SOC-353 Drugs in American Society †

This course is designed to provide specific knowledge about contemporary alcohol and drugs issues. Drug use and abuse are examined as social-rather than medical or psychopathological-phenomena. Course materials review how, why, and when drugs were and are feared, exalted, condoned, and/or stigmatized. Specifically, the course addresses the history of drug use and regulatory attempts in the United States; the relationship between drug use and racism/class conflict; pharmacology and use patterns related to specific drugs; perspectives on the etiology of drug use/abuse; drug using subcultures; drug policy, drug legislation, and enforcement; the promotion and condemnation of drug activities in the mass media. Also examined are the problems associated with drug use and sale, such as physical and mental health changes, familial problems, crime and violence.