Drug Abuse and Media Influence
Drug abuse and the resulting impacts in the society has been a major debate both at the community level and the government involved. At the same instance, media has been a practical tool in the drugs debates considering its influence in the society. In that case, advocacy on impacts of the drug can be achieved through the use of the media. However, media facets oriented to entertainment industry have been seen to have a divergent role that may be perceived to shadow advocacy in the fight against drug abuse. For instance, music and films have been used portray the whole issue surrounding drug trafficking addiction, consumptions. In that case, this paper seeks to explore the complexities surrounding illegal drug use through the analysis of Susan Boyd (2011) case study. The case is generally centred on the concurrent events in the drug issues as shaped by the media. The exploration also includes the societal view on drug consumption and the way these views have changed over time. Also, government involvement and advocacy on the issues will be examined as well as the societal stereotypes regarding drug use, addiction and trafficking. The discussion will also be supported by different literature on the issues of illegal drug use.
Societal Views on Addiction over Time
Over time the societies and different communities in the world have presented differing insights and knowledge regarding addiction and the use of illicit drugs. For instance, the history of drug use and addiction indicates that the prevalence of consumption is more on the marginalised and poor people in the society (Boyd, 2011). These groups of people in the society are associated with drug use due to the crime linkages as well as deviant nature of the poor communities. Addiction and drug use by these communities are therefore seen as a social misery and social compulsion rather than for pleasure purposes. In another view, white women consumption of illicit drugs was seen as a breakdown of moral society regardless of the purpose of drug abuse (Boyd, 2011). Such narratives suggested that women’s drug consumption was associated with deviant to their gender-specific roles in the society. The view also indicated that people of colour both men and women were linked to criminal activities and deviant more than their white counterparts in the society (Boyd, 2011). According to Cohen (2013), in early 1970s drug consumption had become a prevalent enemy of the developed countries with the foreign drug traffickers being viewed as national enemies especially to the United States.
Government Role
The consumption and trafficking though depend much on the societal inputs, the government also plays a major in regulating the use of illicit drugs. For instance, the intensified global war on illicit drugs in the early 1990s by the united nation prompted the government of the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic to progressively lay procedures to reduce and eliminate opium cultivation (Cohen, 2013). In the case of United States, the war on the drug was much realised in the era of President Ronald Reagan who challenged the United Nations to make the war on the drug a global concern (Cohen, 2013). However, most of the prohibition measures are being criticised due to their ineffectiveness in reducing drug production and drug consumptions (Wodak, 2014). Throughout the drug-fight course, the government has been creating mitigating policies to help in the reduction of illicit drug usage.
Most of these policies are majorly concerned with law enforcement through increased expenditure allocation to the enforcement departments (Wodak, 2014). In that case, the policies adopted and fostered by the government are more concentrated on improving prisons, police and department rather than an emphasis on social and health interventions (Wodak, 2014). Wodak (2014) argues that health measures are highly disregarded in mitigation measures irrespective of their strong evidence on the impact of drug addiction. As such, health measures such as methadone treatment, syringe programmes and heroin-assisted treatment are generally ignored or implemented partially by the department involved (Wodak, 2014). Anti-drug policies which are majorly oriented to law enforcement has been critically put on notice due to their ineffectiveness in reducing addiction and other health issues.
For instance, irrespective of the Australian government appraisal on the harm minimisation policy in 1985, there has been increased death related to heroin overdose (Wodak, 2014). In fact, illicit drug consumption accounted for 1.8 disease burden in Australia in 2011 (Australia Health, 2016). For the case of U.S, the government in 1992 used one million dollars for enforcement programmes which led to reduced consumption by 13 kilograms while the prison terms reduce consumptions of cocaine by over 27 kilograms (Wodak, 2014). However, the investment of another one billion in the treatment of cocaine users was associated with the reduction in consumption by over 100 kilograms of cocaine in the United States. This is a clear indication that the policy being appraised globally may not solve the addiction issues as effectively as it is required by the key players (Wodak, 2014). Therefore, health treatment and approaches to addiction may be cost-effective as compared to law enforcement policies.
False Stereotypes
Although the media has been among the major true to shape community’s discourse on drug use and addiction, it has also been used to construct some stereotypes concerning drug challenges. According to Boyd (2011), the imagery created on films and music regarding drug use seems to communicate peoples view on drug users. Such imageries are not well received positively in the community's side since they present societal understanding of addiction shaping their perceptions on drug use (Boyd, 2011). How the community views on issues have much to do with the internalised impacts of those issues in their social life. For instance, the Easy rider film and the societal views on recreational drugs may have a great influence on ignorant viewers increasing their urge for illicit drug use (Boyd, 2011). The common view on the outcomes of drug use has also created a stereotype appearance for people presumed to be drug addicts.
As such the society constructs the view that physical signs such scabs and scars from injections depict addicted groups in the community (Matthews, Dwyer, & Snoek, 2017). For instance, the media through the use of visual imagery has been used in Laos to foster and create awareness in the anti-opium campaigns (Cohen, 2013). Although the image created of an emaciated opium-smoking addict may change the communities thought in the use of such drugs it would be irrational to rely on such constructed belief since drug addicts can be seen in other forms than depicted in the anti-opium campaign posters. The views of the community on addiction are essential in eradicating drug use while creating rehabilitation initiatives. The rationale of how the community views and depicts addicts may lead to marginalisation and stigmatisation of the drug addicts due to the creation of an addict identity (Cohen, 2013).
Conclusion
Drug addiction is a global issue that has been largely stereotyped by the society and the media. In that case, drug abuse is associated with specific people in the community making mitigation interventions ineffective. Also, the government has been seen as a critical player in the addiction issues on how it handles and directs it measures. The measures taken by the government are primarily concerned with the reduction in illicit drug consumption but still, there is an increasing number of drug users. The increasing illicit drug users or drug consumption in the society has been linked to the ineffectiveness of the policy adopted by the government. These policies which are majorly concerned with law enforcement are not only less effective in terms of reducing consumption but also not cost effective as compared to other measures.
References
Australia Health. (2016). Illicit drug use. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Boyd, S. (2011). pleasure and pain: representations of illegal drug consumption, addiction and trafficking in music, film and video. In S. Fraser, & D. Moore, The drug effect: Health, crime and society. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Cohen, P. T. (2013). Symbolic dimensions of the anti-opium campaign in Laos. The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 177-192.
Matthews, S., Dwyer, R., & Snoek, A. (2017). Stigma and self-stigma in addiction. Biotethical inquiry, 275-286.
Wodak, A. (2014). The abject failure of drug prohibition. Australian and New Zealand journal of criminology, 1-12.
