Drug/Substance Abuse

Eric LaytonZack McCay

In 2010, marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug, with 17.4 million current users. It was used by 76.8 percent of current illicit drug users and was the only drug used by 60.1 percent of them.

Many rappers and other celebrities are advocates of the legalization of Marijuana.

More than 4,000 americans become infected with HIV every year because of unsafe injection drug use.

People value the effects of alcohol as something good and valuable... until they end up not being able to control their drinking.

Deviance is the violation of the norms of a particular group.

“You mean I don't have to do what my parents tell me?”

Dopamine is essentially

a chemical in the brain

that triggers happiness.

Increased levels of

drug use decrease

the sensitivity in the brain

receptor sites.

Peer pressure - Influence exerted by a peer member that encourages conforming behavior.

Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to match group norms.

Even negative sanctions, such as arrests, don't deter people from drug use and abuse.

Work might be hard to obtain, so many people deal drugs in order to make money. The legitimizing rationale here is that they need to make money somehow to support themselves.

Each year, drug abuse and drug addiction cost employers over 122 billion dollar in lost productivity time and another 15 billion dollars in health insurance costs.

The achieved status of drug lord brings with it the connotation of unlimited money, power.

38% of 12th graders admit to using ANY form of illicit drug.

John Bonham

Asphyxiated,September 1979

Chris Farley

Speedball,December 1997

Greg Giraldo Jim Morrison

OverdoseSeptember 2010

OverdoseJuly 1971

"I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too."

R.I.P. Mitch Hedberg

• Since 2009, drugs and alcohol kill more people than traffic accidents.

Help is available.Crisis Hotline, Alcoholics Anonymous, Drug Abuse Helplines

Don’t become a statistic.