How has the issue of drug addiction and the ‘war on drugs’ changed over the past 20 years?  In particular, how have the populations impacted by drugs changed?

Drug abuse has been defined as a significant social problem. This discussion provides an opportunity to examine this problem as well as the ways in which our reliance on punishment as a solution to drug abuse has changed over the years, given the different populations now impacted by the problem.

For this discussion, review the following resources:

• Race, poverty and punishment: The impact of criminal sanctions on racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequality
• Opiate Addiction: Sociologists Construct Distinct Profiles For Heroin And Prescription Painkiller Users
• War on Drugs Failure Gives Way To Treatment in States, Cities
• Race, poverty and punishment: The impact of criminal sanctions on racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequality
• When Addiction has a White Face
• Recommended: Chasing Heroin (for transcript click here)

After reviewing the required resources for this discussion, please address each of the following:

1. How has the issue of drug addiction and the ‘war on drugs’ changed over the past 20 years?  In particular, how have the populations impacted by drugs changed?
2. Is drug addiction treated as a crime or as a medical issue in our society?  In your informed opinion, which should it be?  Defend your answer using the resources provided.
3. In your informed opinion, what do you think is the best course of action to address the drug addiction epidemic in the U.S.?  Should it differ by which drug is being abused?  Should it differ by the population using the drugs?
4. Drug addiction is increasingly impacting whites, women, and middle/upper class people.  How have these changes impacted the social construction of drug addiction in our society?  In other words, how have these changes impacted the ways in which drug abuse is or is not criminalized and how it is treated by the criminal justice system?

Your initial post should be at least 500 words in length. Support your claims with examples from required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts by Day 7. Several topics are possible in this discussion, with some of you focusing on the first points while others are more interested in topics listed later in the list.