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Drug Use And Crime: Deviant Behavior

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Deviant behavior reflects the opposite of societal norms. Drug use in today’s society is seen as deviant behavior. There are many factors that may lead a person to using drugs. Some of these factors include the prevalence predominately being for low socioeconomic status, the legality of a drug, the lack of education in drug use, the availability of drugs, and even the glamorization of drug use in society. These factors differ depending on certain drugs. 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 …show more content…

Two other theories are discussed in chapter 12 regarding drugs and crime: drug enslavement theory and general deviance syndrome theory. The book states that according to drug enslavement theory, “Drug users are forced into a life of crime because they cannot afford to pay for their drug habits unless they use crime to get money for their next fix” (Thio, 2013, pg. 311). The book states that according to general deviance syndrome theory, “The high correlation between drug use and crime does not mean that drug use causes crime because most drug users with a criminal record have committed crime before using drugs” (Thio, 2013, pg. 311). Both theories suggest that using drugs and committing crimes are related. Therefore, if marijuana use is legalized, the assumption can be made that there would essentially be some kind of decline in crime in regard to marijuana charges. This would, in turn, shift the idea of marijuana use as a negative, deviant act to the view of marijuana use being a more positive impact for …show more content…

[Therefore] the findings by Livingston do not provide compelling evidence of an individual-level substitution effect between marijuana and opioid use. The response letter suggests that Livingston’s study causes readers to make “overly expansive conclusions from research findings” (AJPH, 2017, e12) due to the theory of ecological fallacy. The response letter neither proves nor disproves the association between the legalization of cannabis in Colorado and the reductions in opioid-related deaths between the specific time frame in Livingston’s study, which further supports the idea of marijuana legalization being a positive impact on society. The history of marijuana as well as the information and studies drawn and discussed in this essay show that marijuana legalization for medical and/or recreational purposes will not only positively impact society, but also change the society’s idea of marijuana use as a deviant act. Deviant behavior negatively impacts society, therefore the idea that marijuana use is a positive impact for society will, in turn, change the idea that marijuana use is an act/form of

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