One belief challenged by the sociological perspective was that cigarettes and alcohol belonged to drugs. Before reading this chapter, I thought that, given that alcohol and cigarettes were legal, occasionally used by many people, and sometimes even advertised, they referred to substances other than drugs. I believed that there was nothing criminal in moderate consumption of alcohol because it was a common attribute of various celebrations or young people’s gatherings. Furthermore, when it comes to the discussion of drugs in the media, alcohol and cigarettes are rarely mentioned. For example, in his article about drug abuse, Rosenstein (2018) talks about opioids, such as fentanyl and heroin, paying no attention to tobacco and alcohol. However, Goode (2015) calls alcohol and cigarettes “the legal drugs” and states that they are consumed by a much larger number of people than illicit drugs are. In addition, because of their legality, alcohol and tobacco have higher consumption and loyalty levels (Goode, 2015). I have realized that these two substances should also be considered drugs because they have a negative societal impact.
I have also understood that, in order to have a correct perception of drug use trends, one should look at objective data rather than vivid and memorable images. Goode (2015) mentions several examples of people’s distorted understanding of drug use because of their reliance on striking images rather than facts. While I was not one of those people who thought that prohibition increased alcohol use, I indeed believed in the trueness of the “psychedelic sixties,” inspired by the images of the hippie culture. However, the use of LSD rose only in the late 1960s and 1970s, while during 1960 and the mid-1960s, its level of use was low and rose slowly (Goode, 2015). Hence, I have realized that I need to search for reliable facts when assessing drug use trends and impact rather than rely on commonly available images.
References
Goode, E. (2015). Drugs in American society (9th ed.). McGraw Hill Education.
Rosenstein, R. J. (2018). Fight drug abuse, don’t subsidize it. The New York Times.