Has drug use among young people become normalised?

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SOCIAL POLICY – SA300 

EMILIA IORDANOU

Q) Has drug use among young people become normalised?

The aims of this essay are to firstly, define what ‘drug use’ entails and how often young people use drugs. Then secondly to find out what drugs are being taken. Ultimately it is necessary to see whether drug use is increasing and therefore becoming ‘normalised.’ Is it true to argue that drug use has become a common act among young people, who see it as a ‘normal’ part of life?

‘Illicit’ or illegal drugs come from three different class types. Type A drugs are the most harmful and arguably the most difficult to obtain. Examples include cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, LSD etc. Type B drugs are mainly amphetamines, which are classed as less harmful as the Type A drugs. Type C drugs are the least harmful and are perhaps the easiest to obtain, for example cannabis is a type C drug and it is the most widely used drug amongst young people. Research suggests that young people regard cannabis in the same way that they regard alcohol and tobacco. This indicates that drug use has become normalised amongst young people.

On January 29th 20004, cannabis was reclassified from class B to a class C drug. This came about because experts found that while cannabis is still harmful, it is less harmful than the other class B drugs, such as amphetamines. The government wanted to make the comparative dangers of different drugs clearer and so cannabis was reclassified. However, since the relaxation of the law regarding its possession, cannabis seizures have dramatically increased, for example by 82% in the Barnet area of North London. A Metropolitan Police office commissioner, Sir John Stevens, concluded that, ‘the reclassification of cannabis from category B to C in January had sent out a mixed and confused message to Police officers and members of the public. They found that youths in particular believe that they are now entitled to smoke cannabis openly on the streets, because they will not face arrest.

Becker (1963, defines deviance as ‘produced through the application by others of rules and sanctions to an “offender”.’ Drug use has always been considered as a ‘deviant’ activity, but perhaps nowadays it has become so normalised that it can no longer be called deviant. Parker et al. (1995) would agree with this statement, yet others may argue that if the status of a behaviour, such as drug use, has moved from being ‘deviant’ to being ‘normal’, then it is also important to show that it has become accepted as normal by society and relevant audiences.

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The ‘Normalisation Thesis’ was outlined by Parker et al. (1995), which argued that, ‘for many young people, taking drugs has become the norm.’ It was predicted that ‘over the next few years, non-drug trying adolescents will be a minority group.’ Measham et al. (1994) agrees with what Parker et al. (1995) predicts in the normalisation thesis. ‘There is evidence to suggest that young people today are more likely to experiment with drugs than they were a decade ago.’ (Measham et al. 1994).

Young (1971) found that cannabis has become more common within this culture, i.e. (the conformist youth culture) ...

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