sick, the crazy, and the evil (and they accept the given ælabelÆ). Deviance, therefore, exists in opposition to those who attempt to control it -- to those who have the Power.
Human social norms do not fall from the skies; they are created and enforced as a result of systematic, identifiable sociological processes. While the sociological æpositivistÆ takes the norms and their enforcement as if they were a given, the fact is they are not. Human social norms are every bit a social product, and every bit in need of an explanation, as is deviant behavior. There are reasons why people violate social order rules and why certain societal constructs experience more deviance than others and these reasons can be discovered, studied and explained. The violation of a society's norms is not randomly distributed from person to person or society to society.
Human societal controls have defined alcohol/drug and other mind altering substance use as deviant behavior. This means that the social order has decided to create a boundary and that use of such substances is outside this boundary therefore defining this behavior as deviant from the norm. Drug users are ignored by those who condone the behavior, the substances are forcefully sought to be expunged or destroyed, and when caught or turned in, users are sent to rehabilitative centers (prison or drug rehabilitation programs).
Defining drug use as a deviant behavior is problematic because the response elicited among human society in regards to specific drugs and drug use is so varied. Some societies allow drug use as a cultural construct such as the Southwestern Indians who smoke peyote as a spiritual worship element. If a non-Native American is found with Peyote, they will be prosecuted for possession of a narcotic substance and suffer jail time. In certain states in the U.S., it is now legal to possess and smoke marijuana purely for medicinal therapy purposes. This boundary req...