SOC 4414 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: United Nations Office On Drugs And Crime, Blood-Borne Disease, Southeast Asia
25 Jan 2018
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Not all drugs are addictive and not everything that is addictive is a drug. Not everyone that takes a drug is labeled as deviant, for example taking prescription drugs. If things like alcohol is being used that are legal, someone is not labeled as deviant. Some places and people see smoking marijuana as deviant, while others do not. However, being recognized by physicians as therapeutic is not the same as being recognized by the state as legal. A substance used by physicians to treat the body or mind. Must be recognized by physicians as therapeutically useful. Medical utility can help determine the legal status of the substance. Whether the possession and sale, and consumption of a substance is legal or illegal. If possession/sale is against the law, it is likely to result in criminal punishment, and therefore the substance is a drug. Legal def of a drug is socially constructed, but based on the physical properties of the substance.
