Sociology Notes on the Difference between Drugs and Medicines

2. What are the popular drug narratives used in media?
• It’s common for media to view drug use mostly as a western world problem and not the problem of the countries that grow and produce the drugs (for example Pakistan) (Boyd, 2002);
• Media often concentrates on the demand for drugs in the western world and the effectiveness of the fight against drug use in different countries (Boyd, 2002);
• The media often views drug use as something deviant, abnormal and something that needs to be treated, but very rarely as something related to beliefs, religions or medical (Boyd, 2002);
• Drug suppliers are often portrayed as “foreign” outsiders that are violet, greedy for money and a threat to society and morals (Boyd, 2002);
• The female drug dealers are shown as more ruthless than men (Boyd, 2002);
• Illegal drug use in the media is almost always sexualised, racialised or viewed as a pathology (Boyd, 2002);
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