Another group of people that we interact with is the group we choose ourselves.  This includes mostly friends, but also boyfriends/ girlfriends, and perhaps more; the main idea here is that we choose to be around these people, and so when we do have respect for such a person then that respect can be said to have been earned.  Friendships are greatly responsible for opening up doors to new experiences, but there is a risk that we will be shown things beyond the simple joys of new experiences; the risk is the new dangers our bodies are placed into- such as drug use. When drugs are introduced by such people as already have earned our trust, negative consequences and side effects are more easily overlooked.  And the pattern of positive reinforcement by our friends for such drug use will only make drug use easier, removing any negative stigmas previously held.  This will overshadow the fact that it was not a drug, not a chemical high we were looking for in the first place- we were only looking for a friend.

Some outlying social factors:
1. "Nancy Reagan" outlook
2. Informative Negative Reinforcement
3. Decriminalization

More intimate social forces:
1. Role Models
2. Peers

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