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Structural Antecedents of Psychoactive Drug Use Among the Elderly†

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Brent Green
Brent Green
Affiliation:
Cooperative Extension, Human Relations, 120 Haviland Hall School of Social Welfare, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 94720, U.S.A.
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Abstract

Current literature on the over use of psychoactive drugs by elderly people suggests that alienation, poverty, rolelessness and lack of drug experience in earlier life are principal causes. But these are mainly empirical observations which have not been ordered into any theoretical framework. In proposing the applicability of the concept of ‘internal colonialism’ as a mode of explanation, the paper presents a survey of drug use prevalence as a basis for later conceptual analysis. It is concluded that drug misuse is an institutionalized response which perpetuates dependency.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , March 1982 , pp. 77 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

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References

NOTES

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