Social Myth

Jameese McBeth

October 24, 2013

Brother Yao

English 102

Social Myth

Drugs

The definition of the word drug according to thefreedicitionary.com is, "A chemical substance, such as a narcotic or hallucinogen that affects the central nervous system, causing changes in behavior and often addiction". Drug usage in America has become a big topic of conversation especially in the political world since the late 1900's. In 1971 President Nixon declared the "war on drugs" to rid the U.S of all non prescribed drugs and illegal drug activity. Today America still wages the war on drugs and uses more tactful approaches to effectively reach the goal set by Nixon years ago. There can’t be one set outlook on the use of substances in the U.S today because there are far too many types of drugs and too many types of people using them to view it through just one lens. Three key factors in the varying statistics for marijuana usage in America are exposure, consequences, and race.

Mass media has glamorized the world of drug usage to such an extreme that society has been desensitized to the messages being portrayed to youth through motion pictures and music. The exposure that communities face daily is on a rapid rise and is one of the leading contributors to the increasing rate of usage. In America, one of the most commonly ventured drugs is marijuana. The depiction of celebrities using marijuana has been heavily influential and subliminally tells the audience there is no consequence for inhaling. According to the multiple authors of the article “Media Exposure and Marijuana and Alcohol Use Among Adolescents”, twenty-seven percent of students that participated in a survey had used marijuana and of the twentey-seven percent all received more that 8.6 hours of media exposure . The depiction of marijuana consumption without consequence, reprimanding or harm to self leads society to think drugs are acceptable and safe. This statistic alone shows that mass media plays a key role in the...