Social Determinants of Drug Use

Social determinants of drug use can be facilitated by both social and cultural structures. These social structures include political and economic marginalization, oppression, prejudice, discrimination, unemployment, poverty and neighborhood disadvantage. Cultural structures; including general and drug specific norms, values, beliefs, roles, concepts and expectations racialized perceptions of drug use , as well as gendered differences in addiction and drug type usage can also act as determinants of drug use. Analysis of the historical context of drug usage and its intersectionality with crime and government policy have a major impact in who are consuming drugs and who is profiting from their use.

Classifications of Drugs

Heroin is an example of hard drug.

When dealing with the subject of illegitimate or illegal drug use, there are two main types of drug users: Those who use "hard" drugs, and those who use "soft" drugs. The category of "hard" drugs mainly refers to opiates and all of its derivatives. Some examples of common "hard drugs" are heroin, Vicodin, methamphetamine, and cocaine . The known characteristics of "hard" drugs include; Euphoria-production, depression, and possible addiction. The category of "soft" drugs include; Central nervous system stimulants, depressors and newer consciousness-expanders (psychedelic drugs). Some common examples include marijuana and LSD . The "soft" drug characteristics are relatively mild and are popularly believed to be non-addicting.

Drug and Crime Relationship

"Much of the research indicates that drug use may increase and sustain criminal behavior, although some research concludes that drug use and crime have a complex, recursive relationship and that drug use is not always directly involved in crime causation." One of the most common and dangerous routes to drug use is delinquency. "Delinquency may first lead to substance use and then to problem drug taking, or may lead directly to problem drug taking." Once an individual reaches the level of "Criminality" through delinquency and drug use, they open them selves up to many harmful psychological characteristics of criminality, such as; "manipulation, impulsivity, low tolerance for frustration, the propensity and the need for danger or thrill seeking, poor consequential thinking, poor option generation, poor use of leisure time, affiliation in terms of social identity with the criminal class, easy dissatisfaction or boredom with conventional activity (i.e., the need for more excitement or adrenal dependence)"

Racialized Perceptions of Drug Use

Racialized perceptions of drug use stem from community influences, interpersonal influences, and individual influences that belong to a racialized system. The nature of a racialized system facilitates the production and maintenance of key level differences in the social conditions of people categorized as “Black” or “White”. "A tendency also exists to apply different normative standards to the types of drugs used and to believe that blacks are largely responsible for drug trafficking. As a result, drug law enforcement may be ethnically skewed, policies may ignore the unique patterns that characterize the drug crisis in different communities, and treatment techniques may not be designed for the specific needs of different groups." Burston, Jones and Roberson-Saunders (1995) found that "Despite the fact that approximately three-quarters of America’s current drug users are White, drug use in America is largely viewed as a Black problem"

Gendered Differences in Drug Use

In previous years, the subject of drug use was generally seen a male dominant issue due to the common association of males and alcoholism, which was brought to light during the times of prohibition. However, more recent focus around women's drug use has shown some generalized gendered differences regarding the topic of drug use. "Women typically begin using substances later than do men, are strongly influenced by spouses or boyfriends to use, report different reasons for maintaining the use of the substances, and enter treatment earlier in the course of their illnesses than do men. Importantly, women also have a significantly higher prevalence of comorbid psychiatric disorders, such as depression and anxiety, than do men, and these disorders typically predate the onset of substance-abuse problems."

Social Issues

Although drug users are regularly stigmatized and shunned in society, it has been found that society's response has a tendency to differ between genders. The consequences for male drug users tends to affect the career, and repercussions are more heavily felt within the "public" sphere of life. Men have also been found to have more frequent and different encounters with the criminal justice system regarding their drug usage. Women have a higher likelihood of being stigmatized in the "private" sphere of their lives, where the repercussions of their drug abuse tends to affect their marital status and family. This type of stigmatization occurs particularly with women due to preconceived notions of a female's duty to remain healthy for means of reproduction. A higher percentage of women were found to attribute their drug usage to traumatic events that occurred earlier in life.

Difference in Biologic response

In general, women have a smaller total amount of water in their body. This allows drugs (particularly alcohol) to achieve higher concentrations in their blood stream than do men after administering equal amounts of drugs, or drinking equivalent amounts of alcohol. Important gender differences were noticed regarding the consumption of nicotine. "Women in general smoke fewer cigarettes than do men but metabolize nicotine more slowly; therefore, nicotine levels in the body are similar in male and female smokers." Biological differences have also been documented regarding the use of cocaine. A study conducted by Dr. R. Walker showed that women's behavioral response to cocaine was significantly higher than in men.

Further reading

• Spooner, C., & Hetherington, K. (2005). Social determinants of drug use. National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales.
• Galea, S., & Vlahov, D. (2002). Social determinants and the health of drug users: socioeconomic status, homelessness, and incarceration. Public health reports, 117(Suppl 1), S135.
• Strathdee, S. A., Patrick, D. M., Archibald, C. P., Ofner, M., Cornelisse, P. G., Rekart, M., ... & O'SHAUGHNESSY, M. V. (1997). Social determinants predict needle‐sharing behaviour among injection drug users in Vancouver, Canada. Addiction, 92(10), 1339-1347.