Drugs are nonfood chemicals that alter the way a person thinks, feels, functions, or behaves. This includes everything from prescription medications, to illegal chemicals like heroin, to popular and widely available substances like alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine. A wide variety of laws, regulations, and government agencies exist to control the possession, sale, and use of drugs. Different drugs ar…
Alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine have been used around the world for centuries. They are firmly entrenched in modern life—socially, economically, and politically. Virtually every society uses one or more of these drugs. Alcohol has been used for medicinal purposes for centuries, primarily for sedation. Until 1842, when modern surgical anesthesia began with the use of ether, only heavy doses o…
Contrary to popular belief, ethanol (the alcohol in alcoholic beverages) is not a stimulant; it is a depressant. Although many of those who drink alcoholic beverages feel relaxation, pleasure, and stimulation, these feelings are in fact caused by the depressant effects of alcohol on the brain. …
Alcohol is an addictive substance, but not everyone who drinks it becomes addicted. Most of those who drink alcohol do not become alcoholics. Scientists cannot explain what individual traits account for the difference, but they suspect that a wide variety of factors may make a person more susceptible to addictions of all kinds. Alcoholism was recognized as a disease more than two hundred years ago…
The use of tobacco in North America dates back to pre-Columbian days. After Christopher Columbus landed in the New World in 1492, he and later European settlers were introduced to tobacco by Native Americans. The use of tobacco products, especially cigarettes, increased greatly in the United States in the twentieth century. Smoking was often associated with romance, relaxation, and adventure; movi…
Three surveys provide comprehensive coverage of the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco by American youth, as well as their attitudes about using these substances. The surveys presented in this chapter include:…
The alcohol and tobacco industries play large roles in the American economy. Both industries not only provide jobs and income for those involved in growing, manufacturing, and selling these products, they also contribute significant tax revenues to the federal, state, and local governments. …
Taxation is an age-old method by which the government raises money. Alcoholic beverages have been taxed since colonial times, and tobacco products have been taxed since 1863. The alcohol and tobacco industries contribute a great deal of tax money to federal, state, and local governments.…
As Americans sit down to their morning cups of coffee or tea or drink a cola, few think about the fact that they are taking a drug. A drug is any substance that affects the mood or the state and function of the body. According to this definition, the caffeine in many of our favorite beverages is a drug. …
A July 2004 Gallup Poll found that 62% of Americans drink alcoholic beverages, such as liquor (distilled spirits), wine, or beer, down from 66% in 2002, yet up from 58% in 1996. (See Table 10.1.) Nearly four in ten (38%) were "teetotalers," or total abstainers. Since about 1990, the levels of those who drank alcoholic beverages remained below the 71% the Gallup Poll recorded in 1976, 1977, and 1978.…