Middle Class Women

In Claire’s Sterk’s book, “Fast Lives: women who used crack cocaine”, she uses information from observation, conversations, interviews and group discussions to explain how using crack affects active users. She also shows how they started using, how they survived, how they developed and maintained relationships with friends and family, and how they were mothers and drug users at the same time. In addition, Sterk started Project FAST, the Female Atlanta Study to identify the impact of drug use patterns on lives of active female users. In this study, most of the women’s stories are similar but yet different in many ways to each other. While curiosity and peer pressure caused these women to experiment with drugs, others were

She uses this strategy to show the reader the percentage of white americans and the amount of black americans who use drugs in the U.S . These statistics open the eyes of many close minded people and removes prejudice thoughts towards African Americans. This is effective in the essay because it shows us that the numbers are very close together, it is not just mostly black americans it is also white people who use drugs. Feller says that “according to the 2006 surveys conducted by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an estimated 49% of whites and 42.9% of blacks age twelve or older have used illicit drugs in their lifetimes.” (p.6) The statistic listed above shows the misconception that many have of African

The Miller's Tale" is the story of a carpenter, his lovely wife, and the two clerks (students) who are eager to get her into bed. The carpenter, John, lives in Oxford with his much younger wife, Alisoun, who is something of a local beauty. To make a bit of extra money, John rents out a room in his house to a poor but clever scholar named Nicholas, who has taken a liking to Alisoun. Another scholar in the town, Absolon the parish clerk, also has his eye on Alisoun.

Substance abuse has made a major impact on the lives of women. In the past, using drugs was normalized and not considered abnormal because it was used to calm mothers and wives from the overbearing workload that was expected by them. Drugs for women was something that was ordinary for them and it was even shown in the media, there were advertisements that promoted the use of drugs and what type of drugs to take. However, when the War on Drugs commenced it took a toll on the women who were abusing these drugs. The War on Drugs targeted mostly women, resulting in a 108% increase of women incarceration rates. Since this war, there are outstanding numbers of addicted incarcerated women. A majority of these incarcerated women

In the same article paragraph six (6), evidence to support the media’s aid is “...The goal was to make inner-city crack abuse and violence a media sensation, bolstering public support for the drug war which…” This means the media wanted the public support in order to make drug abuse a thing of the past. An example of this is that ABC News created a segment about teens and them over using drugs. They wanted to show teens how using drugs and even abusing them. They believe that music is the cause. They continued the segment to say that it might have something to do with the parents. And of course, numbers in the masses

A drug is purposed to induce stupor or insensibility to a person. Insensibility means to lack awareness or concern, which occurs when a drug is taken. People depend on drugs daily, weather it is illegal drugs or provided by a doctor. Soma in Aldous Huxley’s book, Brave New World, is not illegal because the government is ordering the people to take them. However, that does not necessarily make them different to human who consume drugs illegally. Having to consume drugs daily to keep yourself stable is addictive behavior. Some individuals could not imagine life without drugs in the real word, characters in Brave New World could not live without soma either. Soma is normal to the characters. They were taught during hypnopedia, that it is necessary for them to consume so that their system will be stable.

Roberts’s response fails to satisfy the individuals that cocaine affects the most. Fetal endangerment requires further study and Roberts fails to identify the “amalgam of racial and class biases” (Kennedy, 1997, p.361) in illicit drug use to determine who is in

Women who use drugs tend to be caught up in a cycle of prison and reoffending. The article written by Margaret Pereira is her personal account of the damaging effect that incarceration can have on a woman and her family.

We learn from the book that the number of drug dealers has a correlation with the loss of jobs of East Harlem residents. Losing jobs prevents people from providing basic needs to themselves and their family. Most of the residents who live in El Barrio are Latino such as Porto Ricans, Mexicans, and Dominicans. Latina/os are a key population in which to study substance abuse. Given their levels of poverty, minority status, and residential concentration in areas with wide drug and alcohol distribution, Latina/os are considered at risk for substance abuse (Verissimo, Gee, Ford & Iguchi, 2014). As stated by Philippe, the main point of this book is not about substance abuse, it is about his first hand experiences with the culture and poverty of East Harlem. It is about the struggles that people there have to go through in order to survive in an extremely poor area of one of the riches city in the world..

Firstly, drugs ruin lives and need to always have an opposing force attempting to eradicate their presence. In Laffey’s article, he describes a neighborhood that has been corrupted by the drug game. He watches as dealers, buyers, decoys, and normal families, go about their lives at night. Laffey oversees and organizes a team of other police officers to bust everyone involved in the sale and buying of these narcotics. The entire neighborhood is run down and can be traced to the presence of illegal substances in the area. Laffey also gives readers the story of a father that used far less money to feed his family, than he used to satisfy his drug use. Proving, that drugs have the power to tear apart families and ruin the lives of everyone close to the addict. It is because Laffey and his team are constantly trying to interrupt the transactions, that the community is not run down any further.

All around the world anyone can find people that are addicted to some form of drug. Drug addiction is a huge issue that has been occurring for about thirty years now and is occurring to this day for many reasons. Some of those reasons may be that something is going on back home and they have had enough, or because of stress, peer pressure, biological reasons and the list goes on. However, there has been law enforcement due to drugs since the mid 1980’s. People have many viewpoints to when it comes to drug use and addiction. There are three perspectives people have that view the use of drugs and drug addiction which are structural functionalism, conflict, and symbolic interactionist.

Many sociological studies fail to provide an accurate picture of substance abuse in a society for a number of reasons. In treatment or survey interviews, substance abusing individuals frequently misrepresent or misreport their frequency of use. Those living in poverty are often more transient in their housing than those of middle and upper classes and may, therefore, be excluded from many types of household surveys. Often, statistical information is gathered from treatment facilities; however facilities do not all report into a national database and a large number of addicts never seek services. One final problem with the validity of studies involving substance abuse and poverty is the isolation, in many studies, of one or more drugs. Many researchers have focused on drugs, such as crack-cocaine or heroin and not marijuana or powder cocaine (Jacobson and Ensminger, 2011). While it is difficult to obtain valid data on the actual rate and incidence of substance abuse in poverty ridden communities, researchers have been able to isolate some negative effects of substance abuse and correlate them to socio-economic status.

At one point in time the high percentage of men and women who are drug

to govern much of the individual’s behavior. The most extreme case of drug use is the

The War on Drugs in the United States has a profound influence on both the incarceration rates and activities of the criminal justice system. Many politicians and advocates of the policy claim that the War on Drugs is a necessary element to deter criminal behavior and reduce the crime rate. However, studies show that drug deterrent policies on possession and use have been inadequate and unsuccessful (Cole & Gertz, 2013). Studies also show that the War on Drugs has not attained its objectives because the policy exhibits racial discrepancy as it has led to the disproportionate incarceration of Blacks and minorities. Specifically, evidence indicates that the upper class, generally White individuals, is more likely to use powered cocaine while