The Daily Mail published an article to report that Miranda Devine, an Australian political commentator, says meth-addicted people should be sterilised and ought to be prevented from having children. She made these comments after a meth-addicted couple in Sydney was allowed to keep the custody of their child under a scheme which would assist the couple to improve their parenting skills with the help of a part time live in carer (Mail Online 2016). In this paper I will look at the stigmatisation, marginalistaion and discrimination faced by the people with substance use disorders who are labeled as drug addicts. Stigma associated with substance addiction and substance use is very strong and is often structurally reinforced by government policy,
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Unlike the stigma of mental illness, addiction stigma probably gains its most spiteful affect from being intertwined with criminality. For example research shows that people who endorse greater legal penalties for substance use agree more with greater discrimination against people with SUDs (Corrigan et al 2016). Although there is a level of truth in these stereotypes, which makes it difficult to put stop to the stigma, these cannot be attributed to all of the people who belong to this group (Livingstone et al …show more content…
Professionals are qualified to inform and influence this discussion but in order to provide professional, supportive and appropriate support they must change their discriminatory attitude towards the people who struggle with substance use disorders (Stanbrook 2011).Social workers work directly with people and hold vital ground level knowledge, which gives them power to influence policy. Powell et al (2013) write that social workers need to be aware of the power they possess and should use their expertise to impact policy. They should provide input to policy planners to create policy, shape an existing policy and encourage service users to become involved in policymaking. Failure to recognise this may result in inadvertently reinforcing dysfunctional policies or losing the opportunity to make positive changes (Powell et al
Unlike the stigma of mental illness, addiction stigma probably gains its most spiteful affect from being intertwined with criminality. For example research shows that people who endorse greater legal penalties for substance use agree more with greater discrimination against people with SUDs (Corrigan et al 2016). Although there is a level of truth in these stereotypes, which makes it difficult to put stop to the stigma, these cannot be attributed to all of the people who belong to this group (Livingstone et al …show more content…
Professionals are qualified to inform and influence this discussion but in order to provide professional, supportive and appropriate support they must change their discriminatory attitude towards the people who struggle with substance use disorders (Stanbrook 2011).Social workers work directly with people and hold vital ground level knowledge, which gives them power to influence policy. Powell et al (2013) write that social workers need to be aware of the power they possess and should use their expertise to impact policy. They should provide input to policy planners to create policy, shape an existing policy and encourage service users to become involved in policymaking. Failure to recognise this may result in inadvertently reinforcing dysfunctional policies or losing the opportunity to make positive changes (Powell et al