My Arguments:
These depictions are presented to teenagers as well as adults to help guide our understanding of what it is like to see drug culture. Unfortunately, adults tend to have more lived experience with hard drugs and their consequences than teenagers do. Since it is common to see a rebellion against authority in the depictions of hard drug culture, teens and youths learn through lived experience and exposure to the actual effects of drugs in order to understand that there is a difference between media's depiction of drug culture and the addiction lifestyle.
- There is a lot of representation of drug-use in everyday mass media.
- These depictions of drug use often depict a younger age group of users, providing a sort of mirror for youth to see themselves. These depictions are not always negative
- These depictions suggest that there is a type of person who becomes a drug user - the loser, the rebel, the poor kid,
- These depictions suggest that there is a type of person who becomes the drug dealer - the rich kid, the older person, the cool kid
- The consequences of drug use are not depicted as inevitable, but rather circumstantial
- Everyone does drugs and few bad things happen
- When bad things do happen, it is their own fault
- It's mostly younger people (under 30) doing hard drugs
- It is inevitable for teens to do drugs
- Doing drugs leads to independence, adventure, rebellion, and fun.
- It is easy to stop doing drugs.
These depictions are presented to teenagers as well as adults to help guide our understanding of what it is like to see drug culture. Unfortunately, adults tend to have more lived experience with hard drugs and their consequences than teenagers do. Since it is common to see a rebellion against authority in the depictions of hard drug culture, teens and youths learn through lived experience and exposure to the actual effects of drugs in order to understand that there is a difference between media's depiction of drug culture and the addiction lifestyle.