Deck 15: The Social Construction of Drug Scares

Question 1

The premise of Reinarman's article is that it is

A) equally important to understand drug policies as it is to scare people off of drugs.
B) equally important to understand drug scares as it is to understand why people use drugs.
C) equally important to understand why drugs are popular as it is to police their use.
D) equally important to understand why people use drugs as well as to treat them.

Answer 1

equally important to understand drug scares as it is to understand why people use drugs.

Question 2

Many well-informed drug policy reform efforts in the US have faced substantial resistance due to

A) a deep cultural belief that drugs are the cause of what is wrong with the world.
B) ill-informed and manipulative leaders.
C) a conservative backlash against the 1960s.
D) a tough a daunting Washington bureaucracy.

Answer 2

a deep cultural belief that drugs are the cause of what is wrong with the world.

Question 3

A recurring feature of US society according to Reinarman has been

A) a cycle of little widespread use of drugs followed by legislation against drugs giving rise to a huge user population and a greater problem.
B) drug scares beginning with the laws to prohibit marijuana.
C) fears of outsider beginning with Communism in 1917.
D) drug scares beginning with the Temperance movement.

Answer 3

drug scares beginning with the Temperance movement.

Question 4

America's first major drug law:

A) occurred at the federal level when Congress outlawed tea in 1801.
B) San Francisco's anti-opium den ordinance of 1875.
C) South Carolina's laws against marijuana in 1955.
D) New York City's anti-alcohol ordinance of 1901.

Question 5

Anti-drug crusades have generally been associated with

A) new, rigorous scientific research providing incontrovertible evidence for the risks and harm of drugs.
B) new laws when it appears members of the respectable, middle-class have begun to use drugs.
C) minority and disadvantaged groups as scapegoats for creating new legislation.
D) a general social climate of rational and deliberative decision-making.

Question 6

All of the following are elements of drug scares and repressive laws EXCEPT:

A) rigorous scientific research establishing the objective harm of drug.
B) scapegoating a drug for a variety of social problems.
C) drug use connected with a minority group.
D) the existence of professional interest groups.

Question 7

All of the following are elements of drug scares and repressive laws EXCEPT:

A) a kernel of truth.
B) moral and political entrepreneurs.
C) significant media coverage of the drug and its claimed harmful effects.
D) respectable, middle-class people have begun to use drugs.

Question 8

Reinarman suggests all of the following three factors to explain America's marked vulnerability to anti-drug crusaders EXCEPT:

A) new, powerful, psychotropic drugs which provide high addiction rates.
B) postmodern, mass consumption culture promoting indulgence ethic.
C) Protestantism and industrial capitalism which demands self-control.
D) vocabulary of attribution emphasizing individual choice.

Question 9

Discuss at least four of the seven elements that Reinarman identifies as part of the "recipe" for drug scares and repressive drug laws. Illustrate these four elements by applying to one of the specific historical example discussed by Reinarman.

Question 10

Discuss the three factors which Reinarman cites to explain why American society seems especially vulnerable to anti-drug crusaders. Do you agree with the factors he suggests-why or why not?

Question 11

Discuss in detail three historical examples from Reinarman to show that drug scares have been a recurrent feature of U.S. society for the past 200 years.