The fight against the use of narcotics had been emancipated in the western continent where it was dominant and in the world at large. Since the evolution of entertainment Industry, the fruits of the war waged against drugs have seemed to expire gradually. Film, music, and movies that form the core of entertainment industry have given a rebirth to the drug culture by being its agent of praise. Most of the videos, films, and music of the recent depicted a representation of drug use as positive and pleasurable and attribute them to non-criminal lifestyle. On the contrary, the ban of such drug use has witnessed a new representation of drugs in the entertainment Industry from a different perspective. The films and movies are on the move to educate their fans on the dangers and horrors of the use of drugs; especially the criminalized ones like opium, heroin, and marijuana that impact negatively on health. From their thrill to the fans, they expose how the drugs are a threat to their white moral society hence calls for policy acts to control them. This study is aimed at investigating the consumption of illegal drugs in the society and the impacts that are likely to result from continued use on individual and society at large.
Representation of illegal drugs
In the representation of narcotic drugs, there is different cultural perspective for the criminalization of these drugs, which is perceived to be due to fear of known danger. Drug user, addiction, and trafficking have been common in the western states through the film media after it was prohibited. Every song, film or drug image used in the entertainment industry has redirected conveyance of drug culture with each having its distinct meaning, although most of the meanings portrayed are related to the earlier images and culture.
Some of the issues that are realized to be so contemptuous are the association of the drug with violence and crime. Drug use is assumed to cause violence and crime within the society especially when illegal drugs are used (Miguel 2014, p 3). The other issue from the study is the controversial meaning from the drug film, movies, and songs. The use of the illegal drug is punished and criminalized by the judicial justice, however, when it is used in regular culture it tends to be attributed to pleasure (Spunt, 2014, p. 100). The non-criminal drug users of criminalized drug associate it with pleasure, and there are no messages that are brought out to illegalize its use in the popular culture. The film industry proves to be unstable on their meaning and stand on the information given concerning drug use (Suzanne, 2011, p. 20).
Continued drug use and consumption are accompanied by some of the social complexities inevitable within the societies. Drug use has an impact on the family and community generally. It poses some challenges and stability to individuals within the family as it is likely to influence peers who are involved. Crime is another social complexity that is attributed to drug abuse. Crime can be related to drug dealing in a variety of ways: first is the manufacture of the illicit drugs themselves and its distribution. Secondly, the use of illegal drugs increases the chances of occurrence of other crimes which are not crime directed. The use of drugs may also lead to money-laundering by those who engage in dealing with production and selling of illegal drugs (Richardson 2017, p 126). Finally, another social complexity that may be as a result of drug use is the increased violence within the community and boundary which involves guns and other terrorist activities.
Additionally, the use of drugs posits very negative impact on work and employment. Over engagement in illegal drug use may lead to loss of jobs or unemployment in both formal and informal sector, predisposing people to poverty. In addition, there is also the likelihood that the youths involved in drugs are unproductive in employment that makes them disproportionate to the society. Ladies who are also engaged in drug use always miss on the prospects for their occupational obligations outside the home.
Relation to the theories
According to Norman Zinberg's ideology on the drug, set and setting, the conclusions out of his studies were that there is the possibility of controlled use of intoxicant drugs by individuals whether licit or illicit substance. From this perspective, an individual has control as well on the impact or influence that he or she gets from film, movies or music. The representation of illegal drugs in movies is not a direct guarantee that one must engage in such (Andrew 2012, p 271). The movie can depict either pleasure or pain accompanied when one indulges in use of a certain drug but the final decision and compellation rests within an individual to choose either to engage or disengage in the use of criminalized drugs.
On another perspective, representation of drug can be understood from the Manderson's ideas and thoughts. According to him, there is the concept of double-sidedness in drug use. For individuals who are a drug addict, there is always the aspect of pleasure as well as pain that is got. For instance, the use of marijuana is both accompanied by both good and evil (Hogan, 2015, p. 54). In representation movies and songs brings out mixed opinion about it where others attribute it to positive impacts as others attribute it to criminal behavior and violence. In regards to Manderson's school of thoughts, a person's understanding of illicit drug consumption is highly predisposed by the symbolism depicted and the images and languages used during such actions of drug taking. Therefore, the symbols and languages that are used in entertainment industry impact a lot of the society members especially the youths whether or not they engage in taking of criminalized drugs (Hogan, 2015, p. 56).
On the other side of the matter, Hammerstein's argument on the change of perception of marihuana from killer weed to drop out the drug is also under consideration. According to the belief, marihuana as a killer weed is characterized by violence, crime, and aggressiveness. As a dropout drug, it is associated with killing ambitions and initiatives. It is believed to incite and trigger immorality and crime. It is argued that its continued use resulted in the amotivational syndrome and that it affected the judgment of the user and may dull a student's initiative. From the representation in movies, film, and songs, Hammerstein's thoughts and arguments are justifiable (Richardson, 2013, p. 127). Most of the users of drug taking are engaged in crime and immorality within the society. Drug abuse also impairs a student's judgment. Marihuana deceives students of being sharp but instead deaden their intellectual capacity and finally, they end up dropping out of school apart from losing focus of their education and life generally.
In conclusion, the use of criminalized drugs both in entertainment or just literally should be criminalized. Illegal drug use for non-medical purposes poses a lot of negative impacts like social crime, addiction, poor health among others, having a general impact of poor society due to less production of the youths or society members (Manning, 2015, p. 36). There is additional degradation of potential brains to bright students. The use of drugs at entertainment level should be abolished and be criminalized since it is the latest accompanied by internet channels of promoting drug use.
References
Andrew, T. (2012). The Drug, Set, and Setting: The Basis for Controlled Intoxicant Use. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 16(3), p. 271.
Hogan, C. (2015). Global Marijuana Cultivation and Societal Place Because and In Spite of US Policy and Perception. In: Handbook of drugs and society. s.l.:. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Manning, P. (2015). Drugs and Popular Culture in the Age of New Media. London: Routledge.. s.l.: Routledge.
Miguel, C. (2014). Imagined narscoscapes: narcoculture and the politics of representation. Latin America Perspective, 45(195), pp. 3-17.
Richardson, L. (2013). The impact of social, structural and physical environmental factors on transitions into employment among people who inject drugs. Journal of social medicine, 76(1), pp. 126-133.
Spunt, B. (2014). Heroin and Music in New York City. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Susan, B. (2012). Pleasure and pain: representation of illegal drug consumption, addiction, and trafficking in music, film, and video. Cambridge: Cambridge university press.
Suzanne, F. (2011). The Drug Effect: Health, Crime, and Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
