<論文>嗜好の構成 : 薬物使用と社会制御

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to describe (1)the process whereby one becomes a drug user and (2)the factors which control his/her taste of drugs and ways of using drugs. This study uses as materials some major ethnographic studies of drugs which describe drug scenes in the United States. (1)To become a drug user, one has to contact with some group as a recruitment one (called 'sect' in this study) which secures the traffics of a drug or some drugs and has to get enjoyment by using a drug. First, in order to get enjoyment by using a drug, he/she needs to learn the technique of using a drug, to learn to perceive the effects of a drug by interacting with others, and to learn to enjoy the effects. This process was founded by Howard S. Becker in his study of Marijuana users, and it can apply not only to Marijuana users but also to Cocaine, Speed, Heroin, and LSD users. Then, the process whereby a 'sect' produces a drug user can be interpreted with the concept of 'commitment'. A 'sect' produces a user through the commitment which he/she shows to the values of the 'sect'. And we can find the inter-reinforcing process whereby the process in which the user gets enjoyment by using a drug and the process in which the user reinforces the commitment to the 'sect' promote each other. (2)3 major factors --supply, morality and care of his/her own health -- play important roles when one constructs his/her taste of drugs and ways of using drugs in a 'sect'. We can find that the most important factor is 'care of his/her own health' when he/she constructs his/her taste of drugs and ways of using. The major information about 'care of health' is nowadays derived from the medicine. We can call it 'HEALTH'. The medical information, 'HEALTH', is a point of reference which divides drugs into the soft and the hard. Some users utilize the 'HEALTH' in using drugs as a reference to construct their each practical 'health', because they have to control themselves. We can call their each 'health' 'rational health'. On the other hand, some users, especially the hard drug users, do not depend on 'HEALTH' because they need not to control themselves. Their each practical 'health' is mainly for the occasion. We can call their each 'health' 'reasonable health'. Those users who manage their each 'health' as a 'reasonable health' can in principle use and taste all kind of drugs except those drugs which is thought to be dangerous for the occasion.