How Does Addiction Affect Society

Addiction has been around for as long as humans have existed and does not seem to be something that will go away anytime soon. There are various people who choose sides on the war of addiction for different reasons because of how they define the word “addiction” without taking into consideration of how low their knowledge of that word really is. In the book titled “The Globalization of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirits,” Bruce K. Alexander informs us of how the meaning of addiction can be interpreted in four different ways which led to history’s pavement and society’s understanding of that term to be taken lightly and in some ways becoming a social norm when we don’t even realize the affects that it has on us. I don’t like how he doesn’t talk much about alcohol and drug restriction’s impact on society. However, more …show more content…
Alexander implements the word ‘addiction’ with ‘dislocation’ and claims “Dislocated people struggle valiantly to establish or restore psychosocial integration—to somehow ’get a life’, to ‘figure out who they are’, or to ‘build community’…those who do not often adapt to the anguish of sustained dislocation by devoting themselves to narrow lifestyle that function as substitutes for psychosocial integration” (62). I believe that dislocated people are more prone to addiction as they are adapting to their new environment, however that may all depend on where they are situated in. I am able to recall a memory of a new classmate of mine back in middle school who associated with drugs and it led to problems which caused his death. At the time I was wondering why he chose that route and what caused him to direct his mindset in that area. However, after reading the book I had a much clearer mindset to what may have been the cause to make him want to choose a different path for