Theories of Drug Use

1. Theories of Drug Use Lecture 5

2. What to Expect in This Lecture • What is theory? • Nature Theories • Biological Theories • Neurochemical explanations • Genetic explanations • Psychological Theories • Psychoanalytic explanations • Personality theories • Behavioral theories • Sociological Theories • Social process theories • Social structural theories • Societal reaction theories

3. What is Theory? • A theory is an explanation for the occurrence of something • Scientific theory is an explanation that can be falsified empirically • That which we are attempting to explain here is: • The onset of drug use • Drug addiction

4. Nature Theory • Suggest that predisposition to drug use and addiction are intrinsic to human nature • Early theories explained addiction in terms of being weak-willed, etc. • Andrew Weil suggests that use and addiction is rooted in a universal desire to alter consciousness Timothy Leary Andrew Weil

5. Evaluation of Nature Theory • Strength • Intuitively appealing • Weaknesses • Cannot be empirically verified or falsified • Cannot explain why individuals opt for a particular type of conscience-altering behavior

6. Biological Theories • Emerged in 19th century in response to the moralistic “nature” theories • Used a “disease” model to explain addiction • As a disease, addiction was seen as something that was readily spread • Drugs were seen as “toxins” that destroyed the body • More recent biological theories have focused on the following two areas: • Neurochemical bases for addiction • Biogenetic bases for addiction

7. Biological Theories:Neurochemical Explanations • Neurochemical explanations identify the source of addiction in neurotransmission, which can be defined as, • “the mechanism by which signals or impulses are sent from one nerve cell (neuron) to another” (Sunderwith, 1985) • The specific neurotransmitter varies across drug types: • Opiates – endorphins • Cocaine – dopamine • Antidepressants – serotonin

8. The Neurochemisty of Addiction

9. Biological TheoriesBiogenetic Explanations • Genetic explanations suggest that some individuals are born with a genetically determined predisposition toward drug use and addiction • Genetic explanations rely primarily on epidemiological data to demonstrate this linkage • Much of the research in this area focuses on alcoholism • Four broad types of research • Animal studies • Family pattern studies • Twin studies • Adoption studies

10. Evaluation of Biological Theories • Neurochemical explanations have, to date, been applied to a small number of drugs • Biogenetic explanations: • Offer very strong epidemiological evidence for a genetic basis • There remain some critical questions, however: • Can we generalize from studies of alcoholism to other types of drugs? • Researchers have not identified the biogenetic mechanism that causes this genetic link

11. Psychological Theories • Grounded in more general theories of psychology that began to emerge in the 19th century • Focus primarily on the nature of individual experiences which might make one more susceptible to drug use and/or addiction • Four broad types: • Psychoanalytic explanations • Personality theories • Behavioral theories

12. Psychological Theories:Psychoanalytic Explanations • Based primarily on the work of Sigmund Freud • Identifies cause of drug addiction as abnormal personality development • Addiction the result of a search for compensatory gratification emanating from an unhealthy “fixation” at a certain point of personality development Sigmund Freud

13. Psychological Theories:Personality Theories • Based on the notion that addiction is a manifestation of a unique type of personality • Lawrence Kolb suggested that addicted suffered from a sociopathic personality • More commonly, psychologists have pointed to an addictive personality • More recently, psychologists identify “personality characteristics” that tend to be associated with drug addiction • Jerome Jaffe suggested 3 personality features characteristic of marijuana users: • Non-conventionality • Open to new experiences • Lower rates of conventional achievement value Jerome Jaffe

14. Psychological TheoriesBehavioral Explanations • Modeling – Albert Bandura • Draws upon Skinner’s idea of operant conditioning • Suggests that individuals model behavior after significant others • Reinforcing factors in drug use • Euphoria • Cessation of withdrawal • Analgesic effects • Primary reinforcement vs. secondary reinforcement • Negative reinforcement • Cognitive Behavioral Theories – Alfred Lindesmith Albert Bandura Alfred Lindesmith

15. Sociological Theories • Come from sociological theories explaining crime and deviance generally • Fall into 3 broad categories • Social Process Theories • Social Structure Theories • Societal Reaction Theores

16. Diagram of Sociological Theories

17. Social Process Theories:Learning Theories • Assumption: people are not born criminals or drug users, but learn these behaviors • Task: Determine how this learning takes place • Sutherland – Differential Association Theory • Akers – Differential Reinforcement Theory • Howard Becker – “Becoming a Marijuana User” Edwin Sutherland Ron Akeres Howard Becker

18. Social Process Theories:Control Theories • Assumption: Human beings are predisposed toward maximizing self-interest; hence, everyone has the capacity to commit crime • Task: Must answer, “Why do most people not engage in drug use or crime?” • Travis Hirschi: The Social Bond Travis Hirschi

20. Social Structure Theories • Focus is on why certain categories of people tend to be more involved in drug use or addiction • Three types of structural theories • Strain Theories • Cultural Deviance Theories • Integrated Structural Theory

21. Strain Theories: Merton Merton’s theory of “anomie” stressed two structural conditions: The interaction of these conditions produce five adaptive responses:

22. Strain Theories: Cloward and Ohlin • Theory of differential opportunity suggests that there are 2 opportunity structures: a legitimate and an illegitimate one • Drug users are double failures: they have failed to succeed in both • Such failure results in retreating from society altogether

23. Evaluation of Strain Theories • Has not stood up well under empirical scrutiny • Many street drug addicts are not even interested in achieving in the legitimate opportunity structure • Moreover, to sustain an expensive drug habit, usually requires success in the illegitimate opportunity structure

24. Cultural Deviance Theories • Tradition has its beginning at the University of Chicago in the 1920’s • Application to subcultures of drug use in 1960’s by John O’Donnell at the University of Kentucky • Explained the emergence drug subcultures that arose in transitional neighborhoods • Suggested that criminalization of drugs posed a common problem to users of drugs in these neighborhoods: how to obtain regular supplies of the drug • Users learned to commit crimes and other creative ways to get these drugs

25. Charles Winick:An Integrated Structural Theory • Attempted to explain drug dependence and addiction • Suggested that it is dependent on 3 factors: • Access to drugs • Disengagement from normative proscriptions against drug use • Role strain and/or deprivation

26. Societal Reaction Theories • Represent a “paradigm shift” in sociological theorizing • Rather focusing on why people engage in deviant (e.g., drug using) behavior, focus is on explaining why society reacts the way it does • Two theories identified with societal reaction framework • Labeling Theory • Conflict Theory

27. Labeling Theory • Three primary questions: • Why are certain behaviors defined as deviant? • Why are particular individuals labeled as deviant? • What is the effect of the label?

28. Question #1: The Defining of Deviant Behavior • Argue that there is no necessary correlation between what is objectively harmful and what is illegal or considered deviant • Rather, the social construction of deviance involves a process of moral entrepreneurship

29. Question #2: Differential Labeling of Individuals • Note that not all individuals who engage in acts defined as deviant are so labeled • Moreover, those labeled are not necessarily the ones most seriously involved • Factors that seem to determine whether one is labeled are: • Visibility of deviant behavior • Disposition of deviant • Mobilization of community bias

30. Question #3: Impact of Labeling • Suggest that labeling usually has a negative impact • Goffman – stigma • Becker – master status • Lemert – primary vs. secondary deviance • Tannenbaum – degradation ceremony

31. Moral Entrepreneurs (Rule Makers) Initial Deviant Act (Primary Deviance) Labelers (Rule Enforcers) Stigma/Master Status (Public Identity) Subsequent Behavior (Secondary Deviance) Self Concept Role Engulfment (Personal Identity)

32. Conflict Theory • Based broadly on the classic work of Karl Marx • Elliot Currie suggests that heroin and crack use are concentrated in economically deprived inner cities: • Because economic opportunities are scarce • Resulting in perceived powerlessness and alienation • With the consequence of destroying individual and family life • According to conflict theorists, drug policy must address economic and political conditions which polarize social classes Elliot Currie