Alcohol and Other Drugs

 This blog is going to be covering alcohol and other drugs. Drug use has been common since ancient times in almost every society. We can date alcoholic drinks all the way back to 8000 BCE, and drugs such as marijuana back to 3000 BCE. This blog is going to be focused around the sociological perspectives and the trends we see in society involving alcohol and drugs. 


The functionalism perspective provides the idea that drug use is functional for many parties in society. It gives drug users the various effects, sellers income, jobs for the criminal justice system, and so on. The conflict theory proposes that a lot of the drug use in poor urban areas is caused by poverty, inequality, etc. The symbolic interactionism theory suggests that drug use arises from an individual's interaction with people who engage in drug use. Furthermore, it states that an individual learns how to use a drug and learns attitudes to make it justifiable. 

I am going to be looking at the data about marijuana, collected by the NSDUH in 2022. Looking at the table, we can see that marijuana use increased from 2021 to 2022. This increase is driven mainly by adults (18+). Young adults (18-25) show high lifetime use. According to their data, more men use marijuana than woman. By race and ethnicity, it was reported that white individuals have the highest lifetime use; however, increases are seen across multiple racial/ethnic groups. Most lifetime users are employed full-time or fell into the "other" category. Section 1.26-1.28. 

For my nonprofit organization this week, I chose Uplift Drug-Free Coalitions. Their mission is to reduce and prevent substance misuse among youths and in the community. They have multiple programs/resources, such as food and living assistance, medical assistance, prevention resources, etc.

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