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Social Democratic Ideology

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Illicit Drug Use and Addictions: Neoliberal versus Social Democratic Ideology Individual hold beliefs and values that shape thought processes and actions pertaining to different realms of their lives. Political ideologies are a set of assumptions and practices that provide a framework for political action and are often used to describe or interpret the world via making assumptions about human nature, present realities, and future possibilities and identifying acceptable means of achieving social and economic development (Jost, Federico, & Napier, 2009; Orlowski, 2011). In Canada, three main ideologies are liberalism, conservatism, and socialism. Each ideology can take different forms and be positioned in a wide range of the left-right …show more content…

The 2015 Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drugs Survey (Statistics Canada, 2016) found that 13% of the population use at least one illicit drug, which is a 2% increase from the previous year. The six main drugs include cannabis, cocaine or crack, ecstasy, speed or methamphetamines, hallucinogens or heroin. Cannabis continues to be the most prevalent and the use of all illicit drugs are most common among youth (aged 15-19) and young adults (aged 20-24) compared to adults aged 25 and older. Canada is currently facing an opioid overdose crisis, including abuse of both prescription and illicit forms. Specifically, fentanyl-related deaths have rapidly increased across Canada and have varied by substance, such as using fentanyl alone or combined with other drugs, and by route of administration, such as intravenous injection (Fischer, Russell, Murphy, & Kurdyak, 2015). Furthermore, fentanyl has commonly been mixed and sold as other drugs, like OxyContin and heroin, by street dealers (Fischer et al., 2015). In 2016, there were 2458 apparent opioid-related deaths in Canada and Western Canada experienced a higher proportion of deaths. British Columbia and the Yukon had the highest rates of over 15 opioid-related deaths per 100,000 population while 10 to 14.9 deaths per 100,000 population occurred in the Northwest Territories and Alberta (Government of Canada,

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