1. According to Julius Wilson (1935), the “ills of society,” may explain reasons why some people engage in deviant behaviors. The ills of society, for example, may include poverty, materialism, the struggle for power, prominence and prestige, and the love of money. These reasons, true or not, offer some explanations of why some people chose to become drug dealers and smugglers. With that said, what do you think it would take for a person to be an effective drug dealer or smuggler into America, knowing that eventually he/she might be, at best, caught and sent to prison, or worse, killed or have their family members killed?
2. Jeffrey Reiman (1979) posited in his book that “The Rich Get Richer And The Poor Get Prison.” And for some people, this notion maybe true as selling or smuggling drugs become a way out of family generational cycle of poverty. Most of us would disagree with such options; however, think about this scenario. A friend, who you know comes from a family cycle of abject poverty, confides in you that he/she will be paid $1 million dollars for a one time drug smuggling run into another country. What would you say to this friend of yours?
3. Who would you suspect are the main drug smugglers into our country, the proletariats (the Poor), such as local neighborhood street drug dealers with high school or less education, the immigrants who come into the U.S. as means of survival, or the American bourgeoisies (the Rich) with private airplane jets, and others who do not go through the airport checks points of TSA?
4. The United States of American is one of the most affluent countries in the world. We are a nation of conspicuous consumers (Macionis, 2016), an insatiable appetite that creates profitable market of supply and demand, a demand that, unfortunately, includes huge monetary profits for illegal drug dealers and smugglers into the U.S. What role do you think America’s appetite for illegal drug use plays in drug smuggling into our country?
5. Building a wall between the United States and Mexico has politically romanticized the impression that America’s drug problems, especially the opioid addiction problem, would end once the wall is built. Without denigrating any political regime as people propose ideas they believe could solve America’s drug problems, what are your thoughts on this issue? What ideas do you, yourself, have to solve America’s drugs addiction problem since drug treatment programs are not working for most people?
6. When it comes to the issue of drug problems, globally, what do you think is most responsible for human drug problems, the lust of the flesh – (things that make you and your body feel soo… good), the lust of the eyes – (a state of mind that is always wanting more luxuries of life or to always have more than the “Jones”), or the pride of life – (self-serving, arrogant, boastful, bombastic, an egotistical and exaggerated perception of oneself – you know, “I’m all that plus a bag of ‘chips”)?
