I believed that media was glamorize both the usage and the distribution of drugs. In reading number 1 it states, “through the early 1930s. States enacted anti-marijuana laws, usually instigated by lurid newspaper articles depicting the madness and horror attributed to the drug’s use… New York Times print “Mexican Family Goes Insane” (Inciardi and Mcelrath, 2011, p.9). Therefore, the media has influencing society throughout history. I was not aware how melodramatic media was in the nineteenth century on to drugs. There were many reports of the media using drugs as a scapegoat to alienate certain groups in society. For example, in reading number 5 points out, “passage of narcotics laws and their stringent enforcement required a reviled “other” in order to create an anti-drug consensus… “Cocaine crazed” southern black men, marijuana smoking Mexican migrant, and pregnant crack whore” (Inciardi and Mcelrath, 2011, p.66). What stood out to me in the course of the semester were the drug …show more content…
I stated that drugs were not viewed as negatively as it once was. I still believe that drugs are not viewed as negatively, but I may add that they are not viewed as negatively in many sub-cultures instead as a whole society. In reading 25 it illustrated, “ subculture of circuit parties and the role of crystal methamphetamine within these settings… the results show that a large number of gay men had used drug and that poly-drug use was common” (Inciardi and Mcelrath, 2011, p. 288). The purposes of these parties were to serve as fundraising venues for HIV non-profit organizations. These parties were also a place to rejoice pride, sexuality, diversity, and individuality. Gay men celebrate with recreational drug use, all night dance parties, and sexual freedom. As a result, these types of fundraisers appealed a lot of men, which recreational drug use become more dominant. Drugs were more accepting in this type of subculture where ecstasy was the primary choice as to other club drugs as katamine, GHB, and crystal (Inciardi and Mcelrath, 2011, p.289). Circuit parties became a signature week or month in the gay subculture for several countries and certain states in the United State. Approximately over 90% of respondents on the study reported that they used one or more illicit drugs (Inciardi and Mcelrath, 2011,