SNRSCH3262 - SOC 2555 - Sociology on Drugs

Course Description

This course focuses on the use and abuse of drugs as a common social and cultural practice rather than as a moral, medical, legal, or epidemiological problem. While conventional wisdom considers drug use and abuse to be a social problem, we will consider drug use and abuse as a response to economic, political, and cultural problems. Recurring course themes include the relationship between drug use and racial and class conflict; various perspectives on the origins of drug use and abuse; the pros and cons of harm reduction versus legal interventions; the nature and extent of drug using subcultures; the individual and community-level effects of drug policy, legislation, and enforcement; and depictions of drug use in the media.