Drugs

4 stages of Illegal Drug Use

#1 Experimentation:Intermittent basis [1x a month, interest in using it, wants to learn about effects, source of fun and thrill seeking

#2 Occasional use: Once every 2-3 weeks, now an expert at anticipating the effect, enjoy it, and know the side effects

4 stages of Illegal Drug Use

#3 Regular User-Substance Abuser :Ranges from once a week to once a day or more, now a lifestyle, reliant on the drugs, escape mechanism and coping, rationalize the side effects to make it ok

#4 Addicted*

Addicted: 7 characteristics• Having three of the following makes you addicted:1. Tolerance: need for increased amounts to

achieved desired degree of altered consciousness

2. Withdrawal: behavior change when the individual is not using the drug [mood swings, irresistible cravings]

3. Substance taken in larder amount than the user anticipated

4. Persistent desire to cut down on one’s drug consumption but they’re unsuccessful attempts

5. Spend great deal of time engaging in activities to obtain the substances

6. All occupations/recreational activities are given up or deceased

7. Substance abuse remains persistent even though the user knows consumptions is causing sever problems/hardships in life

Categories of

Drugs

#1 Stimulants [Uppers] Increase activity of nervous system, produce

alertness/excitement and suppress fatigueEx:

Cocaine: psychologically and physically addictive, violent stomach cramps, insomnia, paranoia, hallucinations [insects], convulsions, impotence

Crack: mixture of cocaine-baking soda-ammonia; addicting after one time; only lasts 15-20minutes so incessant need

Methamphetamine: different forms; increase self-confidence and enhances performance; psychologically addictive; develop “meth mouth” because a key ingredient is Drano and it destroys your teeth; age very quickly

#2 Downersdepressants, slow down central

nervous system, sense of relaxation and alleviation of anxiety

Ex:Heroine: from opium/poppy plant;

mostly injected; dream-like state; psychologically and physically addictive, need more each time; severe damage to body because of nutrient deficiencies

Rohpynol (Valium): used to be a legal drug given for insomnia, tranquilize; makes user aggressive and fearless., causes blackouts; used as a date rape drug

Alcohol: Impairs sensory/motor functioningOffsets equilibrium, cant judge distance;

stumble and fall down; impeded mental functioning, cant judge time, distorted thinking, loss of inhibitions, not digested as food and absorbed directly into the blood steam, more intoxicated on an empty stomach, malnutrition, liver problems, fatty tissue, stokes, heart muscles slow down, blood clots, cancer of the mouth, irritant tissue of the mouth and throat, premature aging, children with learning disabilities, car accidents, criminal behavior,

#3 Hallucinogens/psychedelicsDisrupt nervous system and alters user perception

of realityEx:

LSD[Lysergic acid diethylamide]: creates mental states close to schizophrenia; vivid hallucinations like “changing flower colors, purple skies, see biblical figures and God”; body remains awake for a few days; high 12-24 hours; causes brain damage; imagine insects under skin

Ecstasy: combination of meth and mescaline; highest sense of happiness; strong sense of human connectedness; brain damage-organ failure-dehydration

Homework: On Your Own1.Take the packet called

“Theories and types of suicide”

2.Take a guided notes sheet to fill out as you are reading the article

3.Due tomorrow

Suicide

Assisted Suicide Position Paper

• Do you agree with the idea of assisted suicide? Why or Why not? Use movie details and examples to support

• Paper requirements:– Minimum of one page typed– double spaced– Times Ne Roman – 12-point font

• Due Monday when you walk in

Suicide Facts• One of the main causes of suicide

is depression• Emile Durkheim: in 1897 acquired

data from government offices across Europe that collected data, like death records–He had an interest in suicide

because it was the most personal decision a person can make and how it was shaped by social forces –He looked at processes of social

causation to see how they impacted the decision to commit suicide and published Etiology of Suicide

Can you believe that…?

…There is an average of 30,000 suicides a year?…Suicide is categorized as the 11th leading cause

of death in the United States?….Age is the most important social variable

involved in the study of suicide?…The older you get, the greater the wish to die

is?

Integration?• Theorized that suicide or failure

to commit suicide was based on a person’s sense of integration in society–To what degree do you feel you are a part of society?–To what degree do you feel connected to the society you live in?–To what degree do you feel you are close to the people you live between?

Regulation?–To what degree do you feel you are restricted in society?–To what degree do you feel your life is controlled by rules and expectations?–How much individual freedoms do you feel you have?

Low Integration

High Integration

Low Regulation

Egoistic suicide

Anomic suicide

High Regulation

Fatalistic suicide

Altruistic suicide

Anomic Suicide • Occurs when drastic changes

occur in the normal and values of society that causes the rules and regulations of that society• For some the way they lived

and the structure of their live changed forever; cannot handle the change and choose to kill themselves • Or when someone

experiences a rapid decrease or increase in status, station, or finances

• Or when someone experiences a rapid decrease or increase in status, station, or finances –Rapid raises, singer who becomes and overnight sensation, a star athlete–Social pressures are too extreme and their personal resources have either greatly diminished or grown to the point that their lifestyle has changed drastically

• Inmates– Increased rates of suicide for people in

jail or prison and they are 8x more likely to kill themselves than free citizens

– Because of depression associated with being confined in a highly regulated environment or from fear of other prisons

– Most kill themselves within the first few days of imprisonment through hanging• Most likely to kill themselves in local jail than

prison because have tremendous fear and uncertainty of what’s to come and for minor offenses

Example

Altruistic Suicide • Person is seen as of little or

no consequence; goal of group more important • Integration into group is so

strong that an individual life is not important • Examples of people who offer

life for a social, personal, or religious cause–Vietnam war: Buddhist monks who burn themselves to symbolize atrocities of war

• The cause is the reason to die

• Suicide bombers of 9/11– From privileged backgrounds– See themselves as martyrs of a cause and

heroes and waging a holy war against the U.S. which is the great satan that exploits and promotes and international culture based on sexual permissiveness

– Radical Islamic fundamentalists who wasn’t to create a feudal society with Islam guiding everything

– Willingly and knowing died for an “honorable cause” and assured a special place in heaven

Example

Egoistic Suicide • Cause is not important• Center of the universe is the

individual; bored with life or did all he wanted to do and seen all he wanted to see • Opposite of altruistic: here

the person is the central focus

• Students – Each yr: more than 1,000 students commit

suicide at colleges/universities..1,500,000 contemplate it

– Students on honor more likely and when they chose to, their grades drop

– Feel like they can no longer tolerate stress of high levels of academic achievement, socially isolated, families expect perfection

– Being smart gives them a sense of self-worth and they do not look forward to work/graduation because it would be just one more thing they have to perfect

Example

Fatalistic Suicide • Lives in a social structure that

is hyper-regulated• Believe there is no escape• Like the people that are

terminally ill [consider health care costs, pain, depletion of family’s resources, don’t want anyone to suffer with them]• Or people who lead

overregulated and unrewarding lives like slaves or young husbands forced into marriage or childless married women

• AIDS patients – High number of AIDS patients commit

suicide because they feel a sense of helplessness and fear of physical deterioration of fear of stigmatization from family

– Those suffering from HIV more likely to commit suicide than AIDS because they live in fear that they will contract AIDS

Example

Egoistic-Altruistic

• People who were unique, chose to retreat from larger society and create a community for themselves because they lacked commitment, extreme degree of integration for this separate society

• Example: cyber stalking – Use of the Internet or email to repeatedly harass or

stalk a person– According to the University of NH, 10% of students

report they have been subject to harassment in their email

– Harder to find because of complete anonymity and harder to locate

– Also tend to be hackers and get into personal and confidential information to “know their victims”

Internet Deviance

Internet Credit Card Fraud• Credit card number and names are kept on company

databases and a hacker is able to access and get information

• Associated with identity theft which involves use of the Internet to hack into companies and get personal information with which they can conduct business

• Carlos Salgoda stole 100,000 names/credit card numbers for a combined credit line of $1bullion… made millions of dollars in purchases until he was caught by the FBI and imprisoned for 2.5 years

Internet Phishing• People are sent bogus emails

made to look like legitimate banks/stores, asked to update their personal information and accounts

• Most likely to be done by corporate insiders who have access to databases or people in the Human Resource department because have access to all sorts of confidential information

Internet Gambling

• Illegal in the US like sports betting, poker, casino type games

• In 1999: 700 internet gambling sites; 2006: 2,400 sides• Revenue in 1997 was <$1 billion… in 2006 it was

>$12billion • Cant be stopped because cant control the Internet

which is borderless, lack of law enforcement for Internet sites within the U.S. and most of sites developed in other countries

Greed-Based Deviance • Exploitation of employees, fraudulent

practices, unsafe working conditions• Greed is the result of 5 factors:

1. American Dream2. Achievement Orientation: make something of

yourself3. Individualism: worrying about personal

interests and not that of community4. Money Fetish: sacred quality of money..no

such concept as having enough money5. Narcissism: vicious selfishness and that

achieving success by means of fraud needs a level of intellect and need to be smart to achieve success by mean of fraud

Watch A Dangerous Business

• Two reasons why corporations are negligent of safety of workers– Maximize profits– Nature of corporate structures: no incentive for

long-term planning or make things safer