Drugs

Chapter 7 questions

Use the Social Problems Continuity and Change online textbook to answer each of the following questions a short paragraph. A very good answer = 3 points, a good answer = 2 points, and a fair answer = 1 point. You will have a week to turn in the answers online.

1. What are some examples of drug use in ancient societies?

2. Why does the distinction between legal and illegal drugs have no logical basis?

3. What were the reasons racial/ethnic groups targeted for their drug use in the U.S.?

4. What are the consequences of alcohol abuse for the individual and society?

5. What are the dangers and costs associated with the use of tobacco?

6. Why do dangerous drugs like alcohol and tobacco remain legal, when a drug like marijuana, that is far less dangerous, remains illegal?

7. What are the biological, psychological, and sociological explanations for drug use?

8. How does the conflict theory explain drug use and the way drug use is dealt with?

9. Why is the Drug War seen as less of a war on crime and more of a war on minority groups and the poor?

10. Why is drug prohibition a bad idea and what alternatives to the criminalization of drug use have been tried in other countries?