Drug Abuse

What is a drug? For social science purposes, a drug must be defined in context. In the medical context, a drug is a chemical substance used to heal the body and mind, one that is physician approved in medical therapy. In this sense, Lipitor, a cholesterol-fighting agent, Zoloft, an anti-depressant, and Celebrex, an anti-arthritis agent, are drugs. Within a legal context, a drug is an illicit or controlled substance, one whose possession and sale are subject to legal penalties; this makes marijuana, LSD, and heroin drugs. In a psychopharma-cological sense, a drug is a chemical substance that is psychoactive, that significantly influences the workings of the brain and hence the mind; it has an impact on mood, emotion, and cognitive processes. By this definition, alcohol, methamphetamine, and cocaine are drugs. Even tobacco induces a psychic state, while not an intoxication or “high” per se, that causes pleasurable sensations in the user that entices him or her to continue consumption.

To the analyst of social problems, the third of these definitions is most relevant. The psychoactive property of drugs induces a substantial number of people to use them for recreational purposes, that is, to achieve a particular state of intoxication, which often produces harmful medical and psychological effects and dangerous behavior that generate concern in the public, negative attention from the media, and calls by [Page 255]legislators for controlling such use. In addition, the medical administration of drugs generates social problems when their overuse or misuse causes harm, leading to still other calls for corrective remedies.

Social problems can be measured objectively and subjectively. Objectively measured, concrete indicators such as death, disease, monetary cost, and an incapacity to work or attend an educational institution define a social problem. Subjectively measured, defining a social problem is its social construction, that is, how the members of a society—including the general population, the media, lawmakers and law enforcement, social movement activists, and the medical and psychiatric professions—define and react to a given condition or supposed condition. Also referred to as the “social construction” of a social problem, this subjective definition often finds expression through emotions such as fear and dread, which may or may not be related to a condition's objective harm.