CHAPTER 8:
ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUGS
By the end of this chapter students will be able to:
- Define the term drug and the various classifications of drugs such as therapeutic and recreational, licit and illicit.
- Define drug abuse including its objective and subjective components.
- Define drug addiction and its accompanying characteristics of tolerance and withdrawal.
- Discuss the level of alcohol use in the United States.
- Develop a profile of those who consume alcohol based on class, gender, age, and race.
- Discuss the social problems created by the abuse of alcohol on one’s health, in the workplace, home, and on the highways.
- Summarize the dangers tobacco use presents to users and the dangers it presents to non-smokers in the proximity of their smoke.
- Discuss how prescription and over-the-counter drugs contribute to the social problem of drug abuse and why their abuse may be a more threatening social problem than illicit drugs.
- List and discuss the various categories of illicit drugs.
- Explain alcohol and drug abuse utilizing biological, psychological, and sociological factors.
- Address drug and alcohol abuse from the three major sociological perspectives.
- Discuss the future of alcohol and rug abuse noting prevention and treatment programs in use.
