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Untrained individuals may help, but the chemical and genetic side of addiction must be acknowledged and addressed for the addict to make a full recovery.
The purpose of the justice system is to punish. The truth is, most alcoholic and addicts have already been punished, before they ever walk into a courtroom. They have lost loved ones, promising careers, and their physical health to their illness. Could prison take away more of their dignity and act as a deterrent? Incarcerating addicts without specific, substance-abuse therapy designed to treat the physical compulsions and psychological conditions (including but not limited to depression and anxiety) that motivated them to become addicts will do little to ensure that addiction, and the crimes it may have spawned, will cease.
In fact, given the levels of drug use and abuse in prison, it may only give addicts further reason to remain addicted, by normalizing the behavior, isolating them from non-addicts,...
The so-called 'war on drugs' has treated addicts like hostile combatants, fueling the drug trade. The fallacy of this reasoning is that addicts are not, past the first stages of abuse, willing actors who can choose or not choose to take the next hit, based upon the prospect of sure and swift punishment. The addiction itself is the punishment, and quite often the addicts have nothing to lose -- no social reputation, no connection to the larger community, or, even for those who have managed to maintain a facade of normalcy, no happiness other than seeking the next hit to feel 'like themselves' again.
Works Cited
Addiction." DSM-IV. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th edition. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association (AMA). 1994. Definition found at "Alcohol Abuse: Diagnosis." Mental Health Channel. 26 Apr 2008. http://www.mentalhealthchannel.net/alcohol/diagnosis.shtml
Works Cited
Addiction." DSM-IV. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th edition. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association (AMA). 1994. Definition found at "Alcohol Abuse: Diagnosis." Mental Health Channel. 26 Apr 2008. http://www.mentalhealthchannel.net/alcohol/diagnosis.shtml
Drug Addiction Treatment Instead of Jail Time Repeat drug offenders deserve mandatory jail time. However, people who are arrested for the first time for a drug offense may deserve a chance at rehabilitation within a treatment facility. While many judicial systems utilize the use of drug treatment programs within the jail system, there is currently a push for alternative drug programs-based within hospitals and clinics. Close supervision can prevent drug-addicted criminals
An addiction can be considered a physical and psychological incapability to avoid the consumption of drugs, chemicals, substances, or even taking part in an activity even when doing so causes both physical and psychological harm (Nutt, 2018). The Addiction term is not only applicable when it comes to cocaine and heroin use. Any person who cannot function normally without taking some specific chemical or drug is considered to be substance
Increasingly, PROMETA has come under close scrutiny, with several individuals and experts claming that the treatment does not achieve all that it claims to do, although there have been numerous testimonials testifying to the efficacy of the system of treatment for addiction. In one patient's own words, "I had tried everything, and nothing worked for me. But PROMETA has!" (Addiction Medicine, 2006) in the words of Chicago based addiction
Prescription Drugs for Pain Management: Pros and Cons One of the most controversial developments in medical science in recent years has been the development of new prescription drugs to treat pain in the opioid family of drugs. These drugs, such as OxyContin, have been linked to increasing rates of prescription drug abuse and addiction and many physicians are advocating greater scrutiny of how they are used and prescribed within the medical
Righteous Dopefiend: The Moral Economy of Heroin Abuse One of the first images of Righteous Dopefiend, an anthropological analysis of California homeless heroin addicts, is that of several men shooting up heroin in a dirty and unsanitary place; even though there are cleaner places to do this, the men are attempting to conceal their activity because they do not want to share their stash: this indicates the extent to which the
addiction over the past several decades, that addiction, specifically drug addiction, has been present in society for most of mankind's presence on earth. Such addiction may have been known by other descriptions and may not have been known to be the result of something exactly identified as a drug but such use was still likely an addiction. The use of drugs has been recorded by historians for thousands of