What Accounts for the Media's Exaggeration of the Danger and Threat

question 13

Essay

What accounts for the media's exaggeration of the danger and threat of certain drugs at certain times-in the case of the discussions in this chapter that focused on methamphetamine beginning in the late 1980s and continuing, though unevenly, into the twenty-first century? What was it about meth that made it the "scary drug of the year"? Were any of these media dangers based on objective evidence? Or were they all so exaggerated as to be nearly entirely a fantasy? More generally, are drug scares really as objectively threatening as the claims, or were they fantasy creations of the press?

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Definitions:

Memory

The faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information.

Sensory Encoding

The process by which sensory information is translated into a form that can be utilized by the brain's neural system.

Semantic Network Model

A cognitive model proposing that mental concepts are organized within the brain in networks of interconnected ideas.

Structural Change

A significant alteration in the economic, social, or political structure of an organization, society, or system.