At least two dimensions distinguish the many varieties of drug use: legal status and the goal or purpose of use. With respect to legal status, the use, possession, and sale of some drugs are criminal acts; they are against the law, they are crimes.

Someone may be arrested if caught in the act of using, possessing, or selling certain drugs; if convicted, he or she may be sent to jail or prison. Heroin and LSD may not be possessed, purchased, or used by anyone for any purpose (with a tiny number of exceptions for approved medical experimentation).

On the other hand, Some drugs are legal. Any nonincarcerated person above a certain age may legally buy alcoholic beverages..

A number of drugs may be found in a wide range of legally purchasable substances, including nicotine (in cigarettes and other tobacco products), caffeine (in coffee, tea, cola, and chocolate), psychoactive chemicals in such over-thecounter remedies as aspirin, Tylenol, No Doz, Sominex, Allerest, Dexatrim, and so on.

In addition, many drugs are legal with a physician's prescription, if taken within a medical context, but are illegal without a prescription..

Of course, the legal picture is not identical the world over, as I pointed out in the Prologue. In Iran, Saudi Arabia, and parts of India, the purchase of alcohol is illegal. In Nepal and parts of India, marijuana is legal. Even in the United States, there is some variation as to the legal status of certain drugs.

For instance, in eleven states, the possession of small quantities of marijuana is an offense, not a crime, punishable by a small fine, much like a traffic ticket. An individual caught with small quantities of marijuana may not be arrested, cannot be convicted of a crime, and will never serve a jail or prison sentence.

In addition, in more than half the states, marijuana may be used legally for certain medical purposes, such as treatment of glaucoma and nausea following chemotherapy for cancer. The legal picture in a given jurisdiction depends in part on history, accident, pressure groups, custom, religion, and public opinion; it does not solely reflect the objective effects of the drugs themselves..

With respect to the second dimension of drug use, goal or purpose, it would be a mistake to assume that all drugs are used for the same purpose by everyone. Even the same drug will be used for a variety of reasons by different users, even by the same user, in different situations. As we saw earlier, all drugs have multiple effects; some users will seek one effect from a given drug, while others will take it for another of its several effects..

Amphetamine produces euphoria and mental alertness in low to moderate doses. Thus millions of individuals who need to stay awake for many hours at a stretch will use amphetamine for its ability to offset drowsiness and fatigue, such as long-haul truck drivers, students cramming for an exam, interns and other medical professionals on continuous twenty-four- or thirty-six-hour rounds.

Here, we have instances of illegal instrumental use: users are taking the drug not because they enjoy the effects they experience when they take it, but in order to achieve more effectively a goal that most members of this society approve—working at a job, pursuing an education, or advancing a career.

In this case, although the goal is approved, the means by which it is attained are considered unacceptable and illegitimate to most Americans..

On the other hand, if one were to take that same drug, amphetamine, for the purpose of euphoria or getting high, one would be engaged in illegal recreational use. Calling an activity "recreational" does not imply that it is harmless. Many recreational activities are extremely dangerous, as I said earlier—racing motorcycles, hang-gliding, flying ultralights, mountain climbing, cave exploring, skydiving, scuba diving.

However, it does mean that the activity is considered enjoyable by some. Recreational drug use is taking a chemical substance to receive the pleasurable effects the drug causes in the user—to get high. Here, the effects are pursued not as a means to an end, but as an end in themselves..

Clearly, there are vast and important differences among the effects of different drugs, as we have seen, both in quality or kind, and degree or intensity. Some drugs take you up, some down, and some take you in a different direction altogether. The effects of some drugs are mild in the doses typically taken, and, for most activities, the user can cope with the everyday world, although usually less effectively than normally.

The effects of other drugs are far more intense, even in fairly low doses, and the user Must withdraw from the demands of the everyday world while under the influence, or else suffer the consequences. Thus we cannot equate drinking two glasses of wine during dinner with an intense eight-hour LSD "trip." But the two activities do share at least one characteristic: Both represent iking a chemical substance for the effects themselves, for the pleasure or euphoria the user experiences when taking the drug..

Combining these two dimensions—legal status and goal—yields four quite different types of drug use:

legal instrumental use;

illegal instrumental use;

legal recreational use; and

illegal recreational use.

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The extent of drug use in america .-::17661::-.