Seeing is Believing, Looks are Deceiving: What does One See in Images of Drugs and Drug Use(rs)?

Abstract

Images of drugs and drug use(rs) convey meaning, feelings, and beliefs, and what is being seen is often believed. Images can also deceive in content, meaning, and belief. Drug use(r) researchers, who use images as data, must be cautious in interpreting what is being conveyed and why. As technological advances continue to shape the creation, modification, storage, and analysis of images, researchers must be ever more vigilant about what they are seeing and believing.

Keywords: :

• drug images
• act of seeing
• forgery

THE AUTHORS

Michael Montagne, Ph.D., is Professor of Social Pharmacy and Associate Vice President at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences. Educated in pharmacy and sociology at the University of Minnesota, he then received postdoctoral training in psychiatric epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University. He has taught and performed research for 33 years on the social, cultural, and historical aspects of drug effects, drug use, and drug discovery, including drug advertising.

GLOSSARY

• Magritte, Rene (1898–1967) –Belgian surrealist artist best known for paintings of familiar though unrelated objects in realistic poses or contexts.