This paper discusses the phenomenon of drug use in American society.
This paper examines how drug use is rampant in American society. The focus of this paper is on the upper-echelons of society in order to demonstrate how widespread this phenomenon has become. The author’s main subject is a white, upper-class male from a stable home, which breaks the myth that all drug users come from the lower-echelons of society. Through the process of interviewing the subject, Andrew, the author gives an intimate look into the life of a drug addict and ,in the process, breaks many of the myths surrounding drug use and those who use it in American society.
It was during this time that Andrew began using marijuana. The use of marijuana was widespread among the academics, but was completely taboo amongst the townspeople. The townspeople viewed marijuana as a dangerous drug, and viewed the people who used it in as drug users. Andrew saw the townspeople as being completely hypocritical in their adamant stance against marijuana, since they were chronic and constant users of alcohol. Andrew notes that the academics got their extremely high-grade marijuana from local growers, at what he refers to as a kick-ass cost. Andrew also visited Amsterdam during his tenure as a graduate student. He spent six weeks, alone in Amsterdam, for the purpose of writing his thesis. Andrew notes that he says that he spent almost every minute stoned out of (his) tree. Amsterdam was a liberating time for him, as drug use is decriminalized, and liberal attitudes about drugs do not demonize the user as they do in the United States.