The Disney Way Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Disney Way - Research Paper Example Solstice Sleep Products is a firm that manufactures quality mattresses for its customers. It is committed towards delivery high value to its customers. The company has set a platform in order to develop quality products that over exceed expectations of customers and sets a high benchmark in terms of service. There is a highly experienced team which develops such products and enhances the sustainability of the firm in the industry. The firm works in collaboration with topmost suppliers present in the industry so as to create an extensive brand portfolio. Its value creation is more than hundreds of dollars which is considered to be a bit less than top most advertised brands. Over the years the company has focused on its factory setting so that quality is never compromised (Solstice Sleep Products, 2013). It possesses a highly talented research and development team that incorporates premium components in all the mattresses. These components comprise of wrapped coils, gel foam, natural l atex and traditional spring systems that is wire-tied. Solstice Sleep Products is the  manufacturer that is US based and they are committed to offering sleep products with warranties and highest standards. The company was incorporated in the year 2009 and it manufactures as well as designs all its products in the  United States. This firm has its operations spread across Michigan, Ohio, Florid,  and Indiana. Factory setting of the company is same in all the countries where the focus is towards just in time delivery and developing high-value products. The three major mattress collection of the firm is Americana collection, Cottage Collection and Paradise collection (Online News Association, 2014). Each of these collections has specific requirements which are met by the employees working in the factories.

Dramatic tension for the audience Essay Example for Free

Dramatic tension for the audience Essay In the play, A View From The Bridge, Arthur Miller gave the audience an impression that the Italian immigrants werent welcome to the USA. The scene is set in New York and it relates to six main characters, who are all individuals and play unique roles. Arthur Miller was born on October 17th in 1915 in New York City. He was a prominent figure in American literature and his career as a writer spanned over seven decades. He is considered by audiences as one of Americas greatest play writers, and his plays are widely recognised throughout the world. The play is set in Red Hook. The main focus and stage is the Carbones living and dining room. Alfieri thinks that the public do not appreciate lawyers or priests because he says You see how uneasily they nod to me? Thats because I am a lawyer. In this neighbourhood to meet a lawyer or a priest on the street is unlucky. Were only thought of in connection with disasters, and theyd rather not get too close. A slight of distrust lies in the neighbourhood because he can sense that the law wasnt an amicable idea since the Greeks were beaten. People have told him that the neighbourhood lack an element of elegance and glamour. The neighbourhood consisted of longshoremen and their wives and fathers and grandfathers and poor people. Red Hook was considered quite a dangerous place but now its quite civilized, quite American. Alfieri can foretell the rest of story as he tells the audience that they should watch the situation run its bloody course, and followed that by introducing Eddie Carbone by saying this ones name was Eddie Carbone. The way Arthur Miller uses Alfieri to say this ones, shows that Alfieri has seen this many times before and is giving us a hint that the play is not going to end well. Eddie is introduced on stage by pitching coins with the men, in which he highlighted from them, He is forty-a husky, slightly overweight longshoreman. When Eddie enters his apartment and meets Catherine, there is quite a friendly atmosphere but this changes quickly when Eddie criticizes the way Catherine walks and her appearance. The conversation ends when Eddie says that Beatrices cousins are coming. Here we can get the feeling that Eddie has undiscovered sexual feelings and is very possessive over Catherine. While the family were waiting for Beatrices cousins, Eddie is telling the story of Vinny Bolzano. The story has a significant importance because this play also has a similar story as Bolzano. Miller uses Eddie as the person who informs the immigration about Beatrices cousins (just like the young boy did to his uncle in Bolzanos story). Marco appears to be suspicious initially. He is quite stiff towards Eddie and gives him control of when he requires them to leave. There is an instant reaction where Rodolfo is introduced, we can see Catherine is attracted by his appearance, she asked him many questions like How come hes so dark and youre so light, Rodolfo (you can see how she just addressed the question directly to Rodolfo). Catherine also is astonished, as she said to Beatrice Hes practically blond! . Eddie however assumes that he is homosexual because he has blond hair and sings the song Paper Doll. Eddie doesnt understand the law because he doesnt see the need of obtaining evidence to prove Rodolfo guilty. He just assumes that Rodolfo wants to marry Catherine for the right to stay and become an American citizen. It is difficult for Eddie to express his emotions because he has intimate feelings towards Catherine. Alfieris advice to Eddie was to inform the immigration as to how Beatrices cousins entered the country illegally. Initially Eddie is shocked at the advice and says Oh, Jesus, no, I wouldnt do nothin about that. Alfieri also advised Eddie to learn to let Catherine go. He says The child has to grow up and go away, and the man has to learn to forget. Eddie does not want to let Catherine go. This could result in two endings, either Eddie snitches on Rodolfo and Marco or lets his niece live her life the way she wants to. Catherine starts off a conversation about the places where Marco and Rodolfo have been to. Eddie doesnt seem too convinced when Catherine says theyve been to Africa, and says its true Eddie. Miller uses his stage directions to show that Eddie is only asking Marco about the places they have visited. Then the conversation diverts to Catherine asking Eddie about oranges and lemons growing on trees. Eddie replies directly to Marco. He becomes very aggressive and rude when Rodolfo intervenes. Eddie gets very hostile and snaps back at Rodolfo by saying I know lemons are green, for Christs sake, you see them in the store theyre green sometimes. I said oranges they paint, I didnt say nothin about lemons. . Another incident rises when Eddie has a conversation about how he can teach boxing to Rodolfo. Eddie picks on Rodolfo and tries to intimidate and patronise him. They both throw in some light punches but Eddie gets carried away and grazes Rodolfo. Catherine is astonished and Eddie replies Why? I didnt hurt him. Did I hurt you kid? . Marco had realised that Eddie was bothered by Rodolfo. Marco showed his strength towards Eddie by raising the chair over his head. He does this to make Eddie aware that if anything happens to Rodolfo, Eddie will have to pay the consequences. Arthur Miller shows that Marco has had enough and understands whats going on, the stage directions describes Marco with a strained tension gripping his eyes and jaw, his neck stiff, he also used a simile the chair raised like a weapon over Eddies head. Eddie then realises what Marco meant, his grin vanishes as he absorbs his looks. . This shows us that Marcos hamartia is Rodolfo.

Rise Of The Creative Class Cultural Studies Essay

Rise Of The Creative Class Cultural Studies Essay According to Richard Florida, cities must make purposive efforts to establish the right people climate for the favoured class of creatives or they will wither and die (Florida, 2002; p. 13). Critically reflect upon Floridas thesis as to the role the creative classes play in stimulating economic success in places. In 2002, Richard Florida published, The Rise of the Creative Class, the book analyses the forces reshaping our economy and how companies, communities and people can survive and prosper in a post-Fordist U.S. It provides a provocative new way of thinking about why and how places economically develop but whether there is merit in his thesis is questionable. In essence, Floridas book seeks to describe a new economy, in which Creativity has become a driving force of economic growth. The ability to compete and prosper in the global economy goes beyond trade in goods and services and flows of capital and investment, instead, it increasingly turns on the ability of [cities] to attract, retain and develop creative people (Florida 2002a, p.3). These creative people are what Florida names the creative class and it is this new socioeconomic class who he claims add economic value through their creativity and are the ultimate economic resource (Florida 2002a, p.2). It is important to understand that Floridas definition of the Creative Class is extremely broad. Florida (2002a) argues that this is because all professions entail some creativity in their execution. However, it can be broken down into three main components and each component illustrates a role that the creative class plays in stimulating economic success. The first component is the super-creative core. These are people who invent, take out patents and thus are at the centre of economic and technological development. It includes a wide range of occupations, with arts, design, and media workers as a small subset. Florida considers those belonging to this group to fully engage in the creative process (2002a, p. 69). The Super-Creative Core is believed to be innovative, creating commercial products and consumer goods and the ability to come up with new ideas and better ways of doing things is ultimately what raises productivity (Florida 2002a, p.2). The second component is the creative professionals. This group do not have as clear of a connection with technological development. They educate, manage, care take as well as develop models and thoughts and thereby facilitate the economic development. The bohemians is the last component. These are the artistically creative and their role is attracting the other two groups. The presence of such human capital in turn creates a specific people climate and attracts the first two components and therefore generates innovative, technology-based industries which bring economic prosperity (Florida 2002b). However, as will be explained later, the presence of bohemians in cities attracting the rest of the creative class and therefore promoting economic growth is a contested issue. The fact that the creative class aggregate efforts have become the primary drivers of economic development is made more understandable by the new economy that has been created. In this post-Fordist society, Hartley (2005) argues that high tech creative industries are at the core to economic development and therefore the creative class, who play a key role in these creative industries and are crucial to economic development. With this new society, Florida (2002a) argues that with more creative class presence there will be more high-tech jobs, more growth in employment and firm formation, therefore greater economic success. Florida (2002) debates that this stimulation of economic success by the creative class means that there is an inevitable need for cities to attract the creative class or they will wither and die. However, do jobs follow people or people follow jobs? The old Fordism models assumed that people move to where the jobs are, suggesting a development strategy of cutting corporate taxes, developing industrial parks and clusters. On the other hand in a Post-Fordism society, Florida (2002c) argues that jobs move to, or are made, where the skilled workers are, inferring an economic development strategy concentrated on attracting people as consumers of place and suggesting that the traditional beliefs of economic development are out of date. Florida is not the only one who comes to these conclusions, Vias (1999) and Holmberg et al. (2001) argue that jobs follow people too. However, question marks must be raised over the robustness of the research findings and the range of different population an d/or employment groups; as Hoogstra et al. (2004) suggests the nature of causality differs greatly across space as well as time due to subjectivity. Florida (2002) argues that diversity is the key to this attracting of the creative class and therefore economic success. Furthermore, places need to culturally provide and encourage the 3Ts; talent, technology and tolerance. These attributes present a people climate that Florida justifies when he writes, Creative-minded people enjoy a mix of influences. They want to hear different kinds of music and try different kinds of food. A vibrant, varied nightlife was viewed by many as another signal that a city gets it' (2002a, p.67). Florida measures this diversity by using three main indices: The Bohemian index, the gay index and the coolness index. From these indices and various others Florida devised his own ranking system with an overall creativity index for each city. It is through this method that Florida links his desired people climate to the creative class and thus economic success. This idea that urban economic success comes from having an attractive people climate for high skill people is in general an accepted view (Glaeser et al. 2001) and has certainly had an effect on urban policy, as Malanga (2004, p.36) observes, The notion that cities must become trendy, happening places in order to compete in the twenty first century is sweeping urban America [and beyond]. However, is it Floridas people climate that is needed to attract the creative class and therefore economically succeed? The idea that Floridas people climate, created by the bohemians, attract the rest of the creative class to the city and therefore fuel economic growth, as mentioned earlier, is a contested issue. Glaeser (2004) argues that the creative class want big suburban lots with easy commutes by car, safe streets, good schools and low taxes. After all, he argues, there is plenty of evidence linking low taxes, sprawl and safety with growth. He gives the example of Plano in Texas, which was the most successful skilled city in the country in the 1990s and its not exactly a Bohemian hotspot. Where Florida is also vulnerable to criticism is in his methodology and manipulation of data in the correlation between his people climate and the creative class and therefore economic growth. In his first appendix to The Rise of the Creative Class, he writes, in retrospect, I probably could have written this book using no statistics at all. Moss (2009) argues that in chapters 13 and 14 and the accompanying appendices, Florida should have done just that. Part of Floridas people climate is the 3Ts concept, and he creates measurement indicators for each. Moss (2009) argues that, predominantly, both the logic and data linking these axes together are unclear. He argues that Florida relies primarily on lists of rankings of urban areas that look similar. Though Florida documents statistically significant correlations in some cases, both Clark (2004) and Glaeser (2004) find that they have less explanatory power than other combinations. Additionally Florida does not give much information about the regressions (Markusen 2006). Moss (2009) argues that this is illustrated by the fact that it is not known that Florida uses same-sex male households reporting as partners (and thus presumably gay) in the Census as a proxy for diversity. Not only does this show lack of information about the regressions and therefore less validity to Floridas thesis, but it also shows the vague nature of Floridas work. Another flaw is that the connection between the 3Ts element to Floridas people climate and actual economic growth is weak. If Florida ran a regression on each of the 3Ts and job creation or per-capita income, the results arent given. In fact, the notes to chapter 13 record a correlation between employment growth and the Creative Class concentration that, while statistically significant, was only 0.03! (Moss 2009) Steven Malanga finds more weaknesses in Floridas correlation between Floridas people climate and economic growth. Since 1993, cities that score the best on Floridas analysis have actually shown to not have grown as fast as the overall U.S. jobs economy, increasing their employment numbers by only 17 per cent (Malanga 2004). Floridas indexes, in fact, are such weak predictors of economic performance that his top ranked cities havent even outperformed his bottom ranked ones (Malanga 2004). Led by large percentage gains in Las Vegas (the fastest-growing economy in the U.S), Floridas ten least creative cities are actually huge job generators, adding more than 19 per cent to their job totals since 1993 (faster growth than the national economy) (Malanga 2004). Malangas main argument, that Florida makes no significant effort to show how the 3Ts are related to actual economic growth, is powerful. Floridas Creativity Index is also shown to have faults and therefore illegitimizing the correlation between Floridas people climate and the creative class and therefore economic growth. The Creativity Index is centred on four equally weighted factors: the concentration of Creative Class workers in the area, a High Tech index measuring a regions share of national tech industry output, the concentration of tech industries within the region, as well as the number of patents recorded per capita and the concentration of same-sex domestic partners within the region (Moss 2009). No justification or evidence is shown that supports the notion that these factors should be equally weighted (Moss 2009). Alternatively, each of 268 metropolitan areas is ranked on each of the four factors, and the Creativity Index is calculated solely by subtracting the regions rank order in each category from 1076, which, strangely, is four times 269 (Florida 2002a). Florida does not bother to look at the distribu tion of the actual values within the ranks, which is only useful if the distribution is linear, or doesnt vary between the four factors. For example, if theres a substantial band of cities in the Creative Class index that are almost equal from rank 140 to rank 157, but the city ranked 157 in the patent index is a large drop from the city ranked 156; this system wouldnt pick such common subtleties up. This highlights the lack of rigorous scientific inquiry in which Florida operates. Much of Floridas work focuses on the U.S solely and it is questionable to whether Floridas ideas are transferrable to the rest of the world. In Europe, several researchers have tried to produce similar data and have obtained spatial correlations similar to Floridas (Boschma and Fritsch 2007). This thesis is therefore not specific to North America: it can also be applied to Europe, and Florida and his colleagues have, in fact, conducted a report backing this claim (Florida and Tinagli 2004). Although Floridas work has been said to be legitimate in Europe, more concentrated in-depth studies prove that this is not the case in the UK. Nathan (2005) examines Floridas ideas, concentrating on the evidence in British cities. He finds insufficient evidence of a creative class, and little indication that creative cities do better. He argues that companies search for the required workers when making location decisions, but skilled people also move to where the jobs are. Buzz attracts young peop le to city centres for a short time, after which most move out to suburbs; this is mainly down to the hegemony of London. Nathan (2005) concludes that the creative class model is a poor judge of UK city economic performance and decision makers should focus on the basics: creativity is the icing, not the cake (Nathan 2005, p.1). Not many studies at all have been done implying Floridas thesis on other developed countries outside Europe and therefore it is hard to say whether his thesis applies to the whole of the developed world. Not many studies have been carried out on the developing world either. Purely on the basis that most non developed countries are not entirely associated with the post-Fordist economy, one assumes that the creative class is smaller and not attracted to the cities therefore not having as significant a role in economic development. Thus, it must be said that it is hard to justify Floridas thesis as having relevance to the rest of the globe. In conclusion, Floridas claim that attracting the creative class to cities in a post-Fordist society does have substance. However, his claim that jobs follow people is tarnished by the subjective nature of this concept, with a need to collect more data. In analysing Floridas link between his people climate and economic growth one begins to cast doubt over his thesis. This is down to his poor methodology and seeming manipulation of data and the fact that Floridas correlations have less explanatory power than others. Additionally, not much information is given on the regressions decreasing their validity, Floridas link between the 3Ts and economic growth is weak and the creativity index also has flaws. Floridas thesis is said to be transferrable to Europe but is not applicable to the UK. His theory has not been applied to the rest of the developed world or the developing world in depth and therefore one cannot say if his theory is valid.

Teen Health Clinics Cant Afford More Budget Cuts :: Medical Medicine Essays

Teen Health Clinics Can't Afford More Budget Cuts missing works cited â€Å"It was 1971 and I was 16,† said Deborah, of Methuen, who’d rather not use her last name as she talks about the time when she was a pregnant teen. â€Å"I, of course, freaked out and didn’t want to tell my parents, especially my father. I had to, though. There was no way around it. There was no where else to go.† In the 1970s, Massachusetts didn’t have half the teen pregnancy clinics they have now. Teens didn’t have a place to turn to if home wasn’t an option. Teen pregnancy was the last thing that communities were concerned with. According to Deborah, â€Å"pregnant† was a word you just didn’t say back then unless you were married. There were all kinds of negative connotations attached to it if you were unwed. People assumed you were promiscuous, immoral, a drop-out, etc. â€Å"No one saw it as an accident that could happen to anyone,† said Deborah. Deborah was living in Lawrence and attending hairdressing school when she first got pregnant. She was still living at home with her parents and younger sister, but far from financially stable, as any teen mother would be. â€Å"I went on welfare after my baby was born and lived at home for about a year,† said Deborah, â€Å"while I worked on getting my G.E.D.† As far as accepting her pregnancy goes, her own aunt and uncle disowned her. â€Å"I felt a lot of guilt from people. I got a lot of stares, comments. It was very uncomfortable,† said Deborah. â€Å"You’d think that at 48 years old I’d be comfortable with it, but feeling that way stays with you.† Teen pregnancy in Massachusetts has changed quite a bit since the 1970s, not only in numbers, but in the way society responds to it. According to The National Campaign for Teen Pregnancy, the rate is the lowest it’s been in three decades, 25.8 per 1,000 females, down nearly 20 percent from 1970. Some say that the ever decreasing rate is relative to how teens are now more aware than ever of what being a teenage mother really entails. â€Å"Massachusetts now has one of the lowest teen pregnancy rates in the country,† said Erin Rowland, communications manager at Planned Parenthood in Boston, adding â€Å"Comprehensive sex education is a big part of that.† Planned Parenthood is one of many organizations now in Massachusetts working towards educating teens about sex and all its repercussions.

Optical Illusion on Oedipus Rex and Othello

The theme of appearance and reality is such a dominant one in Oedipus Rex and Othello, and the obsession with appearance plays such an important part in bringing them closer to Oedipus’ and Othello’s tragedy, that the plays can be termed a tragedies of appearance in human life, in which the opposite of appearance is truth or reality. But this theme of uncertain vision is presented through different thematic expression in bith tragedies. Sophocles takes an internal element of character into consideration whereas Shakespeare hold a mixture of internal and external elements responseble fior the optical illusions of Othello and other characters in the play. At first it is on behalf of appearance that we see a battle waged in Oedipus red. As this battle progresses we see appearance losing more and more ground. The first stage in it is the institution of the divinely-instructed enquiry into the death of Laius, which means that the appearance of it that it was the work of outland robbers-is not trusted. Quite early in the enquiry, Oedipus is led astray by an appearance-that the robbers who were alleged to have attacked Laius must have been associated with Thebes, and the suspicion that Creon must have at their back. `the question points to Creon. Creon gives the appearance of evading it. The suspicion, he says, that unavoidably arose could not be pursued after the deed. Why not? The sphinx came†¦ for some time after this, to be sure, the suspicion seems to lie dormant. But the focus of attention is no longer on the scene of the crime, or the way it happened, but rather on those who were ultimately responsible, and Thebes. Then suddenly, after the quarrel with the hostile and apparently malevolent prophet, the suspicion is confirmed, the connection between Creon and Teiresias is established, and the existence of a whole web of enmity stands corroborated as fact. ’ Oedipus suspects that the robbers were bribed to play their part, and ultimately he thinks that both Creon and Teiresias were behind them. Thus the supposed existence of a plot to murder Laius is another appearance which leads Oedipus astray. So Oedipus is to become concerned with appearances which it becomes his life’s mission to investigate, so that he may get at the underlying truth or reality. Appearance and truth come into picture also in the discussion of faulty vision of Oedipus. Another manifestation of Oedipus’ obsession with appearance is his intellectual myopia. He has a limited vision and is unable to assess the situations in a right perspective. Robert L. Kane (1975) puts this preposition in this way; â€Å"He[Oedipus] was the victim of an optical illusion†. (p. 196) The juxtaposition between â€Å"outward magnificence and inward blindness of Oedipus and the outward blindness and inward sight of the prophet† (Kirkwood, p. 30) depicts two types of blindness i. e. physical and intellectual. One is related to physical sight whereas the other, the most pernicious type of blindness, pertains to insight. Teiresias is physically blind but whereas Oedipus is blind intellectually. This intellectual blindness of Oedipus also contributes greatly to his believe in appearance rather than truth and ultimately leads him to his tragic destination. Oedipus pos sesses faultless physical vision throughout play except in the end but he remains blind to the reality regarding himself. At one point in the play, he has the ability to see but he is not willing to do so. Additionally it is his faulty intellectual insight make him believe in the apearence of some unknown enemy and he pronounces on him the sentence of outlawry and also uttes a curse on him. The reality of it that it is on himself that he is passing both the sentences, is umknown to him. However, we may notice that the gradual and increasing loss of Oedipus’ detachment and the growing references to himself raise the suspicion that unconciously Oedipus know what reality lies hidden behind the appearance. Unlike Oedipus Rex, in Othello it is the machination of Iago that blurs the visiioon of Othello and deprives â€Å"noble Moor† to distinguish between reality and apprearence. Othello, together with several other characters largely depend on their visual faculties that is distorted and warped by the skillfull trickery of Iago. These character along with Othello base their conclusion about realities what apears to them and do not delve deep into the reality of the things. But unlike Oedipus their optical allusion is not result of something inherent in their charcter. Othello is intelligent enough that he knows that looks can be decieving but Iago trciker blinds him. For example, Othello notices that Cassio walks off swiftly after having a conversation with Desdemona. Although Othello does not see incongruity in their meeting but Iago presents this meeting differently and sneakily. Iago murmurs to Othello, â€Å"†¦I cannot think it, that he would steal away so guilty like. † (lll,iii,42) Here the machination makes the vision of Othello illusory and he concludes erreaneously as he says, â€Å"†¦I do believe ‘twas he. (lll,iii,44) But as a matter of fact, Cassio and Desdemona converse about getting Cassio’s job back as Desdemona says to Cassio: I know’t. I thank you. You do love my lord; /You have known him long; and be you well assured He shall in strangeness stand no farther off Than in politic distance. (lll,iii,11) But Othello believes what he observed and percieved through the lenses of suspicion that iago sowed in his mind. This lead to a dilemma that becomes unfixanle later and ultimately leads to the tragedy of Othello. This is interesting to note that all characters in the play, except for Roderigo (to whom Iago sometimes shows his real face) have a high opinion of Iago and refer to him as â€Å"honest Iago†. The Mutual relationship between Iago and Othello is of trust and reliance on the part of Othello but it is conniving and devious on the part of Iago. Iago has same relationship with Cassio. Cassio is also deceived by the seeming virtue of Iago and actually believes that ensign is a kind-hearted man. But at the same time is a rival to Iago in the royal court. Unlike pride in Oedipus over his abilities, it is element of trust that deprives Othello of his vision and makes him believe in appeareance as ultimate reality. Although when Iago starts working on Othello, he suspects him and asks for evidence, yet from the beginning of the play, he seems to have put entire confidence in the honesty of Iago, who had not been his companions in arms. This confidence is misplaced but it is no sign of stupidity in Othello. He does not have a distinctive fear of him. We find this even before Iago has set a trap for him. Othello fears the monster â€Å"too hideous to be shown† that he discerns about Iago’s thoughts. This manifests a strange relationship based on paradoxical feelings. It is of confidence, trust and fear. But latter events show that Othello’s trust in Iago overpowers the instinctive fear. This happens due to Othello’s non-meditative nature. He does not contemplate over issues and does not weigh their motive and consequences. A. C. Bradley rightly says in this regard; The sources of danger in this character are revealed but too clearly by the story. In the first place, Othello's mind, for all its poetry, is very simple. He is not observant. His nature tends outward. He is quite free from introspection, and is not given to reflection. Emotion excites his imagination, but it confuses and dulls his intellect. (p. 217) Above-mentioned arguments and supporting textual and extra-textual evidence clearly suggest that in Oedipus Rex, it is something habitual and internal in the chracter of Oedipus himself who is unable to distinguish between what seems to be and what actually is whereas it is an external element (Iago) as well as an internal element (his thorough trust on Iago) in Othello that leads to the optical illusion.

Drug Abuse Prevention Essay

The term drug abuse most often refers to the use of a drug with such frequency that it causes physical or mental harm to the user or impairs social functioning. Although the term seems to imply that users abuse the drugs they take, in fact, it is themselves or others they abuse by using drugs. Traditionally, the term drug abuse referred to the use of any drug prohibited by law, regardless of whether it was actually harmful or not. This meant that any use of marijuana, for example, even if it occurred only once in a while, would constitute abuse, while the same level of alcohol consumption would not. In 1973 the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse declared that this definition was illogical. The term abuse, the commission stated, â€Å"has no functional utility and has become no more than an arbitrary code word for that drug presently considered wrong.† As a result, this definition fell into disuse. The term drug is commonly associated with substances that may be purchased legally by prescription for medical use, such as penicillin, which is almost never abused, and Valium, which is frequently abused, or illegal substances, such as angel dust, which are taken for the purpose of getting high, or intoxicated, but actually have no medical use. Other substances that may be purchased legally and are commonly abused include alcohol (see alcoholism) and nicotine, contained in tobacco cigarettes. In addition, in recent years, chemists working in illegal, clandestine laboratories have developed new chemicals that have been used for the purpose of getting high. (These are called â€Å"designer drugs†.) All of these substances are psychoactive. Such substancesÑlegal and illegalÑinfluence or alter the workings of the mind; they affect moods, emotions, feelings, and thinking processes. Drug Dependence Drug abuse must be distinguished from drug dependence. Drug dependence, formerly called drug addiction, is defined by three basic characteristics. First, users continue to take a drug over an extended period of time. Just how long this period is depends on the drug and the user. Second, users find it difficult to stop using the drug. They seem powerless to quit. Users take extraordinary and often harmful measures to continue using the drug. How dependency-producing a drug is can be measured by how much users go through to continue taking it. Third, if users stop taking their drugÑif their supply of the drug is cut off, or if they are forced to quit for any reasonÑthey will undergo painful physical or mental distress. The experience of withdrawal symptoms distress, called the withdrawal syndrome, is a sure sign that a drug is dependency-producing and that a given user is dependent on a particular drug. Drug dependence may lead to drug abuseÑespecially of illegal drugs. Psychoactive, or mind-altering, substances are found the world over. The coca plant grows in the Andes of South America and contains 1 to 2 percent cocaine. The marijuana plant, Cannabis sativa, contains a group of chemicals called tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. This plant grows wild in most countries, including the United States. The opium poppy is the source for opium, morphine, heroin, and codeine. It grows in the Middle East and the Far East. Hallucinogens (such as LSD), the amphetamines (speed), and sedatives, such as methaqualone (Quaalude, or ludes) and barbiturates, are manufactured in clandestine laboratories worldwide. As a result, psychoactive drugs are used for the purpose of intoxication practically everywhere (see drug trafficking). Classification of Psychoactive Drugs Pharmacologists, who study the effects of drugs, classify psychoactive drugs according to what they do to those who take them. Drugs that speed up signals passing through the nervous system, which is made up of the brain and spinal cord, and produce alertness and arousal and, in higher doses, excitability, and inhibit fatigue and sleep, are called stimulants. They include the amphetamines, cocaine, caffeine, and nicotine. Drugs that retard, slow down, or depress signals passing through the central nervous system and produce relaxation, a lowering of anxiety, and, at higher doses, drowsiness and sleep, are called depressants. They include sedatives, such as barbiturates, methaqualone, and alcohol, and tranquilizers, such as  Valium. Constituting one distinct kind of depressants are those which dull the mind’s perception of pain and in medicine are used as painkillers, or analgesics. These drugs are called narcotics. They include heroin, morphine, opium, and codeine. In addition to their painkilling properties, these depressants also produce a strong high and are intensely dependency-producing. Some drugs cannot be placed neatly in this stimulant-depressant spectrum. Hallucinogens include LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin. Such drugs produce unusual mental states, such as psychedelic visions. Marijuana is generally regarded as not belonging to any of these categories but as a drug type unto itself. History of Drug Abuse in the United States During the 19th century there were virtually no controls on the importation, sale, purchase, possession, or use of psychoactive drugs at the federal level and very few at the state level. Dangerous substances such as opium, cocaine, and morphine were basic ingredients in patent medicines that could be purchased by anyone for any reason, without a prescription. These nostrums were used to cure headaches, toothaches, depression, nervousness, alcoholism, menstrual crampsÑin fact, practically every human ailment. As a result of the ready availability of addicting drugs, and as a result of their heavy use for medical problems, many individuals became addicted to the narcotics contained in these patent medicines. In fact, in 1900, there were more narcotics addicts, proportionate to the population, than there are today. At that time, most of the users who became addicts were medical addicts. Very few abusers took drugs for â€Å"recreational† purposes. In 1914, in an effort to curb the indiscriminate use of narcotics, the federal government passed the Harrison Act, making it illegal to obtain a narcotic drug without a prescription. During the 1920s the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that maintaining addicts on narcotic drugs, even by prescription, was in violation of the Harrison Act. Approximately 30,000 physicians were arrested during this period for dispensing narcotics, and some 3,000 actually served prison sentences. Consequently, doctors all but abandoned the treatment of addicts for nearly half a century in the United States. The use of narcotic drugs dropped sharply in the United States between the 1920s, when there were as many as half a million addicts, and 1945, when the addict population was roughly 40,000 to 50,000. The recreational use of other drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine, stimulants, hallucinogens, and sedatives, which are used so frequently today, also remained at extremely low levels during this period. The 1960s, however, was a watershed decade. The widening use of illegal drugs accompanied increased tolerance for a wide range of unconventional behavior. The period saw the growth of movements that stood in opposition to the Vietnam War and to mainstream American culture, the coming into popularity of rock music, and enormous publicity devoted to drugs, their users and proselytizers. During this time some social groups viewed drug use in positive terms and believed it a virtue to â€Å"turn on† someone who did not use drugs. Although media attention to drugs and drug use declined between the late 1960s and late 1970s, the use of drugs did not. The late 1970s and 1980s represent another turning point in the recreational use of marijuana, hallucinogens, sedatives, and amphetamines. Studies show a large drop in the use of most drug types through the 1980s, but a significant increase since 1990. The 1980s witnessed the development of a new form of an old drug (crack), the widespread use of a drug that was not previously taken on a recreational basis (â€Å"Ecstasy,† or MDMA), and the resurgence of a drug that was widely abused in the 1960s but then fell into disuse for a time (methamphetamine, or â€Å"ice†). Crack is a smokable derivative of cocaine that began to be used on a widespread basis starting in 1985; heavily abused in the inner cities in the late 1980s, it has since fallen off in use. Chemically related to amphetamines, MDMA was developed early in the 20th century as an appetite suppressant; it is not easily classified, although most observers regard it as a hallucinogen. In the 1980s it had a brief vogue among college students, intellectuals, and psychiatric patients seeking spiritual and therapeutic insight; its use has declined into the 1990s. Methamphetamine had a brief run among â€Å"speed freaks† in the late 1960s, who took huge intravenous doses on a compulsive, addicting basis. In 1989 â€Å"ice† emerged on the West Coast as  a drug of choice. Its use has been far greater in some areas than others, and no national epidemic of methamphetamine abuse has developed. Patterns of Drug Use The illegal use of psychoactive drugs is extensive in the United States. Some 78 million Americans age 12 and over have tried at least one or more prohibited drugs for the purpose of getting high. The illegal drug trade represents an enormous economic enterprise, with annual gross sales estimated to be $40 to $100 billionÑmore than the total net sales of the largest U.S. corporation. About 60 percent of the illegal drugs sold worldwide end up in the United States. By far the most commonly used illegal drug is marijuana. Roughly half of the total of all illegal drug use involves marijuana alone. There was a substantial decline in all measures or levels of marijuana use throughout the 1980s. In 1979, 31% of 12-to-17-year-olds and 68% of 18-to-25-year-olds had at least tried marijuana; by 1990 the comparable figures had shrunk to 15% and 52%. Since 1990 the use of marijuana has risen significantly, especially among schoolchildren. In 1990, 27% of high school seniors had used marijuana during the past year, while in 1996 this was 36 percent; the rise among eighth- and tenth-graders was even sharper. Cocaine is the second most commonly used illegal drug in the United States. In 1995 there were roughly 1.5 million monthly or more cocaine users in the United States, a decline from 5.7 million in 1985. Heroin is less widely used, but it has been used at least once by roughly one American in 100. Most people who have taken illegal drugs have done so on an experimental basis. They typically try the drug once to a dozen times and then cease using it. Of all illegal drugs, marijuana is the one users are most likely to continue using. Discontinuation rates are very high for drugs such as methaqualone, sedatives, barbiturates, heroin, and LSD. Even most regular users of illegal drugs are moderate in their use. The typical regular marijuana smoker is an occasional user. Still, a sizable minority does use the drug frequently, to the point of abuse. In 1996 about 5% of all high  school seniors used marijuana daily or nearly daily (20 or more times in 30 days). A pattern of episodic, regular use characterizes nearly all drug use for the purpose of recreation. This does not deny the problem of the heavy, chronic abuser of these drugs. Drug Law Enforcement In 1970 the Congress of the United States passed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act (Drug Control Act). Most of the states followed suit, basing their state legislation on the federal model. The Drug Control Act distinguishes among several categories of drugs based on their supposed abuse potential and medical utility. Drugs that supposedly have a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use, including heroin, LSD and the other hallucinogens, and marijuana, may be used legally only in federally approved scientific research. In roughly half of the states, marijuana has been approved for medical use, but it remains illegal by federal law. In practice, the criminal justice system distinguishes between â€Å"hard† and â€Å"soft† drugs; it is unlikely that a first-time offender arrested for small-quantity marijuana possession will ever serve a prison sentence. Drugs such as morphine, cocaine, the amphetamines, and short-acting barbiturates are also regarded as having great abuse potential, even though they have accepted uses in medicine. Rigid prescription procedures maintain extremely tight controls over use. Drugs such as long-acting barbiturates and nonnarcotic painkillers are considered to have a lesser abuse potential, although they may lead to low physical dependence or high psychological dependence. These drugs have more relaxed controls, as do tranquilizers, and are classified as having low abuse potential. There has been a notable drop in the number of prescriptions written for psychoactive drugs that were most often abused in the 1960s and early 1970s. By the mid-1990s the number of prescriptions written for barbiturates and the amphetamines was one-tenth of what it was in 1970. Many other countries have also placed severe restrictions on the prescribing of drugs by doctors and have thus greatly reduced the frequency of their abuse. Restricting psychoactive pharmaceuticals brought about a reduction in the number of legal prescriptions written for them. A decline in the illegal street use of these same drugs lagged a few years behind the decline in legal prescriptions. In 1975, 11% of high school seniors said that they had taken barbiturates for nonmedical purposes during the previous year; in 1996, that figure was 5%. For methaqualone, completely outlawed in 1985, the comparable figures were 5% and 1%. The illegal use of amphetamine in the mid-1990s is half of what it was in the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, many forms of nonmedical drug use among the young have risen since the early 1990s. The demand for drugs for illegal purposes remains high despite law-enforcement efforts. In 1996 there were about 1.5 million arrests on drug violations in the United States; drug arrests have nearly doubled over the past decade. Each year there are roughly 300,000 arrests on marijuana charges, and nearly 80% are for simple possession. The risk of arrest does not deter substantial numbers of Americans from selling and using illegal drugs. Treatment From the 1920s until the 1960s treatment for drug abuse in the United States was practically nonexistent. Following the enforcement of the Harrison Act during the 1920s, few physicians were willing to treat addicts. During the 1930s two Public Health Service prison hospitals were opened, but their patients had a relapse rate of roughly 80%; during the 1970s the federal government closed them down. Since the 1920s the primary treatment program for most addicts has been no treatment at all; until recently, arrest has simply resulted in incarceration and therefore forcible detoxification. The dramatic explosion in the use and abuse of a number of illegal drugs during the 1960s demonstrated the weakness of this approach. As a result, a range of treatment programs, developed largely in the 1960s, have been widely used. Methadone is an addictive synthetic narcotic used to combat narcotic addiction. A hospital or a clinic administers the drug, usually dissolved in  artificial orange juice drink. Taken this way, the addict does not get high. Methadone blocks the action of narcotics so that addicts cannot become high, even if they were to inject heroin. According to the program’s rationale, addicts will then stop taking heroin. Although patients remain addicted to methadone, they can live a normal life, since the drug supply is steady and secure. Plus, they are no longer exposed to health risks like AIDS and hepatitis from shared needles used for injecting drugs. Because the program is inexpensive to administer, methadone has become a very popular form of treatment; roughly 100,000 narcotic addicts in the United States are treated in this program. The drug naltrexone has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treating alcoholism and heroin addiction, in concert with an appropriate counseling program. Naltrexone reduces cravings for alcohol and heroin, thereby decreasing relapse rates. Therapeutic communities (TCs), such as Daytop Village in New York and Walden House in San Francisco, advocate a completely drug- and alcohol-free existence. Addicts live in the therapeutic communities, and many of the administrators are ex-addicts, who can best understand the addict residents. The view of all TCs is that the addict uses drugs as a crutch. TCs attempt to resocialize the addict by inculcating a value system that is the opposite of what prevailed on the street. Discipline in therapeutic communities is strict, penalties for breaking rules are severe, peer pressure is unrelenting, and the program benevolently dictatorial. Because of the strictness, many residents leave against the advice, and without the permission, of the staff. TCs seem to be effective for a limited segment of the addict populationÑthose who are young, middle-class, and highly motivated to quit drugs. The programs are expensive to administer; there are far fewer patients in them than in methadone-maintenance programs. The Legalization Debate In the 1990s there has been a strong call among some experts, politicians, judges, and government officials for the removal of all criminal penalties  for the sale, possession, and use of illegal drugs. This development has taken place at a time when public opposition to such a policy has actually grown. The legalization or decriminalization program rests on three assumptions: drug abuse will not rise significantly under legalization; these illegal drugs are less harmful than the legal drugs alcohol and tobacco and are less harmful than generally believed; and the current policy of arresting and imprisoning for drug possession and sale does more harm than good. No one can know for sure whether drug use and abuse will rise, fall, or remain stable under legalization. In nine U.S. states and in the Netherlands, where small-quantity marijuana possession has been partially decriminalized, there has been no sharp rise in the use of this drug. Evidence suggests, however, that criminalization of some drugs has produced lower use and abuse, and that legalization, if accompanied by lower cost and ready availability, might result in a significant rise in use and abuse. For example, legal controls on certain prescription drugs has been followed by a decline in their illegal street use. In addition, the continuance rates of the legal drugs alcohol and tobacco are strikingly higher than for illegal drugs. For the most part, the use of the illegal drugs tends to be more sporadic and occasional, and more likely to be given up, than the use of legal drugs. In the United States, outlawing the sale of alcohol to persons under the age of 21 has produced a significant decline in its use, as well as in the number of alcohol-related fatalities in this age group. Many current users, abusers, and addicts state that they would take drugs more frequently if drugs were legalized and readily available. And contrary to the stereotype, evidence suggests that, during prohibition (1920-33), alcohol consumption dropped significantly. There is much information to indicate that the abuse of drugs might very well rise under a policy of legalization or decriminalization. The prolegalization groups are almost certainly right that crime and certain medical maladies among drug abusers would decline if drugs were legalized. Perhaps a â€Å"third path† somewhere between the current punitive policy and  full legalization would be most effective. Needle exchange programs have cut down on drug-related AIDS transmission in Liverpool, England. The Dutch policy of de facto decriminalization for marijuana and hashish has not resulted in a rise in use or abuse. Perhaps the guiding policy on drug use ought to be on harm reduction rather than waging a war on drug abuse. Some aspects of this policy should include a flexible or selective enforcement, vastly expanding drug treatment programs, needle exchange programs, a distinction between â€Å"hard† (cocaine and heroin) and â€Å"soft† drugs (marijuana), expanding antidrug educational efforts, and focusing on reducing the use and abuse of tobacco and alcohol. The first priority should be to make sure that the users and abusers harm themselves and others as little as possible.