Reading Notes - Book Report/Review Example

Reading s [The of the will appear here] [The of the will appear here] Becker, H. (1953) Becoming a Marihuana User, The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 59, No. 3, pp. 235-242This article discuss the use of marihuana. The author claims that Marihuana is a recreational drug and does not cause addiction. In order to become a user, a person needs to learn how to use the drug since it has a different technique of consumption. The user need to use it continuously in order to understand the sensations that he experiences and to enjoy them.

The user also needs to learn how to get high since initially the user may find it difficult to gauge whether he is high or not. Questions:If Marihuana does not really bring pleasure of the user, why do people consider using it after the first time?To what extent does peer pressure impact Marihuana usage about people who do not feel the effect of the drug? Loe, M. and Cuttino, L. (2008) Grappling with the Medicated Self: The Case of ADHD College Students, Symbolic Interaction, Volume 31, Number 3, p.

303-322 The article focuses specifically on college students suffering from ADHD. These children have lived most of their lives on self-medication and have been termed as the RX generation. This generation has now entered college and in order to avoid academic failure, they continue to remain on prescription. However, these college students feel that they are compromising on their true identity in order to live a satisfying social and academic life. Many ADHD students express their desire to cut back on their medication.

Questions:Can prolonged usage of medication rob ADHD people of their true identity? Does medication provide ADHD students an advantage over non-ADHD students? Becker, H. (1967) History, Culture and Subjective Experience: An Exploration of the Social Bases of Drug-Induced Experiences, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 163-176This article suggests that psychoses induced by LSD is overemphasized and that the drug does not pose as much danger as is perceived commonly. By drawing a comparison between LSD users and marihuana users, the article claims that drug psychoses induced by LSD have decreased in number since it was discovered.

This was mainly because with time people began to truly understand the effects of the drug and were able to control them. Questions:It has been more than 40 years since LSD has been discovered. Shouldnt prolonged exposure to the drug reduce drug psychosis to almost zero now, given the results of the survey?How is drug psychosis defined?