Warm Up
Business
1. Podcast/Blog Reviews: Use the articles in Week 14 on the syllabus.
2. Test on Wednesday: Review after homework and short lesson.
HW Part 2:
Data:
As well as measuring the levels of current drug use, the National Household Survey also counts the number of newusers of each drug every year, in order to identify emerging trends in drug use. This "iniation rate" for marijuana increased dramatically in the early 1990s, and has remained stable since 1994.(8) In 1998, 2.3 million people tried marijuana for the first time.(9) The alltime high for new use of marijauna was in 1977, when 3.4 million people tried the drug.
The rate of cocaine use dropped dramatically between 1985, when it was as high as 3%, and 1992, when it had dropped to 0.7%. The rate did not change significantly through 1998, though there has been a slight increase since 1998.(13)
Heroin use in the United States appears to be declining slightly after an upward trend between 1992 and 1997.(17)
With the advent of "heroin chic," more people tried heroin for the first time in 1996 than in any year going back to 1970. However, new use rates have stabilized since then. A large proportion of the recent heroin initiates are young and are smoking, sniffing, or snorting heroin, rather than injecting it.(22)
Methodology and Sources of Data
Evaluate: The study found that, among both men and women, those who had used marijuana were 2.5 times more likely than those their age who abstained to later dabble in prescription drugs. (What are we measuring?)
Rand Data/Study
Things to consider:
(a) Is the relationship causal or simply correlation? (P2)
(b) What sorts of studies/data sets could help us make the distinction?
(c) What is the strength of the correlation vs between alcohol and cigarettes?
(d) Could legalization/easy access diminish hard drug use?
(e) Measurement: What is "used marijuana"?
(f) Lets go through the steps for general causal reasoning...
General Causal Reasoning Con't
Study 1
Neuropathy
The Environmental Protection Agency has listed DCA as likely to be a cancer-causing agent in humans.[47] DCA is on the California Environmental Protection Agency's list of known cancer-causing agents and is listed as a cause of reproductive harm in men.[47][48] The International Agency for Research on Cancerclassifies DCA as a Group 2B carcinogen ("possibly carcinogenic to humans").[49]
Echinacea and the common cold (132million/year)
(a)
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