Neighbors comment on how much safer they feel and how much less violence there is. Knowing that one does not have to constantly deal with facing the violence everyday will indeed bring more people to take care of themselves more as they do not fall into the mentality of lack of control about their surroundings. If they recognize that their neighborhoods are safer and therefore they feel that their fate is more in the control of their own hands, then they may be able to also accept the fact that being healthier is actually within their reach.
Aside from the violence that contributes to an urban health crisis, illegal drugs only add on to that notion (Bourgois 2008). However, it is the illegality of drugs that actually bring the greater health risk to the urban population (Straight and True 2004). A drug like marijuana that has no real documented proof of the danger that it can cause or that it will permanently be damaging to an individual's health is being sold with drugs that do have documented health risks, like crack, heroin, and meth (Hamsterdam 2004). If someone goes to buy marijuana, they are exposed and offered other stronger drugs, increasing the chance of their usage, increasing their health risk. This is something plaguing urban communities and keeping them at a level that can be difficult to overcome.
The notion of drug usage also have resounding affects on the urban community and on their health. Simple possession or usage of marijuana, because of its illegality, can send an individual to prison, and once they get out, they are forever tainted by their offense. This prohibits them from finding a decent job, a safe job, or any job at all. This all directly affects their health and well-being....
As was shown in the Wire (2002), someone who is unable to get employed, may be forced back into the same route that brought them to
prison in the first
place (Homecoming 2004). Having no other alternatives, individuals fall right back into the vicious cycle that not only put their lives at risk, but most importantly, their immediate health.
An urban health crisis can be resolved by limiting the
risk factors that are pertinent to the lower social class. Neighborhoods and communities suffer most because of their inability to receive the proper care that they deserve. Among their risk factors, such as lack of access to proper
nutrition, easy accessibility to drugs, and their exposure to violence, urban health crises are on the rise. However, if all these factors can be limited, a resolution to this growing phenomenon can be established.
