The given paper takes a close look at the alcohol and drug epidemics in the United States today. The author explains that substance abuse is one of the most serious issues that lies before American society. Specifically, the number of individuals who abuse substances such as alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes has significantly increased over the past few decades. A decrease in alcohol and drug abuse in the 1970s did not last long; the rates are back up since the 1990s. The author of this paper clarifies the causes and consequences of unrestricted alcohol and drug abuse. Furthermore, the prevalence of alcohol and drug abuse among youth is closely regarded. Academic research is used to back the key reasons behind growing substance abuse among teenagers and children as young as ten years old. Lastly, the author presents a set of explanations and possible solutions for facing the drug/alcohol abuse crisis that United States has encountered today.
There is a number of social phenomena that affect people of all social, economic, and demographic backgrounds and statuses in the United States today. Just to mention a few: hunger and homelessness (Lee and Greif 2008:3), depression, alcohol and drug abuse, and numerous others. Most often, social issues come hand in hand; they closely intertwine and accompany each other. For instance, Lee and Greif (2008) emphasize in their paper that homeless individuals are not only more susceptible to hunger, but they often fall prey to infectious diseases, alcoholism, drug addiction, mental illness, injury, and other health-driven problems.
At the same time, when looking at the key issues that lie before American society today on a more general level, one would certainly point to alcohol and drug abuse. These problems penetrate all social circles without exception. Furthermore, these problems are widely discussed by politicians via different communication channels because of the threat they pose to American society today. Yet, for some reason, these efforts do not significantly alter the present state of things in terms of drug/alcohol addiction. The given research paper shows some of the reasons behind this lack of change. In fact, there are social forces which downplay the efforts directed at fighting substance abuse. First and foremost, we are talking about aggressive alcohol and tobacco marketing/advertising campaigns. For proof, one could look at the staggering statistics on substance abuse in the United States over the past fifty years. A study by Schulden, Thomas, and Compton (2009) points out that in terms of the substance abuse dynamic, “overall illicit drug use reached a peak in the late 1970s, declined during the 1980s, rose again in the 1990s, and has remained relatively stable during the past several years” (p. 354).
The given paper meticulously analyzes drug and alcohol use in the United States and the reasons behind it. Furthermore, the paper closely examines the culture of alcohol and drug abuse which is established through the gateway of heavy alcohol and tobacco advertising, as well as the pandemic of prescription drugs (e.g., opioids, heroin). Importantly, the paper sets out to explore the environmental, demographic, and educational factors which tend to impact one’s drug and alcohol use patterns.
The first part of the paper discusses statistical findings on alcohol and drug use in the United States today. Further, the different reasons of substance abuse are considered in detail. Finally, the paper examines the implications of drug/alcohol abuse and offers suggestions for addressing the social issue.
There is a plethora of information indicating the seriousness of alcohol and drugs abuse in the United States; this includes cigarette smoking. Many have heard of the War on Drugs, implemented by President Nixon in 1971 in order to keep America’s children safe. This political step was necessary due to the increased substance abuse among American youth. Here, it should be noted that there are drugs which classify in certain schedules based on their medical uses and their potential for abuse (Alcabes 2016:26). As a matter of fact, common sense accurately dictates that the consumption of these substances is harmful if consumed excessively. What is more, some of these substances are the leading causes of ascending mortality rates amongst their users.
When looking more closely at the culture of drugs, it appears that alcohol and cigarettes are among the most dangerous and addictive, especially when paired together. Jiang and Ling (2011) observed that nearly half a million people die prematurely every year in the United Stated because of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption; each of the substances reinforces the other’s addictive nature and, ultimately, it becomes very difficult to quit either of them (p. 1942). In fact, according to Jiang, cigarettes are the leading cause of premature death and alcohol is the third (p. 1942). Furthermore, underage alcohol consumption is related to the three leading causes of death among individuals aged 12 to 20 years old (Boggs and Durgampundi 2017). Jiang and Ling explain that alcohol and cigarette companies focus their marketing strategies on the younger-aged group; corporations back their strategies with social data and statistics that point to youth as the target audience for harmful substances like alcohol and tobacco. What is more, young people tend to mix the two for a stronger buzz, relating the comorbidity of alcohol and cigarettes similar to peanut butter and chocolate (Jiang and Ling 2011:1942). Furthermore, the authors imply that alcohol and cigarette industries have a symbiotic relationship. Essentially, numerous events feature these products in order to incite further use. It is apparent that the combination and sponsorship of alcohol and cigarettes is no coincidence. As a matter of fact, in their research Boggs and Durgampundi (2017) state that each additional dollar spent on alcohol advertising produces a 2.8% increase in alcohol consumption within the period of one month.
Interestingly, Jiang and Ling provide a graph (Figure 1) describing the relationship between education, age, and alcohol/tobacco related products among people. Although there are outliers within all categories, this is primarily a linear graph with a high concentration amid younger adults and those with higher education. The consumer demand is lower among older adults regardless of the education level (quoted in Jiang, 2011:1946). With this in mind, “approximately 41 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds are enrolled in a postsecondary degree-granting institution” that provides an environment for heavy drinking (quoted in Merrill, 2016: 1). People commonly enroll in college between these ages, so the information implies that there is a lot of alcohol and substance abuse when provided with a post-secondary institutional environment. The U.S. Census, according to Lindsay M. Howden in Age and Sex Composition: 2010, states that there are 30.67 million Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 comprising roughly 10 percent of the American population (2). Furthermore, there was a 13 percent increase of people within this age group from 2000 to 2010, indicating that the amount of people in this age group is steadily increasing, and therefore it is safe to assume there are more students enrolled in universities, which offer environments that supports binge drinking and substance abuse (Howden, 2010: 2).
However, many of these students go to school with an established history of substance use. In an anonymous article, The Scope of the Problem, 2005, people are drinking in middle and high school (111). Ten percent of nine and ten-year-olds, and one third of youth below the age of thirteen have begun drinking, and people under the age of twenty-six have a bad habit of drinking more heavily per occasion than adults. While adults may have two to three drinks per occasion, younger adults and people tend to have four drinks or more per occasion (Figure 2). The age of first time use has decreased to as low as nine years old: “people who reported drinking before the age of 15 were four times more likely to also report meeting the criteria for dependence at some point in their lives” (2005:112-113). It is important to note that The Center for Disease Control and Prevention classifies heavy drinking as five or more drinks per occasion for males, and four or more drinks for females, which really goes to show the gravity of the issue among substance abusers among American youth (Anon 2017).
At the same time, another research article by Quinn and Fromme (2011) shows slightly different data. It compares levels of alcohol use among college students and their noncollege peers: it turns out that college students consume less alcohol than noncollege youth. It is explained that this may be due to the fact that individuals who enroll in college have a better capacity for self-control.
The environment tends to significantly influence individuals’ behavior patterns. Greater independence may sometimes be the reason behind substance abuse among teenagers and college students. At the same time, the younger the age when one starts using alcohol, drugs, and/or cigarettes, the more likely it is that an addiction will flourish. As stated by Philip Alcabes (2016):
NIDA director Nora Volkow says that “drugs change the brain to foster compulsive drug use.” But statements like Volkow’s don’t make clear that it is really the environment—the physical situation in which drugs are used, the social setting, the stresses and expectations and other aspects of mind—that, taken as a whole, is, as Zinberg explained, the primary determinant of drug dependence. If it were just a matter of the drug and the brain, those heroin-using GIs in Robins’s study would all have been junkies after they came home from Vietnam (P29).
This aligns heavily with Jennifer Merrill (2016) on her analysis of the impact of the environment during college life. Merrill describes a break from the responsibilities of adulthood during college, experimenting in practices that would be unacceptable or frowned upon later in life (p. 2). Yet the entirety of the country proves to be an environment supportive of developing bad habits because “literature concerning the etiology of drug use among youth suggests that legal drugs (e.g., alcohol and tobacco) serve as gateway drugs for illicit drug use” (Maldonado, 2010:902). However, it does not seem like a coincidence that these two substances are legal in the United States. Many homes have alcohol and cigarettes, which leaves youth prone to experimenting at a young age, only to delve later into other substances. In Philip Alcabes’ article, Medication Nation 2017, it is clear that there is a normalization of drugs in the country and the situation is becoming harder to control. Since there is a normalization of alcohol and other substances at home and early-age environments, some children and teenagers are more inclined to drink or experiment when they are not being watched. When this is so, it is normal to find friends that also have the same desires. As for a college setting, one of the largest influences are friends, not parental figures (Merrill 2016:1).
An important societal factor that influences alcohol use, whether first time consumption or binge drinking, is advertising. A recent literature review (Boggs 2017) investigates the impact of alcohol advertising on alcohol consumption in adolescents and youth. The author found a number of studies that point to the link between increased alcohol consumption at a younger age (as well as a younger age of first time use) and the exposure to alcohol advertising via numerous communication channels. The studies focused on countries with relatively high consumption of alcohol in adolescents and young adults such as the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Indeed, this points to globalization processes taking place in terms of alcohol consumption and abuse among youth.
What is also important, many of the drug use effects stem from economic integration policies and social strains. Bryan Page (2010) provides a poignant example in order to demonstrate this phenomenon: the migration of female housemaids from the Middle East to Sri Lanka which disrupted the gendered household model (where the man is the breadwinner and the woman is the housewife/mother); this, in turn, led to increased alcohol consumption in the male population due to their perceived emasculation. (Page, 2010:87) Summing up, researchers have identified multiple variables that are at play when it comes to alcohol and drug abuse; some of these causes are linked to the globalization processes that are taking place in the world today.
Furthermore, the migration of drugs across borders (for instance, via the populations of immigrants) is another factor that allows for increased drug consumption on a worldwide level and in American specifically. In the same way immigration and emigration can affect drug use, teenage cannabis use has international roots. Namely, a study done in Norway found that adolescents who smoked cannabis shared musical preferences for American music like hip hop, and engaged in political rebellion (Pedersen, 2009:135). This brings up the question whether these individuals engaged in illegal practices purposefully or simply belonged to a marginalized community of youth. It should also be noted that sometimes cannabis and tobacco smoking is a way of rebelling against parental control. Michelle Miller-Day (2008) from the National Council on Family Relations has found that parental strategies like the “no tolerance rule” has the largest negative impact for adolescent drug use (2008:1) In essence, the causes of drug use among youth are relatively clear, yet more longitudinal studies are needed for tracking individual cases and social shifts over time.
For decades now, American has been in the middle of “The War on Drugs” in an effort to prevent drug use, especially among the younger population. However, Alcabes notes that this metaphor serves to unjustly divide society in terms of skin color, economic status, and demographic/cultural factors (2016:31). For instance, African Americans are incarcerated at a rate that is six times higher than that of the white population (Alcabes 2016:31). What is more, a number of these individuals are inflicted with punitive measures when, in reality, medical treatment is required. While some of this is due to a lack of education and awareness, Ivan Goldman (2013) from the University of Nebraska Press claims that this is largely the result of judicial apathy. Mainly, he relies on empirical evidence from ex-convicts; this is what one of the ex-convicts had to say about the judicial system: “they just want more bodies to throw in prison…meanwhile the hardcore dealers ‘know how the system works’” (Goldman 2013:38). The author expands on this, stating that many raids end in “cash-register justice” or dealers providing sales revenue in lieu of jail time. Therefore, this demonstrates how the War on Drugs has been racially and occupationally discriminatory, with the inequality issues having numerous overlaps (p. 38).
Similarly, the drug trafficking into the United States heavily intersects with the policies of other nations. For example, Mexican drug war history indicates a distinction between sellers and users. According to Isaac Campos from the University of North Carolina Press, Mexican laws were originally established to punish those who sold drugs, not those who consumed them (Campos 2012:195). Campos’ article demonstrates how international drug policies can become more integrated in the control and pursuit of narcotic traffickers.
When it comes to prosecution, the impact of presidential rhetoric has some important implications for the future of the drug war. In a scholarly article presented by Andrew Whitford and Jeff Yates (2003) from The University of Chicago Press, the President’s comments are shown to have influential effects on the rate of drug case prosecution by U.S. attorneys (p. 8). The authors find that presidential statements which address the national drug policy significantly mobilize attorneys and increase the number of cases dealing with drug activities. Nevertheless, the presidential rhetoric is sometimes outweighed by regional politics and political divide issues. Whitford and Yates (2003) found that “Republican U.S. Attorneys had a greater composition of drug prosecutions” and the coefficients for political party were negative for both cases handled and cases concluded (p. 9). This indicates that political platforms help to prop up the presidential rhetoric, but their increasing effects can end up harming the procedural justice sought by U.S. Attorneys.
Philip Alcabes (2015) describes the United States as reliant on prescription drugs. Numerous Americans would suffer if they were deprived of these drugs. The solutions, he suggests, is not a change on the drugs and reform, but a change in mentality. Alcabes looks at addiction and abuse being a public health issue, not a crime. In fact, some individuals will always take slightly or much more medicine than they should, or, perhaps, being prescribed more than they need. At the same time, there are drugs that do genuinely help people get through their daily lives and this should not be underestimated (2015:33). A shift in perspective will help to lower expenses for people in prison, leading to more funds for research and development of new techniques for dealing with addiction issues.
Now, when it comes to substance abuse among youth, it is absolutely necessary that stricter laws are enforced in order to keep the alcohol and tobacco industry from putting young people on the needle. Research shows that alcohol/tobacco ads expose youth to certain cues that trigger certain behaviors, such as increased alcohol, drug, and tobacco use (Courtney et al. 2017). In the end, more educational initiatives (such as D.A.R.E.) should be enacted to counter the negative effects of corporate advertising. It is absolutely essential that something is done on the federal and local levels to prevent young adults from falling into the trap of corporate giants. Perhaps, Nixon’s initiative is a worthy example when it comes to diminishing substance abuse among youth. If slightly altered to fit the contemporary setting, it could serve as solid ground for the enactment of effective public policies.
In conclusion, the given research paper closely analyzes the enormous challenges that lie before contemporary America. First and foremost, the author stresses that substance abuse is one of the biggest risk factors for American society. The reasons behind the alcohol and drug abuse crisis are closely considered. Among them, the author points to the sad fact that the alcohol industry is targeting the younger population in an attempt to make more money; advertising and marketing campaigns that are launched by corporate giants cause college students and younger teenagers to consider drinking and smoking as a highly rewarding activity (Courtney et al. 2017). Furthermore, prescription drug use is leading to grave substance abuse among Americans today; what is more, “the abuse of prescription drugs has reached an epidemic level” (McHugh, Nielsen, and Weiss 2015:1).
The solution lies in educating the younger public about the irreversible damage inflicted by drug and alcohol abuse. Furthermore, public policies are essential for advocating these programs and making them widespread.
