Week 2 Flashcards
(14 cards)
Canada’s conflicting approaches to drugs and drug users
Canada’s national anti drug strategy shows how drug use continues to be defined as problematic
* fear messaging
- laws & policies relfect punitive and stigmatizing approaches
- need more public health awareness
- hard to change beliefs about drugs
at societal level, must recognized that there are economic and societal realities of licit drug and prescription use
normalizing approach to substance use
- acknowledges that individuals are active agents and can make decisions
- substance use has a historic component of Canadian society since colonization
- social context is also seen as important in setting out standards for more or less responsible use of substances
psychoactive drugs
substances that alter our CNS (thoughts, emotions, behavior)
also affect ANS –
so they have the potential to either balance our systems or to disrupt core biological functions like CV and respiratory systems
they can also disrupt ability to sleep and dream
drugs
any psychoactive substances licit or not
used for (un)intended purpose of altering one’s mind and body
substance is used interchangeably with psychoactive drugs
drug abuse
misuse of substances leading to negative outcomes
- use of substance that is not condoned by the braoder society or culture
substance abuse characterized by any one of the following (DSM-IV-TR definition)
* inability to fulfill obligations
* engaging in dangerous stuff
* recurrent legal problems
* continued use despite persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems
drug dependence
sub-component of the term “addiction”
consist of 3 or more of the criteria
* tolerance: need for higher amounts
* withdrawal: physical discomfort with stopping
* increase in amount consumed
* desire to cut down or control use
* excessive amounts of time spent to get, use, recover
* quitting or reducing important social activities bc of the drug
use is continued despite negative consequences
the social reality of drugs and drug abuse
a drug paradox in Canada:
* public perceptions and policy decisions are rarely based on facts or empirical evidence: instead the existing moral and medical views of addictions still prevail over a more encompassing, empirically based biopsychosocial model of addiction
alcohol and tobacco have higher social cost but they make drugs seem so much worse
notion of licit and elicit is a social construct not an objective fact
individual-based punitive stance of drugs is through a criminal or medicalized lens rather than a social or public health lens
– addiction seems more biological
what is the drug paradox?
illicit substances: viewed as dangerous and malicious
licit substances: viewed as accepted part of cultural activities
but licit drugs are more damaging to the societal functioning and public health
some ilicit aren’t bad
the drug paradox is that Canada has a long history of public health solutions and progressive laws protecting human rights….but we have a punitive, stigmatizing approaches to substance use and user
dual approach to drugs in Canada^
DSM-V (2013)
drugs abuse & dependence is now called drug use disorder
* mild (2-3 symptoms)
* moderate (4-5)
* severe (6+)
- tolerance
- withrawal
- increased amount more than was intended
- desire to cut down or control use
- escessive amounts of time spent using
- quitting or reducing activities bc of drugs
- continued use despite negative consequences
- inability to fulfill major role obligations
- engaging in dangerous activities
- craving or strong desire to use
Drug addiction: an idea that evolved through history
before 19th century, addiction wasn’t a significant social problem
industrial revolution, temperance movement, and prohibition, individual addictive behavior (mainly alcoholism) was connected to
* morality
* workplace productivity
addiction
* indiscriminate disease caused by the substance
* people unable to control use
* only solution is complete abstinence
disease/medical model of addiction
- grew out of early conceptualizations
- addiction as disease
- stil hold prominent place in public and academic discourse
- challenged because focuses on biological basis only
- contracts to addiction as holistic concept that encompasses biological, psychological, and sociological factors
free will/moral model of addiction
- substance use rests within the individual’s moral agency
- individual is responsible for their choices
- many policies/programs remain rooted in this model
- fails to acknowledge the sociocultural influences that are equally important if not more than the individual
abstinence based – says that people use bc they lack self control
the social reality of drugs and drug use (slides)
- disease and moral models of addiction ignore or underestimate sociological significance of drugs and drug use
- alcohol and tobacco have worse effects
- public perceptions and policy making are rarely evidence based
- moral and medical views of addiction prevail over broader, empirically-based biopsychosocial model of addiction
- concepts and understanding outside of psychology and medicine are needed
social costs of drugs and drug use
societal costs posed by substance use
* direct (health care, law enforcement)
* indirect (productivity losses, premature mortality)
social cost of substance abuse was almost $40 billion
* tobacco: $17 billion
* Alcohol: $15 billion
* all illgal drugs including weed: $8 billion
