and where at the time the upper class in society. According to Manuela, 2003 “other evidence for this argument of conflict theory in the history of the illegality of opium, cocaine, and marijuana. Chinese immigrants for opium, prejudice against African Americans for cocaine and prejudice against Mexican Americans for marijuana” and Block, J. F.2013 backs up this with laws and

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As director of the National Drug Control Policy, William J. Bennett shares his stance on the drug war in “Drug Policy and the Intellectuals”. He addresses the arguments that American’s have proposed in regard to the legalization of drugs. Bennett goes on to say that the justification behind legalizing drugs lacks the seriousness that a topic like this should have. In addition, the results would likely be disastrous. Rather than “taking the profit out of the drug business”, Bennett’ alternative is to make the usage of drugs a less appealing option.

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In his article, “Toward a Policy on Drugs,” Elliot Currie discusses “the magnitude and severity of our drug crisis” (para. 21), and how “no other country has anything resembling the American drug problem” (para. 21). The best way to describe America’s drug problem is that it is a hole continuously digs itself deeper. America’s drug issues were likely comparable to other country’s at one point in time, but today it can be blamed on the “street cultures” (para. 21) that continue to use and spread the use of illegal drugs. These street cultures transcend the common stereotype of drug users, such as low income communities in cities or welfare recipients, and can be found in every economic class and location. They are groups of people who have

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If there was an open market for drugs and Americans’ were educated on the effects drugs can have on their bodies, the monopoly for drugs would rapidly decrease. Drugs are outlawed in America yet prohibition has never been successful in America. Anytime the government has tried to stop the distribution of a substance people have always jumped at the chance to make

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There are political tools concerned with issues of race and immigration and their methods of dealing with historical pressures and patterns, and they are altered to respond to specific social and political contexts, each of these is engaging aspects and processes. Alexander's reading sheds light on the reasons behind the variance in how drug use problem sufferers are portrayed. Emphasizing how race affects how policies are created and how behavior is criminalized. According to Alexander's reading, the racial group affected by addiction to drugs started

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According to Professor Amber Colbert, crack cocaine contains a slight amount of cocaine with various chemicals, including baking soda. Consequently, Michelle Alexander claimed a study that was published in 2000 by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “NIDA reported that white students use cocaine at seven times the rate of black students, use crack cocaine at eight times the rate of black students, and use heroin at seven times the rate of black students” (Michelle Alexander;2011, Pg. 99). In spite of the study, the War on Drugs created mass incarceration. “When the War on Drugs gained full steam in the mid-1980s, prison admissions for African Americans skyrocketed, nearly quadrupling in three years, and then increasing steadily until reached in 2000 a level more than twenty-six times the level in 1983” (Alexander;2011, Pg.

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The government publicized the emergence of crack cocaine as defense strategy to create a favorable public opinion for the drug war: “The media was saturated with images of black crack whores, crack dealers, and crack babies—images that seemed to conform the worst negative racial stereotypes about impoverished inner-city residents” (Alexander, 5). During the war, arrests and convictions for drug offenses saw an amazing increase, especially among African Americans. Because of the drug war, the United States now holds the highest incarceration rate in the world even surpassing more the world’s most suppressive nations. No other country imprisons more of their racial or ethnic minorities than the United States does: “The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of Apartheid” (Alexander, 6). The War on Drugs fueled mass imprisonment in the United States in which African American were the main victims.

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This meant that having only 5 grams of crack in one 's possession meant a minimum of five years jail time while having 500 grams of powder cocaine equaled the same amount of jail time (WIKIPEDIA). This law along with pre-existing racial prejudice made it that black people are incarcerated at a rate ten times higher than whites (5D). This was observed by a sociologist Katherine Beckett and her research team in

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For crack cocaine, two-thirds of users in the U.S. are white or Hispanic . . . Despite these facts, people of color are disproportionately subject to the penalties for both types of cocaine. Indeed, 818.8 percent of crack cocaine defendants in 2006

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1077 Words | 5 Pages

The legalization of drugs has been at the center of interminable debate. Drugs have widely been perceived as a dominant threat to the moral fabric of society. Drug use has been attributed as the source responsible for a myriad of key issues. For instance, it is believed that drugs have exacerbated the already weak status of mental health in the United States in which some individuals suffering from mental illness administer illicit substances such as heroin or cocaine in an attempt to self-medicate. Moreover, drugs are blamed for turning auspicious members of the community into worthless degenerates.

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Therefore conflict theory defines substance abuse as primarily being a problem that is a result of structural inequality and class conflict. Corporations such as the LCBO and various pharmacies financially benefit the most from drug use and also obtain the power to keep it available. In response to political, social, and power inequality, political and business groups are able to influence society’s depiction of drugs and their users. Many substances were considered legal but public opinion and the law altered when drugs were associated with ethnic minorities and crime. Conflict theorists argue that marginalized groups, the lower class, and other alienated groups are more likely to suffer negative ramifications as a result of addiction.

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1015 Words | 5 Pages

Functionalism is usually analyzed as macrostructure which includes things like school systems and economic factors that can have an influence on substance abuse. From a functionalist perspective, someone can be using drugs and alcohol abusively based on issues in their social life. Society has this norm where people are required to work to be able to live comfortably independently. There are people who balance work and school which becomes stressful but they are required to work for financial support and they need education for a better future so they are forced to do it. With these heavy responsibilities, a person seeks leisure during their time off.

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258 Words | 2 Pages

I think substance abuse could be both a class conflict and a functional analysis. I say a class conflict because most people who do these drugs are all in the same class, or similar. Not to judge but most people I see doing drugs, doesn’t have much going for them. They work but they work to pay bills and of course, to buy more drugs.

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765 Words | 4 Pages

The continuous use of narcotics results in addiction, and financial struggles due to the costly upkeep. “Financial problems are one of the major side effects of drug and substance abuse” (Buaggett, 2015). Addicts cannot adequately take an active role in the economic activities, as the use of drugs inhibits the abilities of the users to earn a daily living. Due to the instability of finances, this would result in selling personal belongings to continue funding the substance of choice, and depending on the addicts living situation, this could lead to losing their house or being removed from their current housing. While being under the influence, an addicts voice of reason is jeopardized, resulting in criminal activities which raise the chances of being apprehended by the law enforcers, as well as, heavy fines are imposed.

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There is a multitude of reasons as to why people use drugs. Current theories on drug use include using drugs to rebel against authority, as a means to escape personal issues or in response to conflict occurring in the world around them. There isn’t a sole valid explanation for drug use, but all these reasons have overlapping themes: context and environment, which relates back to a new theory that aims to change the ways in which we analyze drug use. Drug, set and setting is a theory coined by Norman Zinberg which is necessary to validate drug use in all its variations because it considers a multitude of factors, including context and environment when attempting to understand drug use in society. Before we can apply Zinberg’s theory to different

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Marijuana, for instance, is a drug that is most widely used in the United States (Thio, 2013, pg. 301). Society is starting to look at this drug as a useful tool in medication as well as a helpful tool in recreational use. The overall use of marijuana is seen to many in society as deviant, regardless

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