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Abstract

We have pointed out several social conditions which together make drug use a convenient and reasonable component of the everyday lives of US adolescents. Despite their illegality, drugs are circulated within adolescent networks in ways that place users in little danger of punishment. Reciprocally, drug distribution and communal usage help to bring youths together and define and sustain them in peer groups. Drugs are ‘something to do’, and they offer the potential of being much more; since their use necessitates social interaction and departures from conventional behaviour, drugs often provide relief from boredom and waiting to be an adult.

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© 1987 Barry Glassner and Julia Loughlin

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Glassner, B., Loughlin, J. (1987). The Future. In: Drugs in Adolescent Worlds. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20743-5_9

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