Drugs Across Cultures: How Illicit Drugs Have Been Used as a Scapegoat for Social Conflicts - Essay Example

Introduction: An overview of the paper Body: Discussion of how illicit drugs have been used as scapegoat for social conflicts in America and Australia Conclusion: A brief summary of the entire paper Introduction Illicit drugs are considered the illegal use of drugs, or illegal use of pharmaceutical products. Illegal drugs include the use of cocaine, marijuana, or bhang, heroin, to mention just a few. For instance, the use of illegal drugs in the society has been taken to be a symbolic scapegoat for social conflicts in many countries. Illicit drugs has been blamed for the many social issues in various countries such as the rise of crime rates, unemployment, domestic violence, depression, ethnicity, racial discrimination, poverty, and even social class discrimination. For a longer period, authorities in a number of countries have targeted illicit drugs as the cause of the social conflicts. It has been indicated that since illicit drugs cause terrible damages to the lives of the drug users, it tends to be easily regarded as a scapegoat for the social conflicts between various national groups, racial groups, as well as social class groups (Brady, 1990 p45). The essay below seeks to address how illicit drugs have been used as the symbolic scapegoat for social conflicts in the United States of America and Australia. For instance, the United States of America is one of the countries in which illicit drugs has been regarded as a scapegoat for a wider social conflicts in many years. There was a social conflict between the Mexican immigrants in the United States of America and the local small family farmers at around 1910. The conflict was based on the fact that the Mexican immigrants were hardworking in the farms and performed well as compared to the local small family farmers. The small family farmers were not happy by the fact the Mexican immigrants performed better than them in farming activities, hence they claimed that the immigrants had come to their country to drive the locals out of their business. For instance, the large wealthy farmers in the United States of America mainly hired the Mexican immigrants due to their performance, and they were as well willing to work for low wages. On the other hand, the local small family farmers found it hard to compete with the immigrants because the immigrants were satisfied with the low wages paid to them in large farms. Therefore, this brewed an economic conflict between the Mexican immigrants and the local small family farmers. Since majority of the Mexican immigrants were using marijuana, the issue was used as a scapegoat for the economic conflict between the immigrants and the local small family farmers (Holfman, 1990 p56). This is despite that fact that the cause of the economic conflict was the fact that the immigrants were hardworking than the locals, and that the immigrants were satisfied with the low wages paid to them in the large farms. The use of marijuana among the Mexican immigrants was used as a blame for the conflict between the American authorities and the immigrants on the basis that the use of marijuana promoted insane and violent activities. For instance, at around 1911, there was racial discrimination towards Mexicans in America. The fact that Mexicans were fond of using marijuana was used as a cover up for the racial discrimination. In the same year, the American consul in Mexico wrote a letter with claims that the use of marijuana led to violent behaviour by the user. This claims ignited the American journalists to write on how marijuana was a killer drug (Aurin, 2000 p420). There were social and cultural problems in the United States of America in the 1960s, and the use of marijuana was to blame for the problems. The conflicts during this period were between the older generation and the younger generation in the country. The use of marijuana by the majority of young people was to blame for the rift between the older generation and the younger generation. The younger generation during this period seemed rebellious to their parents in terms of lifestyle, the type of music they listened to, and the way they dressed. In the real sense, the rift that existed between the two generation is the fact that the two were brought up in different environments, and not the use of marijuana among the younger generation (Himmelstein, 1983 p35). The older generation could not accept the reality but blamed the use of marijuana among the younger generation for the rift that existed between them. The high rate of unemployment is some states of the United States of America have been blamed on the increased usage of illicit drugs. In the real sense, illicit drugs should not be blamed for the increased levels of unemployment because there are fewer opportunities for jobs. This is usually ignited by the fact that many young people graduate at the same time to compete in the tight job market with the same qualifications. This greatly contributes to the increased cases of unemployment among the young people. However, since majority of illicit drug users are young people, the issue has been used as a cover up for the high rates of unemployment (Manderson, 2005 p35). It is assumed that majority of drug users are young people who are always idle with nothing to do creating the picture of high levels of unemployment. Illicit drugs among the youth in the United States of America have been blamed for the increased number of teen pregnancy and early parenting. This is a social conflict between the younger generation and the older generation. The older generation always assumes that the use of illicit drugs among the youth is the major cause of the increased rates of teen pregnancy and early parenting. In the real sense, the increased rates of these particular social conflicts are usually caused by lack of adequate sex education from the older generation to the younger generation. Parents at home and teachers at school fail to teach the younger generation about proper sexual life and end up assuming that the younger individuals participate in negative sexual activities due to illicit drugs (Montagne, 1988 p415). Therefore, it is so unfortunate that the older generation blame illicit drugs for the misbehaving activities of the younger generation. Australia is yet another country in which illicit drugs have been blamed for the wider social conflicts taking place in the country. One of the ways in which illicit drugs has been considered as a scapegoat for social conflict is with the prevalence of high levels of insecurity in the country. In the recent years, the country has been experiencing the rise in insecurity levels, and the authorities in Australia have blamed illicit drugs to be the cause of this particular conflict in the society. The government fails to address that the main contributor of this particular social issue in the society is lack of employment and perhaps poor police enforcement (Ratcliffe, 1994 p74). It is argued that mainly the illicit drug users participate in violent activities leading to the increase in insecurity levels. Another social conflict in Australia that illicit drugs have been blamed for is the social class gap between the rich and the poor. This gap in Australia is great, and the rich class perceives that the poor class mainly is illicit drug users. The rich in society tend to look down upon the poor, which further widens the gap. Whenever the poor get the chance of working for the rich in the society, they end up being paid low wages for their duties, which make them to continue wallowing in poverty. This as well broadens the gap between the rich and the poor in the society. Instead of relevant authorities to accept the existence of this particular issue in the country and solve it effectively, they tend to blame it on illicit drugs (Connell, 1977 p38). It is argued that those who mainly drink extremely are the poor individuals, and this hinders them from working hard in achieving wealth. Therefore, it is usually concluded that the illicit drugs has contributed to the social conflict. It is also argued that illicit drugs have been used as the scapegoat for the increased levels of homosexuality in Australia. In the recent years, there has been an increase in the cases of homosexuality. This social conflict has mainly been contributed by lack of morals in the society, but illicit drugs have been blamed for the increase of this conflict. It has been argued that the increase in the number of illicit drug users has led to the increased cases of homosexuality in the country (Augoustinos & Reynolds, 2001 p84). Conclusion In conclusion, it is with no doubt that illicit drugs have been blamed for a wider social conflict in various societies. Among the social conflicts that illicit drugs has been blamed for include the social class gap, racial discrimination, insecurity in the society, negative social behaviour among the younger individuals and many others. For instance, America and Australia are among the countries that blame illicit drugs for social conflicts in the country. References Augoustinos, M., & Reynolds, K. (2001). Understanding prejudice, racism, and social conflict. London: SAGE. Aurin, M. (2000). 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