Make Your Way 6, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD und CD-ROM

Now compare your group’s findings with the following theories from a leaflet about why people try drugs for the first time. 18 • Discuss the reasons given in the leaflet: Which is the reason you agree/disagree with most? • Does the leaflet give any reason which you would not have expected? There are all kinds of theories about why people start taking drugs, and none of them have been proved. The “weak personality” theory: Some people believe that people take drugs because they have a weak personality and because they are inadequate in some way. This theory says that drug-takers take drugs in order to escape from their problems. The “evil pusher” theory: This theory says that people take illegal drugs because a “pusher” tricks them into trying drugs so that he or she can make them addicted and then sell them drugs for a high profit. (Most people do not seem to think of people who make and sell cigarettes or alcohol as pushers; why is this?) The “doesn’t-know-any-better” theory: Some people believe that only stupid people and people who don’t understand the facts take drugs. The “because-it-is-offered” theory: Do people really have to have a strong reason to take a drug? Does everybody who takes alcohol or a cigarette have a reason? Sometimes people do something just because they get the opportunity  – so they might take a legal or illegal drug just because it is offered to them, even though they were not looking for the drug. The “curiosity” theory: This theory suggests that some people are just curious about the effects of drugs and want to know for themselves what it is like. The “pleasure” theory: This theory suggests that people take drugs because they like the effects. The “fashion” theory: Some people believe that people take a drug because it’s fashionable to take it. (If there are fashions in clothes and music, then there can be fashions in drugs too.) The “in-with-the-crowd” theory: Another theory says that people take a drug if they want to belong to the crowd. Some people don’t like to feel “different” and like to take part in what other people are doing. The “rebel” theory: Some people believe that young people take drugs in order to rebel against their parents and against the rest of society. This theory says that people take illegal drugs just because it’s not legal. Some of these theories may be right for some of the people who take legal or illegal drugs, but no theory gives the whole story. And quite often, the reason that people give is a reason that they think of after taking the drug; it is not what they were thinking at the time. And the reason they give may depend on who they are talking to. 19 1 Extensive unit 1: The pursuit of happiness Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv