Why do the stigmas regarding hard drugs not commonly translate over to things such as alcohol or tobacco?
I am currently taking a class on the concepts of drugs and alcohol in American Society. We were asked why we think alcohol and tobacco typically escape the inclusion in international and national schedules of psychoactive substances. This got me thinking.
I think that alcohol and tobacco typically escape this narrative because both products are sold and distributed legally to those of a certain legal age. Drugs such as cocaine, heroin and meth can’t just be bought at your local grocery store, but alcohol and tobacco products are easily accessible and prominently available in commonly found establishments such as gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, and households.
Alcohol and tobacco have been used in our society since before I was born, before you were born, and will be prominent long after we die. There is an undoubtedly long global history of both alcohol and tobacco use. Whether it was powerful leaders who impacted our past, noteworthy inventors like Thomas Edison, the suburban housewife who chooses to drink a glass of chilled white wine with dinner, the frat boy who shot guns beer outside with friends, the spring breakers who chose to belligerently chase their shots of tequila with a beer bong on a beach somewhere, the family member who drinks too much eggnog at the family holiday party and starts making a fool of themselves, the college kids who pregame with their weight in Peach Taaka and get “white girl wasted," the women who sip on drinks like sex on the beach, cosmopolitans and margaritas who end up dancing on the table or having their hair held for them while heaving over the bar's finest porcelain toilet, the newly exposed high-schoolers who experiment with alcohol for the first time in someone’s basement and take pulls from the handle of clear liquid that they got for a few bucks with their fake ID at their closest liquor store.
The clear liquid which smells like rubbing alcohol, burns like fire as you swallow, and results in you desperately grabbing for the nearest energy drink, soda or drink around you to relieve the fowl taste, or just the hard working parents who use alcohol or tobacco to unwind after a long day at work. Long story short- alcohol and tobacco are easy to obtain, prominent in our lives, and commonly bought, sold, and consumed in our society.
Alcohol and tobacco have both been used in major societal images such as the image of “the cool kid smoking a cig” in classic cult films such as The Breakfast Club, Great Gatsby and Breakfast at Tiffany’s and drinking in movies such as American Pie, Wolf of Wall Street and Sex in the City. The idea of smoking and alcohol is not foreign to the average American teen, and that translates to the purchase and use of these substances as teens grow into legal adults. It can also be argued that the use of alcohol is in things such as religion, like wine in church. In this case, the wine is representative of the “lord and saviors” blood, so how could this be seen as a bad constituent? The same substance which leads to drinking and driving, crime, death, and over indulging illness which can lead to hospitalization. In our generation, most of us will grow up alongside those who chose to use substances such as alcohol and tobacco, it is our choice to participate ourselves. We know the dangers of choosing to say yes to them, but the question is...should it be legal for us to choose yes?
