Shockers from chapter 1 & 2

I learned a lot from the first two chapters of this textbook; also a lot of things surprised me. I didn’t know there was such a thing as "Mobil meth labs" that surprised me and it made me realize how easy it is to get some of the most powerful drugs today. In the introduction on the second page, they opened my mind to the idea on the complexity and the process is on the making of new drugs and expanding them. Also how serious it is today because of the increase since 1960. I would have never compared it to the change of the telephone. Another thing I didn’t know was the different types of cannabis. It's interesting to know that cannabis can be harmful. Many people only know it as marijuana not spice or K2, which can actually result in serious harm as in overdoses or even suicide.

On page 44, in figure 1.9, referring to the millions of users between 2007 and 2008. In 2008 9.8 million employed people abuse drugs vs. 1.8 million unemployed people. I guess there’s a positive to being unemployed, staying away from drugs! Knowing that you cant get a good steady paying job these days without getting drug tested keeps people away from drugs and harmful things that can stop them from getting employed, where employed people just don’t care because they don’t have to go through that process of getting drug tested all over again. Towards the end of the second chapter I learned that drug addiction was a mental illness. After reading about it, it makes since because of how it changes your perspective on certain mental processes while you're under the influence.

This brings me to three vocabulary words that I didn’t know prior to reading these chapters.

1. Comorbidity - Two or more disorders or illnesses occurring in the same person.

From this I learned that for as long as the symptoms of both disorder overlap in the time period, they are considered to be comorbid. But they also don’t have to start or end at the same time.

2. Subculture Theory - Explains drug use as a peer- generated activity.

This taught me the depth of peer pressure, and how effective it can be.

3. Drug Cartels - Highly sophisticated organizations composed of multiple drug trafficking organizations and cells with specific assignments.

I learned how the whole drug traffic works, the moment from where it stops to the moment the money gets back from the originator (most likely outside of the US)

Over all I honestly had every intension to put all my effort into this learning module, but my computer had problems and the wifi was always down and I didn’t want to go all the way home. Now that I have had the time to read all of the discussion posts and respond to them I feel like I am putting more effort into my work. For next week network problems will not be an excuse, and my work will have all my time and effort put into it. Your comments have helped me a lot over this week. In the beginning I wasn’t understanding how I should be responding to the discussions and I hope to get better at it as weeks go on.

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Hi, I'm Cassandra Banas and this is my first year at NCCC, and I'm currently studying chemical dependency counseling. I am very excited to try this online course, I hope I do well and I know I'll learn a lot.