Is Drug Addiction a Personal or a Social Problem?

While drug addiction can affect many people and families around the world, some would claim that drug addiction is more of a personal issue rather than a social one. This is a logical argument; after all, drug use is a personal choice and the consequences of usage is usually the responsibilty of the drug user.

So when is it considered a social problem, or can it even be considered one? From our Social Innovation class, a social problem is one that:

• is widespread
• gives off the preception that something is wrong (experts and public)
• threatens values
• requires action- change is possible (Manning, N. 1998)
• An alledged solution that is incompatible with the values of a significant number of people who agree that action is needed to alter the situation (Rubington & Weinberg, 1989:4)

Let’s start with the first point. To me, drug addiction is widespread. Not only in Vancouver, but in America, and the rest of the world. I think the reason why one would think that drug addiction is not widespread is because he or she does not often hear of drug addicitons halfway around the world. Furthermore, different cultures determine the different ways people and their society deals with drug addiction, which could mean that people hide it more in other places of the world. No matter where you go though, drug addiction exists; isn’t that widespread enough? Not only that, but the drug related violence and crime that results from the need to feed an addiction affects society as a whole. More resources must be directed to mitigate these problems which takes away some of the resources needed for other problems.

I certainly hope that drug addiction gives off the perception that something is wrong. If nobody had the perception that something was wrong, there would not be treatment centres or support groups available.  There would not be doctors and researchers trying to find solutions, or thousands of websites promoting actions to mediate the problem.

Drug addiction threatens values of many; those people could be family members or friends of the addict, members of the community that are in the proximity of drug use, educators, doctors, business people, and anyone who is around or involved in drug use. Addiction takes away the ability to live up to values, whether it is because the drug user can no longer think rationally, or because the close members of the drug user must go against their own values to enable someone they love and care about.

Since drug addiction is seen as a problem, the next logical thing to do is to look for actions to not only decrease the number of addicts but also the amount of homelessness, violence, and crime. Action is needed in order to decrease the chances of others in the community being at risk of the consequences of one’s addiction. To change the situation is a challenge- but possible.

To me, drug addiction begins as a personal problem. It is stemmed from various personal problems, but begins to transform into a social problem when it affects the community. It puts the addict and those around him or her at risk, whether it is a risk of drugs, violence, or crime. Finding novel solutions to this problem will not only help the person who is involved in the addiciton, but the general public, because one way or another, we are all affected.

Keeping the Door Open: Dialogues on Drug Use

Keeping the Door Open (KDO) brings together different dialogues to bring more awareness and discussion to various substance abuse problems. It is basically a site that provides different resources if one was looking for more information or was looking to discuss different issues like self-injection sites and criminalization. Different speakers (locally, nationally, and internationally) are brought to different venues in order to engage others, by sharing their own stories and insights. The site brings together people from different spectrums including drug users, their friends and family, police officers, elected officials, business people, and the local community.

I found the site interesting as they bring up a broad range of issues to discuss. I particularly like the fact that it recognizes the complexity of addiction and its (often) attachment to mental illnesses and trauma. The event that caught my eye the most was the one held most recently in March/April of 2008- Rethinking Treatment: Recognising and Responding to the Spectrum of Substance Use. This event discusses the fact treatment is currently being provided with “enormous and unrealistic time pressures by inadequately trained staff and does not follow established best practices.” I believe that in fact treatment is provided under unrealistic time pressures and many do not recognize (or understand) that the battle with addiction is one that lasts a lifetime.

It is easy to present facts about addiction but it’s another story when trying to engage others in the process of analyzing how to make it more effective. This is a good site for those who are willing to talk about the issues and are ready to begin creating innovative ways of solving the problem.