Criminal Addiction- America’s Social Crisis Essay

The United States boasts some of the finest medical knowledge in the world is know for its charitable serving to third world countries and yet in that respects an epidemic that it chooses to ignore and even vilify. Drug habituation, to both illegal and legal medicates, is on the rampage. In 2001, 16. 6 million cases of medicate dependency were reported- thats 7. 3% of the population. Our emergency rooms be overflowing with drug related emergencies and our jails are packed with criminals charged with drug related crimes.The American medical society can be partially blamed for our bailiwick addictions. From heroin and cocaine in the early 1900s, to tranquilizers and diet pills in the 60s and 70s to todays highly addictive pain killers, doctors have pushed pills at us , toting them as miracle cures, and the like. Americans are a society that is always looking for saucy ideas and new ways to solve problems, and these instant solutions always seem like a good thing- and comm except arent (King, 2006).Unfortunately, doctors are less(prenominal) inclined to treat those they addict- they would rather ignore the problem or folderol it up to a weak will, than face the fact that without their overzealous marketing, the bulk of these people would never have become addicts. Those doctors that wish to help their patients are met with little choice if the patient has no insurance, there are rattling few treatment centers. Its the middle and lower class addicts that offer the most- due to lack of currency, influence and insurance.One the other side of addiction- that is to say street drugs, we again see the want for a miracle cure. Many kids audition out of curiosity, but the majority that become heavy drug users unremarkably start using drugs as an escape and because they see their parents do drugs too. They to a fault see drugs as a way of making quick money and to escape the poverty they live in ( habituation, 2002). Unfortunately for either font of us er, there is no escape. Drugs often lead to death- whether suicide, accidental overdose, fighting between dealers, or the various diseases that can come from chronic drug use.At least one spell of incarceration is guaranteed for the street drug user- commonly for dealing or violence related to dealing. Conversely, prescription drug addicts usually end up in incarceration for various crimes to support their habits- crimes that are usually more sophisticated such as theft and forgery. any way, however, these addicts end up in jail- in a system that is only there to make sure they serve a sentence- rather than help them to overcome the problem (Addiction, 2002).A movement to change drug addiction from a crime to a public health problem is stem in America. This approach has already been tried in the Netherlands with results showing a marked reduction in the number of heroin addicts over a two-year period. There, drug traffickers are prosecuted, and drug addicts that commit other cri mes such as theft are punished for those crimes, but are non charged with possession. Instead rehabilitation is ordered and received. (Bertran, Sharpe, Andreas, 1996)In 2007, the Second happening Act was put before Congress. This bill will allow currency to be allotted to State governments to set up alcohol and warmheartedness abuse programs for inmates. It also authorizes the creation of drug treatment and rehabilitation centers as alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders. While this is still in the legislative process, it is a clapperclaw toward changing the futures of many Americans. Conclusion Its time for Americans to step adventure and take a long look at their attitudes about drug addiction.Its obvious from our jails and morgues that our current policies and ideas are not working. References King, Rufus (2006) The Drug light Up, Americas Fifty-Year Folly retrieved from http//www. druglibrary. org/special/king/dhu/dhu5. htm Drug Addiction is an Illness, n ot a Crime (2002) retrieved from http//www. drug -addiction. com/addiction_is_illness. htm Bertran, Eva Sharpe, Kenneth Andreas, Peter (1996 )Drug War political science The Price of Denial University of California Press retrieved from http//books. google. com /books? id=baWsThZgBaQC&printsec on January 31 2009.