The Allure of Drugs

“Why do people use drugs?

Reasons for beginning to use drugs Altered Conscious Experience

Have a good time, feel good, relax, decrease boredom, relieve physical and emotional pain, seek greater awareness

Change in thinking, feeling, perceiving, & behaving Increase awareness Decrease awareness

A drug for every ailment

Definitions

Risk factors Individual or environmental factors that

increase a person’s risk of drug use Vulnerability

Idea that some people are differentially at risk Resistance factors (Counter measures)

Lowers a person’s risk Religion, academic success, good relationship with

parents, contentment

Predisposing Factors

Demographic Age/gender Family structure Income Education Employment

Sociocultural – TV, movies

Adolescence

Curiosity Personality/Coping Changes & Conflict in

Society Heredity

Enabling Factors

Availability Accessibility Social & Institutional Deficiencies

Laws are ineffective Personal & Professional Deficiencies

Don’t have skills to cope with pressures & insecurity Peculiar Effects of Drugs

Psychoactive effects Enablers

People who unknowingly support drug problem

Reinforcing Factors

Pleasure Positive reinforcement – Table 2.2 p. 33

To avoid bad sensations Negative reinforcement – Fig.2.2 p. 34

Functional needs Improve performance Social / Peer Group Advertising / Media

Public Health Model Theories

Agent-related etiology Drugs cause dependence or addiction

Host-related etiology Factors within the person cause drug use

Environment-related etiology External factors lead to drug use

Multi-factorial – two or more of the above

Influence of Media

Advertisements

Celebrities

Sports

Movies