Drug Culture Midterm
Prior to this course, I had a very narrow interpretation of drug culture in regards to film. The films I was most familiar with were those that focused on marijuana such as Cheech and Chong films, Pineapple Express, Half-Baked, and the Harold and Kumar trilogy among others. Additionally, the only other heroin-centric film I was aware of was Trainspotting, and the only other cocaine-centric film that had made an impression on me was Blow. However, as the term progressed, I became aware of how the general public perceived these drugs and how addiction was depicted in films.

Additionally, my definition of drug culture expanded to include things that are not necessarily consumed but that still alter a person's perceptions or contribute to addiction. These different types of addictions and mind-altering phenomena are most evident in Videodrome and The Social Network.

Question 1b.

There are several films that have impacted me so…...

Brick and Cutter's Way can be categorized as both thrillers and films noir due to the fact that the narratives of these films revolve around an investigation into the mysterious deaths of young women at the hands of power-hungry men. While the investigation in Brick is fueled by a desire to expose a drug trafficking ring at a high school, thus making drugs a central issue, drugs in Cutter's Way are not a factor that contributed to the deaths of the individuals Cutter was looking into. However, that is not to say that drugs to not play a major role, as Cutter is heavily addicted to alcohol, which causes him to be discredited despite the fact that he is able to solve not only the crime at hand, but also reveal why his father was targeted by the same murderer years before.
On the other hand, Cabin in the Woods,…...

Drug culture at Temple U
Transitioning from high school to college may be shocking to some individuals, but as they begin to get more comfortable with their environment, classes, and fellow students, one may realize that there are many similarities that carry over from their previous academic environment. One social structure that carries over from high school to college are the formation of social groups and cliques. The groups are usually formed because the individuals have common interests -- curricular or extracurricular -- or they are in the same academic program or share classes. Some social groups are also formed based on a shared interest in drugs. While drug use is not something that is openly discussed on campus, nor are drugs consumed openly, there is still evidence that supports the argument that students sometimes engage in recreational drug use.

One of the more widely accepted illegal drugs is marijuana. While the…...

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Part B

Cashing in on the demand for drugs can appear to be a lucrative opportunity, however, people always run the risk of getting caught for selling and distributing drugs. In an article from Philly.com by William Bender from August 23, 2012, one can see how prevalent drug use is at Temple University and at other schools. The article explains how 25 individuals were arrested in a sting that targeted an illegal pill ring. Among the pills that were sold to students at Temple are Oxycontin and Xanax. Furthermore, the sting also demonstrates that there is a demand for cocaine and marijuana at these schools as they were among the drugs that were sold and distributed by these drug dealers. It is also interesting to see that the ages of the individuals arrested in the sting ranged from 20 to 46, which indicates that drugs were not only distributed to students by students, but that outside individuals were also cashing in on the demand for drugs.

This article is especially interesting because it demonstrates the complexity of independent drug businesses. It is baffling to see the lengths to which people will go to in order to make money. The article states that one dealer was bringing home $2,000 to $3,000 a week! Considering that comes out to $104,000 to $156,000 a year, it is easy to understand the draw that such a dangerous endeavor has and why people would be willing to risk everything to be successful in this line of work. It will interesting to see how the trial of these individuals plays out because of the range of charges everyone is charged with and the extent of each of these people's involvement in the drug ring.

While Jacob's Ladder is a horror film, Jacob Singer, played by Tim Robbins, is haunted by hallucinations, which he is convinced are a result of secret government chemical or drug testing carried out on him during the Vietnam War. In this regard, Jacob's Ladder comments on the countless unknown substances that are secretly administered to unwilling subjects. This aspect of the film, although ultimately proving to be untrue as Jacob's hallucinations are a desperate attempt to cling to life and he really dies in Vietnam, focuses on a different aspect of drug culture: drug testing and manufacture. In Jacob's Ladder, Jacob and his fellow soldiers, serve as ersatz lab rats, considered to be disposable by the U.S. government.
On the other hand, the Insider, directed by Michael Mann, focuses on the power held by drug corporations and their ability to influence the media and public perceptions of individuals. The Insider…...

And they can often escape into substance abuse and addiction" (Study reveals rise in drug, alcohol abuse during economic downturn).
One of the most important ways in which an increasing rate of drug and alcohol abuse and addiction affects the economy is the spiraling cost of healthcare and rehabilitation. The increase in addictions also creates a gap between the need for treatment and rehabilitation and available resources. This in turn places economic pressure on state and local government. This is especially difficult to maintain in a recessionary economic climate. "States, local governments, and non-profits are all facing tremendous budget shortfalls -- and they are cutting the resources to help this growing group of addicts in trouble, just when they need it the most" (Study reveals rise in drug, alcohol abuse during economic downturn).

The following illustrations provide a clear indication of the amounts that have been spent on alcohol and drug…...

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References

Allen J. ( 2006) Drugs a Factor in Many Sexual Assaults, Study Says. Retrieved September 27, 2009, from  http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/501383/drugs_a_factor_in_many_sexual_assaults_study_says/ 

Bennet W. (1999) the Index of Leading Cultural Indicators. New York: Broadway

Books.

Drug addiction. Retrieved September 27, 2009, from http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Drug:addiction.htm

Drug Policies the Legacy of Outdated Moral Values and Moral Panics
A disinterested alien observer who came down to the planet Earth and saw the difference in how legal drugs such as alcohol and cigarettes were treated under the law when compared to illegal drugs would be hard pressed to explain the differential treatment. After all, alcohol and cigarettes cause or contribute to far more deaths, injuries, health problems, and social problems than illegal drugs. In fact, some illegal drugs, such as cannabis, are relatively free of side-effects when compared to those two legal substances. Furthermore, even some of the highly villianized hard drugs, such as heroin, are considered less addictive than nicotine. Therefore, it is difficult to understand why some substances are illegal and others are not. The reasons are not scientific or social; therefore, one must look at the history of drug policy in the Western world and…...

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References

Maguire, M., Morgan, R., & Reiner, R. (Eds.). (2007). The Oxford handbook of criminology.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

social poblem of using and selling dugs is potayed in music. I'm inteested in studying this because music has at once been accused of gloifying dug cultue and also as being one of the few means of allowing uses to vent on the ealities of dug cultue. Clealy, the elationship between dugs and music is a complex one. This pape will seek to shed light on the motivations fo atists to incopoate dug cultue in thei songs and what they pesumably gain fom it, and what society pesumably gains fom it as well.
The fist song that this pape will examine when it comes to the teatment of dugs as subject matte fo songs is in the wok of 2 Pac in his famous song, "Changes." This song is so emakable in that it addesses a temendous amount of social injustice in that is still alive and well in the…...

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references. Music Ther Perspectives, 69-76.

Duff, C. (2003). Drugs and Youth Cultures: Is Australia Experiencing the 'Normalization' of Adolescent Drug Use? Journal of Youth Studies, 433-447.

Genius.com. (n.d.). Corner Bodega. Retrieved from genius.com:  http://rap.genius.com/50-cent-corner-bodega-coke-spot-lyrics 

Genius.com. (n.d.). The Way We Get By. Retrieved from Genius.com:  http://rock.genius.com/Spoon-the-way-we-get-by-lyrics 

Lyrics.com. (n.d.). Changes 2 pac. Retrieved from lyrics.com:  http://www.lyrics.com/changes-lyrics-2pac.html

Substance use is frequently associated with child abuse and domestic violence. It also is a leading contributor to marital dissatisfaction, family breakups and rejection of family members. The importance of the family in understanding alcohol and drug use and abuse is underlined by these highly destructive consequences of alcohol and drug dependency on the abuser and the family. (Lala; Straussner; Fewell, 17)
Peer Group plays an important part in resolving the problem as they are able to take the drug or alcohol abuser more into confidence compared to others since most people associate themselves with their respective peer group in terms of habits, tastes and concerns. It has been demonstrated that a drug abuser will definitely abide by a member of the peer group to which he belongs and obey requests of abstinence more than anyone else. Educational system also plays an important role in tackling the prevalence of the…...

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References

Ammerman, Robert T; Ammerman, Peggy J. Ott; Tarter, Ralph E. (1999) "Prevention and Societal Impact of Drug and Alcohol Abuse" Routledge.

Lala, Shulamith; Straussner, Ashenberg; Fewell, Christine Huff. (2006) "Impact of Substance

Abuse on Children and Families: Research" Haworth Press.

Laufer, William S. The Legacy of Anomie Theory: Advances in Criminological Theory.

One example of the kind of policy change that is being suggested by some in the particular war on Meth is the reduction of the ability of meth makers, especially large scale makers to realize the supplies of a small number of raw materials used to make the drug pseudoephedrine is quaaludes, as this drug was successfully removed from the radar screen by the banning of the chemicals used to make it, and this may be an option for all synthetic drugs.
Reurer 170)

orks Cited

Boulard, Garry. "The Meth Menace: Battling the Fast-Paced Spread of Methamphetamine May Mean Attacking It from Several Fronts." State Legislatures May 2005: 14.

Boyum, David, and Mark A.R. Kleiman. "Breaking the Drug-Crime Link." Public Interest Summer 2003: 19.

Organized Crime." The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. 2004.

Hanson, Gayle M.B. "Drug Crime Doesn't Pay, or Does It?." Insight on the News 19 June 1995: 16.

Meth's a Global Problem." The Register-Guard…...

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Works Cited

Boulard, Garry. "The Meth Menace: Battling the Fast-Paced Spread of Methamphetamine May Mean Attacking It from Several Fronts." State Legislatures May 2005: 14.

Boyum, David, and Mark A.R. Kleiman. "Breaking the Drug-Crime Link." Public Interest Summer 2003: 19.

Organized Crime." The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. 2004.

Hanson, Gayle M.B. "Drug Crime Doesn't Pay, or Does It?." Insight on the News 19 June 1995: 16.

The agents then formalize a data which helps them to stop the drug trafficking in future. By the end of year 1968, America's counter culture movement was at its peak and the trend of illegal drug use for the recreational purposes was rising. That was an alarming situation and then the President Lyndon Johnson introduced a legislation that ultimately combined the BDAC and Bureau of Narcotics into a single entity: Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs under the department of Justice (Kleiman & Hawdon, 2011).
As far as the core mission of the Drug Enforcement Administration is concerned, it is to enforce the laws and regulations regarding the controlled substances and to bring the law breakers to the criminal and civil justice system of the United States. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) operations are not only limited to the United States but its jurisdiction is across the world as a…...

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References

DEA History. (n.d.). DEA - Drug Enforcement Administration. Retrieved May 18, 2013, from http://www.justice.gov/dea/about/history.shtml

DEA Mission Statement. (n.d.). DEA - Drug Enforcement Administration. Retrieved May 18, 2013, from http://www.justice.gov/dea/about/mission.shtml

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). (2013). In Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Kleiman, M.A., & Hawdon, J.E. (2011). Encyclopedia of Drug Policy, Volume 1. USA: SAGE.

14). Soon, Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act, which was signed into law in 1937. Like the Harrison Act, the Marijuana Tax Act placed marijuana into the same category as the cocaine and opium drugs. It was now illegal to import marijuana into the United States (McWilliams, 1991). However, this law was ineffective in curbing marijuana use (Brecher, 1986, p. 14).
By the early 1940s narcotic addiction had significantly reduced in the United States (Harrison, Backenheimer and Inciardi, 1999). However, this was not the result of legislative initiatives. Instead, it was because World War II was cutting off the "supplies of opium from Asia and interrupt the trafficking routes from Europe" (Inciardi, 1992, p. 24).

Several other legislative efforts in the supply reduction department served to establish more severe penalties for violations of drug laws, and tighten controls and restrictions over legally manufactured narcotic drugs (Harrison, Backenheimer and Inciardi, 1999). The…...

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References

1999). Recreational Drug Information. History of Drug Use U.S. Retrieved from the Internet at www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/.

Brecher, E. (1986). Drug Laws and Drug Law Enforcement: A Review and Evaluation Based on 111 Years of Experience,' Drugs and Society 1:1.

Drucker, Ernest. (1999). Harm Reduction: A Public Health Strategy. Current Issues in Public Health, 1: pp. 64-70.

Drug Policy Alliance. (February 17, 2005). Harm Reduction: Options that Work. Retrieved from the Internet at  http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/021705harm.cfm .

Culture and Health Disparities - Filipinos
PESONAL SOCIAL STATUS: In researching this project, I found a study prepared by the Canadian Nurses Association (2005). It reviewed the social determinants of health and how one's social status impacts their or their family health outcomes. The focus of this piece was on issues such as poverty, economic inequality, social isolation and social support systems and their impact on the health of minorities, many of the same categories and characteristics mentioned in the Journal of Transcultural Nursing (Andrews et al., 2010). While their study was more on a broad base of Canadian conditions, their findings seem to reflect the circumstances of many first and second generation Filipinos. First and later generations of Filipinos who move to new cultures do act differently, but for the most part there remain many family connections and networks that cannot be overlooked.

My social status is mostly a reflection of…...

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REFERENCES

Andrews, M. et al. (2010). Theoretical Basis for Transcultural Care. Section II. Foundations of Transcultural Nursing and Health Care. Journal of Transcultural Nursing. Vol. 21. DOI: 10.1177/1043659610374321.

Canadian Nursing Association (2005). Social Determinants of Health and Nursing: A summary of Issues. Canadian Nursing Association. Viewable at http://www.cna-aiic.ca/CNA/documents/pdf/publications/BG8_Social_Determinants_e.pdf.

Castillo, M.V. (nd). Caring in the Diaspora: Filipino Immigrants, Health Care, Healing, and Religion. Religious Healing in Boston. Viewable at  http://www.hds.harvard.edu/cswr/resources/print/rhb/reports/13.Castillo.pdf .

McBride, M. (nd). Health and Health Care of Filipino Elders. Stanford Geriatric Education Center. Viewable at  http://www.stanford.edu/group/ethnoger/filipino.html .

Culture and Marketing Strategy
About the print ad from http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2013/johnnie-walker-from-the-future/

The print ad is about a certain brand of alcoholic drink that is endorsed by a professional athlete. The athlete takes a sip from a glass of whisky and begins walking. This in a way appears to suggest that consumers of this particular brand of whisky can cover long distances after taking this whiskey. Information pertaining to alcoholic content and how the brand is matured are not clearly visible on the ad. The only visible thing is the image of the person who has endorsed the brand making some strides.

Assumptions made by the authors of the ad

The authors of the ad try to make the ad to be more appealing to the motives and desires of the consumers. They give form to people's deep-lying desires. They assume that they will best arrest the consumer's attention by tugging consumer's psychological shirt sleeves and…...

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References List

Altstiel, T & Grow, J. (2006). Advertising Strategy: Creative Tactics From the Outside/In. CA:

Sage.

Petracca, M. & Sorapure, M. (1998). Common Culture: Reading and Writing about American

Popular Culture. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Drugs at a Friend's House
The ethical dilemma of this scenario revolves around the question of what an officer's duties are when he or she is technically 'off-duty.' There is little question that when someone's life is at stake, such as during an armed robbery, that an officer has a moral obligation to intervene. However, the terms of this scenario are far more ambiguous. There is no immediate, obvious risk to life but persons are engaged in illegal drug use.

In this situation, it is unlikely that the officer's friend knows there is drug use going on at his house -- he would probably not invite a police officer into his house and allow his friends to use drugs. However, making an arrest would be profoundly disruptive and embarrassing to the friend's party. According to police protocol, "remember, you have NO LEGAL O DEPATMENTAL obligation to get involved, especially if such intervention…...

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References

Berry, Steve. (1991). Most departments prohibit accepting gifts. Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved:

 http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1991-08-28/news/9108280520_1_police-department-gratuities-accepting-gifts 

Ryan, Jack. (2007). Model policy: Off-duty action. Legal and Liability Policy Institute.

Retrieved:  http://www.llrmi.com/articles/legal_update/off-duty.shtml

6% of the respondents stated that this was what they did. This number however is not reflected in lower numbers for life style disease and so it must be given greater scrutiny at another time (See table below).
Fruit and vegetable consumption by ethnicity

Lifestyle diseases

There are a number of diseases and health conditions that have been linked to life style behaviors and belief systems. The prevalence of these diseases demonstate that while persons may report a certain behavior emperical evidence suggests that another behavior may be taking place. This may occur principally because respondents may over estimate what they do on a daily basis since they are not taking active records of their behaviors.

On several indicators African-Americans have higher rates of the disease and death as a consequency than White populations. The data for diabetes shows that African-Americans are twice as likely to report having diabetes than white Americans. African-Americans also…...

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References

A religious portrait of African-Americans (2009) Retrieved from  http://pewforum.org/A-Religious-Portrait-of-African-Americans.aspx 

Department of health and senior services New Jersey. (2011).

 http://www.state.nj.us/health/chs/dataindex.htm 

Dowd, K. (1996). Dietary patterns and physical activity among New Jersey adults. Center for health Statistics 1(3):1-4.