Inhalants are a critical, under-studied substance used by young adolescents in the United States (U.S.). Despite the serious negative consequences that can accompany use (most notably neuropsychological damage) the topic of inhalants has been neglected by clinicians and prevention scientists, particularly in comparison to other drugs. The present research focused on the etiology of U.S. adolescent inhalant use in two ways, both of which utilized large, nationally representative data sets for secondary data analysis. Study I examined long-terms trends in inhalant use prevalence rates and changing proportions of gender and ethnic groups among lifetime inhalant users. Study I also evaluated the effects of policies aimed at other drugs, including regional "three strikes laws" and national methamphetamine laws, on changing inhalant use prevalence rates among twelfth graders. Inhalant use increased during the early-1990s but has declined from the mid-1990s to the present day; lifetime inhalant users have increasingly become female and non-White. Importantly, "three strikes laws" and a national methamphetamine law were related to increases in annual inhalant use rates for twelfth graders. Study II evaluated the applicability of Self-Determination Theory (SDT)-related constructs, namely self-perceived autonomy, competence and parental relatedness, to concurrent and prospective inhalant use. Competence was consistently related to inhalant use and inhalant use severity; parental relatedness was related to concurrent but not prospective use and use severity. The findings from both studies are discussed in terms of their commonalities and differences, implications for clinicians and prevention scientists, overall strengths and limitations, and directions for future inhalant use research. / Master of Science

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur socialsekreterare som arbetar inom missbruk och beroende resonerar kring innehållet i debatten gällande avkriminalisering av narkotika för eget bruk. Val av datainsamling var semistrukturerade intervjuer med sju verksamma socialsekreterare inom missbruk- och beroende området. Empirin har bearbetats genom tematisk analys och analyserats utifrån stigmatiseringsteorin och totalkonsumtionsteorin. Studien visar att det inte finns någon enhetlighet i socialsekreterarnas åsikter och resonemang gällande området och att det likt debatten föreligger en polarisering även här. Resonemangen som fördes av socialsekreterarna i studien gick att koppla till tre olika åsiktsläger. Den prohibitionistiska linjen som förespråkar en fortsatt kriminalisering av narkotika för eget bruk, det restriktiva folkhälsoperspektivet som efterlyste ett mer allomfattande perspektiv kring frågan och den pragmatiska harm reduction linjen som menar på att en avkriminalisering av eget bruk hade varit ett steg i rätt riktning. Studien visar att den huvudsakliga fördelen som socialsekreterarna upplevde med en avkriminalisering av eget bruk hade varit att man minskar stigmatiseringen kring människor som lever med missbruksproblem. Den huvudsakliga nackdelen som identifierades var att tillvägagångssättet hade kunnat leda till en ökad acceptans för narkotika i samhället, vilket hade lett till att fler människor använder narkotika och att man hade fått fler narkotikarelaterade problem. Studien visade även att socialsekreterarnas åsikter kring området påverkats av det praktiska mötet med målgruppen och att detta bidragit till antingen en mer restriktiv eller mer liberal hållning i frågan. / The purpose of this study was to investigate how social workers in the field of substance abuse and addiction reason about the content of the debate regarding the decriminalization of drugs for personal use. The choice of data collection was semi-structured interviews with seven active social workers in the field of substance abuse and addiction. The empiric has been processed through thematic analysis and analyzed on the basis of the stigma theory and the total consumption theory. The study shows that there is no uniformity in the social workers' opinions and reasoning regarding the area and that, like the debate, there is a polarization here as well. The reasoning given by the social workers in the study could be linked to three different opinion camps. The prohibitionist line advocating the continued criminalization of drugs for personal use, the restrictive public health perspective calling for a more comprehensive perspective on the issue, and the pragmatic harm reduction line arguing that decriminalization of drugs for personal use would have been a step in the right direction. The study shows that the main advantage that the social workers experienced with decriminalization of drugs for personal use had been to reduce the stigma surrounding people living with substance abuse problems. The main disadvantage identified was that the approach could have led to increased acceptance of drugs in society, which would have led to more people using drugs and to more drug-related problems. The study also showed that the social workers' views on the area were influenced by the practical meeting with the target group and that this contributed to either a more restrictive or more liberal attitude on the issue.

No description available.

The aim of this study is to, in view of theories about deviance and social control, examine how cannabis users are experiencing and relating to their own use and the society’s perception on this use. Qualitative interviews with six users or former users of cannabis were performed.  Sociological concepts of deviance and normality, social control, roles, role distance and stigma were used to analyze the results. The study shows that the cannabis users experience deficiencies in the Swedish drug policy. They feel like the picture of cannabis as a dangerous substance is unanimous in society and that it is not accepted to question it. They also believe that issues related to narcotics are being handled inadequately in Sweden and that this may lead to people suffering from addiction not seeking help. The cannabis users in this study also felt like other people perceived them as addicts and junkies, while the users themselves separated use and abuse. Lastly, we discovered three different strategies to deal with the attitudes and norms in society. These strategies were: resistance and questioning, hidden use and secretiveness, adapting social circle and adoption of different roles.

Resumo Na década de 90 se inicia um debate nos países de língua inglesa sobre uma nova forma de relação entre a indústria e a doença. O novo fenômeno em questão foi batizado de disease mongering (mercantilização da doença), no qual a estratégia básica da indústria é a ampliação dos limites da doença para o aumento de seu mercado consumidor. O debate deste fenômeno se estende com publicações pela década de 2000 discutindo como a indústria faz alianças com o governo, médicos e meios científicos que fortalecem o estabelecimento de concepções de doença que favorecem a venda de seus tratamentos. Propõe-se discutir esse fenômeno articulando-o a outros três conceitos: o uso racional de medicamentos, a medicalização e a racionalidade técnica. O primeiro para definir os critérios do uso racional de medicamentos e verificar se o fenômeno da mercantilização da doença proporciona relação de afastamento ou de a aproximação com esses critérios. O segundo para estabelecer a relação entre a mercantilização da doença e a medicalização da sociedade, a partir dos termos do próprio debate que definem a mercantilização da doença como uma forma de medicalização. O terceiro para se aprofundar naquilo que está na base do fenômeno da mercantilização da doença: a sobreposição de lógicas. Principalmente a sobreposição da lógica mercantil à lógica sanitária. Para isto, o estudo faz uma incursão pelos referenciais teóricos que examinam a racionalidade técnica, sobretudo a tradição crítica de Marcuse e Horkheimer. Na raiz dessas formulações, encontram-se o conceito de reificação, de Lukács, e o conceito de fetichismo da mercadoria, de Marx. Esses referenciais teóricos permitem discutir o sentido e o alcance da sobreposição de lógicas subjacente à mercantilização da doença. Como resultados, a pesquisa mostra que a mercantilização da doença desvirtua progressivamente os parâmetros fixados para o URM e que reforça a medicalização da sociedade. Nesse processo, a racionalidade técnica reconfigura a prática e o saber médicos. A mercantilização da doença permite vislumbrar, ainda, a colonização econômica de outras esferas da sociedade, tais como a educação, a política e a ciência, possibilitando que a esfera econômica colonize o sistema de saúde da sociedade contemporânea. / A debate on a new form of relation between industry and disease is started during the 90s in English speaking countries. The new phenomenon in question was then called disease mongering, whose basic industry strategy was to expand disease boundaries in order to grow its consumer market. In the 2000s, publications widen the debate on such phenomenon and discuss how alliances between drug industry and government, doctors and the scientific community are formed, strengthening conceptions about diseases which promote treatment sale. I aim to discuss such phenomenon through its articulation with three conceptions: drug rational use, medicalization and technical rationality. The first one defines the criteria for drug rational use and verifies if the disease mongering phenomenon promotes an independent or a close relationship with such criteria. The second one establishes the relation between disease mongering and society medicalization from data provided by the debate itself, which defines disease mongering as a way of medicalization. The third one goes deep into what the basis of the disease mongering phenomenon is: logical overlapping, especially that of mercantile logic over sanitary logic. Thus, this study promotes a reflection on the theoretical references that assess technical rationality, especially Marcuse and Horkheimers critical tradition. In the root of such formulations there are Lukács reification concept, and Marxs concept of goods fetishism. Such theoretical references allow discussing the sense and the reach of logical overlapping underlying disease mongering. The results of this research show that disease mongering tends to progressively misrepresent the established parameters for URM and reinforce society medicalization. In this process, technical rationality reshapes medical practice and knowledge. Disease mongering also allows analyzing the economical colonization of other society spheres, such as education, politics and science, making it possible for the economical sphere to colonize the health system in the contemporary society.

The legalization of marijuana in Canada represents a significant change in the course of Canadian drug policy. Using a semiotic approach based on the work of Roland Barthes, this dissertation explores marijuana’s signification within the House of Commons and Senate debates between 1891 and 2018. When examined through this conceptual lens, the ongoing parliamentary debates about marijuana over the last 127 years are revealed to be rife with what Barthes referred to as myths, ideas that have become so familiar that they cease to be recognized as constructions and appear innocent and natural. Exploring one such myth—the necessity of asserting “paternal power” over individuals deemed incapable of rational calculation—this dissertation demonstrates that the processes of political debate and law-making are also a complex “politics of signification” in which myths are continually being invoked, (re)produced, and (re)transmitted. The evolution of this myth is traced to the contemporary era and it is shown that recent attempts to criminalize, decriminalize, and legalize marijuana are indices of a process of juridification that is entrenching legal regulation into increasingly new areas of Canadian life in order to assert greater control over the consumption of marijuana and, importantly, over the risks that this activity has been semiologically associated with. Although the government’s legalization decision seems to be a liberalization of drug policy at odds with processes of juridification, it is shown that legalization’s transformation of irrational and criminal marijuana users into legitimate consumers subject to a strict regulatory framework is entirely compatible with a neo-liberal perspective that is saturated by the myth of irrationality and the necessity of paternal power. The reaching of this counterintuitive conclusion helps demonstrate this dissertation’s primary contribution: the illustration of the value of Barthesian semiotics as a means of producing new and alternative insights into seemingly familiar criminological issues.

Resumo Na década de 90 se inicia um debate nos países de língua inglesa sobre uma nova forma de relação entre a indústria e a doença. O novo fenômeno em questão foi batizado de disease mongering (mercantilização da doença), no qual a estratégia básica da indústria é a ampliação dos limites da doença para o aumento de seu mercado consumidor. O debate deste fenômeno se estende com publicações pela década de 2000 discutindo como a indústria faz alianças com o governo, médicos e meios científicos que fortalecem o estabelecimento de concepções de doença que favorecem a venda de seus tratamentos. Propõe-se discutir esse fenômeno articulando-o a outros três conceitos: o uso racional de medicamentos, a medicalização e a racionalidade técnica. O primeiro para definir os critérios do uso racional de medicamentos e verificar se o fenômeno da mercantilização da doença proporciona relação de afastamento ou de a aproximação com esses critérios. O segundo para estabelecer a relação entre a mercantilização da doença e a medicalização da sociedade, a partir dos termos do próprio debate que definem a mercantilização da doença como uma forma de medicalização. O terceiro para se aprofundar naquilo que está na base do fenômeno da mercantilização da doença: a sobreposição de lógicas. Principalmente a sobreposição da lógica mercantil à lógica sanitária. Para isto, o estudo faz uma incursão pelos referenciais teóricos que examinam a racionalidade técnica, sobretudo a tradição crítica de Marcuse e Horkheimer. Na raiz dessas formulações, encontram-se o conceito de reificação, de Lukács, e o conceito de fetichismo da mercadoria, de Marx. Esses referenciais teóricos permitem discutir o sentido e o alcance da sobreposição de lógicas subjacente à mercantilização da doença. Como resultados, a pesquisa mostra que a mercantilização da doença desvirtua progressivamente os parâmetros fixados para o URM e que reforça a medicalização da sociedade. Nesse processo, a racionalidade técnica reconfigura a prática e o saber médicos. A mercantilização da doença permite vislumbrar, ainda, a colonização econômica de outras esferas da sociedade, tais como a educação, a política e a ciência, possibilitando que a esfera econômica colonize o sistema de saúde da sociedade contemporânea. / A debate on a new form of relation between industry and disease is started during the 90s in English speaking countries. The new phenomenon in question was then called disease mongering, whose basic industry strategy was to expand disease boundaries in order to grow its consumer market. In the 2000s, publications widen the debate on such phenomenon and discuss how alliances between drug industry and government, doctors and the scientific community are formed, strengthening conceptions about diseases which promote treatment sale. I aim to discuss such phenomenon through its articulation with three conceptions: drug rational use, medicalization and technical rationality. The first one defines the criteria for drug rational use and verifies if the disease mongering phenomenon promotes an independent or a close relationship with such criteria. The second one establishes the relation between disease mongering and society medicalization from data provided by the debate itself, which defines disease mongering as a way of medicalization. The third one goes deep into what the basis of the disease mongering phenomenon is: logical overlapping, especially that of mercantile logic over sanitary logic. Thus, this study promotes a reflection on the theoretical references that assess technical rationality, especially Marcuse and Horkheimers critical tradition. In the root of such formulations there are Lukács reification concept, and Marxs concept of goods fetishism. Such theoretical references allow discussing the sense and the reach of logical overlapping underlying disease mongering. The results of this research show that disease mongering tends to progressively misrepresent the established parameters for URM and reinforce society medicalization. In this process, technical rationality reshapes medical practice and knowledge. Disease mongering also allows analyzing the economical colonization of other society spheres, such as education, politics and science, making it possible for the economical sphere to colonize the health system in the contemporary society.

The purpose of this thesis project is to measure the level of knowledge that university students have regarding state and national illicit drug classifications in the United States and associated penalties with these classifications, as well as the harms resulting from consuming illicit drugs. This particular study, which is to be conducted as a replication study to Higson’s campus-based study on the UK drug policy, focuses on a different campus population in regards to the U.S. drug policy. Replication studies such as these are beneficial to previous studies because such additional research will not only strengthen the findings and correct additional errors, but new research may also explore new limitations to the data. Through survey-based research, a 40-student sample of East Tennessee State University Students (ETSU) will be asked to complete a questionnaire testing their knowledge on illicit drug policies and their harms. Such research and collection of data is important because based on student feedback, recommendations can be made in regards to educating young adults on areas such as illicit drug classifications, sentencing penalties, and potential harms.

The United States, despite impressive efforts, have not reduced Colombian drug supplies over the recent years. Policy ineffectiveness results from problems in Colombia, including poverty, strong non-state actors, as well as a weak state and society. On the US side, ineffectiveness results from a geographically selective approach, a reliance on coercion, and bilateralism. The US has exacerbated human rights violations, environmental destruction, the displacement of the drug industry within Colombia, and the spread of Colombian problems to neighbouring countries.

In recent years Mexico has been confronted with accelerating levels of violence related to drug trafficking organizations and counter-drug efforts. This paper examines the consequences of Mexico’s current drug trafficking situation on the country’s fledging democracy. In particular, the impact of the drug war on Mexico’s democratic consolidation is evaluated through civil-military relations, the judicial system, and the press. Conclusions about the prospects for Mexico’s nascent democracy are then examined.