Drug Addiction And High Rates Of Addiction

Another issue that is greatly affected by the abused welfare programs is unemployment. The unemployment rate goes beyond the lack of available jobs in the U.S.; unemployment also falls back on the individuals without jobs. While there are many unemployed Americans who do everything in their power to find a job, there are also several who abuse the system. Heritage.org reports that of the adults reported to be using illegal drugs, a majority of the users were unemployed. As seen in Appendix 3, 17.5% of adults using illegal drugs in 2010 were also unemployed. Additionally, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, severe barriers to unemployment were experienced by substance abusing women by more than double of those who do not abuse substances. Not only would tax payers and the

Poverty: Research suggests that poverty is one of the important factor which lead to different kind of abuses e.g. social exclusion, substance abuse, self-harm, child abuse. Those who are unemployed, particularly long term unemployed, in poor or insecure housing have a higher rate of substance abuse than those who do not fit into these categories.

Addiction, it is all around us, affecting people from all walks of life, it is not limited to certain social classes or lifestyles. It is found in every ethnic group, regardless of gender or age. It affects our neighbors, our friends, and our family either directly or indirectly. Although substances such as alcohol and illegal drugs are two of the most common addictions we hear about, there is a wide range of substances and even activities such as gambling and shopping. There is some debate whether addiction is a brain disease or a choice.

Employment has been positively correlated with retention in treatment. By holding a job, a client establishes a legal source of income, structured use of time, and improved self-esteem, which in turn may reduce substance use and criminal activity. Years of research show that one of the best predictors of successful substance abuse treatment is gainful employment. However, unemployment and substance abuse are correlated before an individual enters treatment. While average education levels of individuals with substance abuse disorders is comparable to the general U.S. population, people who use substances are far more likely to be unemployed or underemployed than people who do not use substances. This makes sense when a review of the literature

Besides this, many people are concerned because of the influx of hard drugs, especially heroin, to the mainstream rather than being hidden in the poverty-stricken inner cities. In recent years, crack, cocaine, and heroin have been more prevelant than ever, especially among the wealthy. Drugs are no longer something that only gang members and bad guys do, everybody is doing them. (Inciardi 1999)

Substance abuse as well as addiction is a topic many people choose to ignore or tend to believe that it does not affect them. Addiction itself does not seek out certain types of people but can affect anyone, at any time, for any reason. Stress, per pressure, financial trouble, even genetics all play a role in substance abuse and addiction. Unlike others, I don’t see substance abusers as weak willed but instead in need of guidance and someone to talk to about their problems. That is why, when I decided to go to school I was very interested in becoming an Addiction Counselor. I am one of those types of people who really enjoy learning new things and coming up with solutions for myself or others. The biggest reason that I decided to go to college was to find a job that I was actually fascinated with and wouldn’t dread going to work day in and day out. The biggest concern I have for my future job is stability and job availability. One area that I don’t really find high on my priority list is the money. I want to be able to make enough that I can survive and even thrive at times but I’m not looking for a job just for the financial gain. If I’m going to spend my life in a working profession it might as well be doing something I love.

Substance abuse is known through most populations, particularly acknowledged in the lower economic class. Drug are becoming more popular in this day in time. Drugs are getting the attention of younger teenagers and adults. It is hard to determine if a person is using drugs or not. Substance abuse is a topic that has been spread in the society and is often look upon as the leftover of an inconsiderate acquisitiveness. As you can see on the news more parents are using heroin and other drugs such as cocaine to get a high and will pass out in front of their children. Therefore, heroin and synthetic opioids are driving a recent increase in cocaine-related abuse.

In addition to the escapism that frequent drug use may provide extremely disadvantaged individuals, the severe poverty and almost total lack of decent employment opportunity characterizing these communities has made drug dealing among the most lucrative and attractive, if locally despised, sources of employment. Despite the fact that the vast majority of all lower-class residents resist this temptation, drug sales is a form of employment in an otherwise extremely poor and opportunity-deprived environment that can provide the symbols of success so valued in society. As E. Anderson (1999) has noted on these issues,

Many sociological studies fail to provide an accurate picture of substance abuse in a society for a number of reasons. In treatment or survey interviews, substance abusing individuals frequently misrepresent or misreport their frequency of use. Those living in poverty are often more transient in their housing than those of middle and upper classes and may, therefore, be excluded from many types of household surveys. Often, statistical information is gathered from treatment facilities; however facilities do not all report into a national database and a large number of addicts never seek services. One final problem with the validity of studies involving substance abuse and poverty is the isolation, in many studies, of one or more drugs. Many researchers have focused on drugs, such as crack-cocaine or heroin and not marijuana or powder cocaine (Jacobson and Ensminger, 2011). While it is difficult to obtain valid data on the actual rate and incidence of substance abuse in poverty ridden communities, researchers have been able to isolate some negative effects of substance abuse and correlate them to socio-economic status.

To this day, irresponsible use of drugs and alcoholism have caused many cases of deaths or critical accidents. Sadly this is becoming more of a problem and this can affect anyone. From irresponsible teens to famous actors, people are getting addicted to alcohol or drugs. Every drug has different effects on people. Someone may need it while some others just love the fun and thrill it brings from the reckless behavior.

The article shows that there is more than just the lower class that has issues with drugs. The issue with drugs goes farther than just the lower class, but drugs, middle class people use especially cocaine. The study did not focus on the lower class, but to gather information on the middle class women who were using cocaine. The information about the middle class and their drug use is scarce due to the ability the middle class has to cover up the information. The idea of the study was to expand on the information that females within the middle class were partaking in drug use. It also has the ability for them to show what or who caused the women to start using cocaine.

Drug addiction has been happening for thousands of years. It is commonly known that addiction to drugs is poor for your health. However, drug addiction can affect an addict, their family, and their communities. Drug addiction needs more awareness and treatment because it leads to homelessness, crime, and broken families.

Unable to pay the bills and put food on the table could cause a terrible stress. People are always seeking for a solution to their problems. When they can’t find one, they get caught in a rut; cigarettes are the new remedy. At first they seem to work, but the bills are still not paid, cabinets are still bare, and now spending money on cigarettes is more important than getting out of poverty. Drinking and abusing drugs comes in due to a greater stress. It doesn’t get better; addiction takes effect, and with addiction comes more spending of money. Poverty is the sole dilemma to which causes a burden in our American civilization; most of the time people living in poverty resort to abusing drugs and alcohol as an alternative to escape from the

The reality is that nobody likes the word addiction; in fact I believe that one of the hardest things to do is admitting to actually having an addiction. I believe that addiction begins with pressure whether it involves friends or even family members and it also involves problems and stress and people sometimes don’t see any other way out. As to who are the most susceptible to having an addiction I honestly believe anyone is capable of developing an addiction however, I do believe that those who don’t have family support or good influences around them are more susceptible to being involved with drugs and alcohol. Our society has a lot to do with the influences of addiction. For example, smoking weed is almost seen as a normal norm even though

If you have ever seen the movie The Wolf on Wall Street, there is no doubt you have seen the effects drugs can have. Leonardo DiCaprio portrays a high-strung stock broker reliant on a multitude of illegal drugs to keep up with his hectic life style. His addiction gets so severe that at one point in the movie, he is lying on the floor, unable to move due to the drugs’ effects on his body. Even though the movie is set in the 90’s, a decade infamous for its use of drugs, today, drug usage and abuse has never been more of an issue. According to Alice Park (2016), “More people died of drug overdoses in 2014 in the U.S. than in any other year” (p.49). What people fail to realize is that drug abuse effects more than just the individual that uses them. The loved ones trying to support the user, the community the user is in, can all be affected by drug abuse. In fact, all members of society are affected by the abuse of drugs. In short, no one benefits from drug abuse. In the words of the Nation Institute of Drug Abuse, “Drug abuse is a major public health problem that impacts society on multiple levels. Directly or indirectly, every community is affected by drug abuse and addiction, as is every family. Drugs take a tremendous toll on our society at many levels” ( Magnitude, 2016).