SOC 1500 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Mandatory Sentencing, The Scarlet Letter, Racialization
9 Dec 2014
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Social constructionism: looks at claims made by the media or claim makers. Moral panic: how the use of a drug is exaggerated. Labelling theory: looking at how people who use or sell drugs are labelled a certain way. Conflict theory: power of those who get to create and enforce laws. Drugs can be either natural or synthetic (created in a laboratory): stimulants: (can be called uppers) drugs that create an alertness, excited, give the user the ability to resist fatigue. Cocaine, caffeine: depressants: slows the functioning of the nervous system, can induce sleep, alleviate pain, and create sense of euphoria. Marijuana is a natural depressant: hallucinogens: perceptions distortions through sight or sound. Harmful to your health : drugs did not really become illegal for the sake of people"s health, today many people believe we should legalize softer drugs such as marijuana. Opium usa (heroine: first law created to target opium dens in 1875.
