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Perspectives on Drug Use
Author(s) -
Nowlis Helen H.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1971.tb00665.x
Subject(s) - feeling , perception , value (mathematics) , mood , social psychology , relation (database) , psychology , drug , psychiatry , computer science , database , machine learning , neuroscience
Man has always used chemical substances to change mood, feeling, and perception; he probably always will. The substances used will depend upon the changes he desires or values and his perception of the effects of available substances in relation to those changes. Substances now widely used fall into three general categories: (a) Ups, (b) Downs, and (c) those which change the way one perceives one's self or one's physical and social environment. All drug use, legal or illegal, involves risk at some dosage level for some individuals under some circumstances; determination of what risks are to be tolerated for what benefits is clearly a value judgment. The important issue then becomes who shall make these value judgments and according to what system of values.