Contextualizing drug use and pharmacological harm in the United States: a socio-historical overview.

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to navigate through the socio-historical modulations in American tolerance for different psychoactive substances, and propose a theoretical synthesis formed by two vanguard philosophical doctrines, objectivism, and constructivism. Our approach is grounded on the analysis of social historical context and objective harms that have influenced drug use tolerance in the United States based on key historical events such as: heavy drinking at the dawn of nineteenth century, the establishment and repeal of prohibition, late nineteenth century opiate and cocaine tolerance followed by early twentieth century prohibition, post-prohibition drug concerns such as marijuana prohibition in the 1930s, heroin concerns and medical depressant use in the 1950s, poly-drug use in the 1960s, crack cocaine use in the 1980s, and finally modulations in tolerance for peyote use. Evidence supports the notion of drug harms reduction for the privileged, and criminalization of drug use by marginalized groups. Over long spans of history, however, more objectively harmful drugs are rejected, while drugs that can be used regularly without serous dysfunction are tolerated and normalized. We argue that a framework of social status and pharmacological harm can account for the vacillating policy responses that have emerged to different drugs at different times. Our approach informs the role of socio-cultural conflict in drug policy development and infuse the need for empirical research on the effect of socioeconomic positioning on attitudes of medicalization and legalization of marijuana and opioid policy in contemporary America.

Exploring the hypothesis of ethnic practice as social capital: violence among Asian/Pacific Islander youth in Hawaii.

BACKGROUND: Studies of youth violence have usually examined social capital using qualitative methods, but remain limited by small sample sizes. In addition, few studies examine violence among Asian/Pacific Islander (API) youth, even though they are one of the fastest-growing youth populations in the USA. AIMS: To contribute to a better understanding of culture and ethnicity in youth violence among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders by quantifying ethnic forms of social capital. METHODS: We use an n = 326 sample of three API groups from Oahu, Hawaii. Defining social capital as ethnic practice, we test Filipino, Hawaiian and Samoan forms of youth social capital on intimate and non-intimate violence. RESULTS: Bivariate findings associate lower violence with language ability among Filipinos, coming-of-age practices among Hawaiians, and community leader engagement among Samoans. Multivariate tests showed language to be the strongest correlation. Bivariate tests also suggested potentially risky forms of social capital. CONCLUSIONS: results lead us to hypothesize that social capital that deliberately places individuals within their respective ethnic communities are risk-reducing, as are those that promote formal ethnic community structures. Those that formalize ethnic practice and social capital into commercial activities may be associated with higher risk of violence. Given the relatively small sample size and the exploratory approach for the present investigation, further research is needed to determine whether the findings can be replicated and to extend the findings of the present preliminary study.

Community mobilization and its application to youth violence prevention.

In addressing health and social issues, there has been a shift since the 1990s to approaches that focus more on making comprehensive community-based changes to affect individual behavior. This article provides an overview of community mobilization to engage community members in the process of addressing social and health issues, discusses current models, and provides a case study. The balance of the article looks at other efforts reported in this supplement, and the ways in which they have used community mobilization as a viable strategy for preventing youth violence.

Asian/Pacific Islander youth violence prevention center: interpersonal violence and deviant behaviors among youth in Hawai'i.

PURPOSE: This study investigates the prevalence rates of violent and deviant behaviors among a sample of Filipino, Hawaiian, Japanese, and Samoan public high school students residing in Hawai'i, and is the first relatively large-scale study of its kind regarding a disaggregated sample of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) youth. Filipino, Hawaiian, and Samoan adolescents were the chosen ethnic groups for this study's focus due to their over-representation in Hawai'i's juvenile justice system. METHODS: Data for this study were gathered collaboratively by researchers, community groups, and school officials who agreed that youth violence was a community concern worthy of deeper understanding and community response. The study's process included three phases: a focus group consultation phase, field-testing, and the final risk and protective factor study. For the final study, 326 randomly selected students representing three Hawai'i public high schools were surveyed on a one-on-one basis.A smaller sample of Japanese students was also included in the study, serving as a control group. RESULTS: Findings illustrate the importance of disaggregating specific ethnic and gender groups within the AAPI ethnic category when examining adolescent issues. As examples, Samoan youth reported significantly higher rates of violence than other ethnic groups surveyed, and Hawaiian girls reported higher rates of substance use than Hawaiian boys, which was not commensurate with other ethnic groups. Filipino, Hawaiian, and Samoan youth all reported significantly higher rates than Japanese on overall deviant behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Implications for further research and community development include enhancing minority youths' bicultural self-efficacy.