Question 2:
In economically-depressed areas, opportunities are few and often very limited. Individuals work at minimum-wage jobs with little chance to move up or improve their economic status. A general sense of hopelessness and structural oppression often pervades the communities. Illegal, recreational drugs initially offer relatively inexpensive escape from this drudgery. Over time though, drugs take a significant toll on the already economically disadvantaged. To the addict, as the need to consume more drugs for the same feelings of euphoria and pleasure increase, a terrible economic burden is added to their already limited resources. Already poor, drug dependence may impair their ability to be employed in a socially-acceptable business. …show more content…
“In the 1970s, many young white middle-class adults who had become comfortable with the experience of sampling new drugs based on their favorable experience with marijuana tried powder cocaine. Cocaine use was considered chic while it was associated with rockstars and stock brokers. When these users began to experience significant rates of dependence in the 1970s, they helped drive the dramatic expansion of private and public sector chemical dependency treatment facilities in the 1970s and 1980s” (Acker, 2010). These centers focused on recovery and returning individuals to the meaningful and socially acceptable lives addiction had stolen from them. “Equipped with health insurance and supported by Employee Assistance Programs, many of these cocaine addicts became recovering addicts” (Acker, 2010). In contrast, how much more difficult is it for an economically-disadvantaged individual to recover? First, the lack of private insurance may doom the addict to a long wait for a bed in a substandard recovery center offering minimal transitional services to help the recovering addict back into society. And what opportunities exist for the economically disadvantaged drug addict when returning to the same depressed community: Almost certainly the same subpar jobs and hopelessness that they faced before bearing the stigma of recovering drug addict. After detox, the economically-disadvantaged addict must return to a lifestyle which may have motivated his drug use in the first place. Often the poor drug addict may face prison time as a result of his addiction; the need for ever increasing amounts of drugs lead many addicts to theft or drug dealing. In the more affluent classes, crimes associated with drug usage are more likely to be interpreted as symptoms of the disease of drug addiction. More lenient sentencing, if any at all,
In economically-depressed areas, opportunities are few and often very limited. Individuals work at minimum-wage jobs with little chance to move up or improve their economic status. A general sense of hopelessness and structural oppression often pervades the communities. Illegal, recreational drugs initially offer relatively inexpensive escape from this drudgery. Over time though, drugs take a significant toll on the already economically disadvantaged. To the addict, as the need to consume more drugs for the same feelings of euphoria and pleasure increase, a terrible economic burden is added to their already limited resources. Already poor, drug dependence may impair their ability to be employed in a socially-acceptable business. …show more content…
“In the 1970s, many young white middle-class adults who had become comfortable with the experience of sampling new drugs based on their favorable experience with marijuana tried powder cocaine. Cocaine use was considered chic while it was associated with rockstars and stock brokers. When these users began to experience significant rates of dependence in the 1970s, they helped drive the dramatic expansion of private and public sector chemical dependency treatment facilities in the 1970s and 1980s” (Acker, 2010). These centers focused on recovery and returning individuals to the meaningful and socially acceptable lives addiction had stolen from them. “Equipped with health insurance and supported by Employee Assistance Programs, many of these cocaine addicts became recovering addicts” (Acker, 2010). In contrast, how much more difficult is it for an economically-disadvantaged individual to recover? First, the lack of private insurance may doom the addict to a long wait for a bed in a substandard recovery center offering minimal transitional services to help the recovering addict back into society. And what opportunities exist for the economically disadvantaged drug addict when returning to the same depressed community: Almost certainly the same subpar jobs and hopelessness that they faced before bearing the stigma of recovering drug addict. After detox, the economically-disadvantaged addict must return to a lifestyle which may have motivated his drug use in the first place. Often the poor drug addict may face prison time as a result of his addiction; the need for ever increasing amounts of drugs lead many addicts to theft or drug dealing. In the more affluent classes, crimes associated with drug usage are more likely to be interpreted as symptoms of the disease of drug addiction. More lenient sentencing, if any at all,