Contemporary Problems AXIA

Essay by deytonsmomCollege, UndergraduateB+, October 2008

download word file, 5 pages 0.0

Drugs and drug usage behavior has been linked to crime in several ways. It is a crime to use, possess, manufacture, or distribute any drugs classified illegal. The effects of drug related behavior effects society in many ways, daily. Many drug users come from all lifestyles. My paper focuses on issues dealt with drug users incarcerated, and what efforts are being done to help treat not only their criminal minds, but their use and abuse of drugs and alcohol. Drug dependence and abuse among incarcerated populations is a severe reality that complicates the task of rehabilitating offenders. Estimates of serious drug involvement among offender's points to the urgent need for effective interventions, and available indicators show drug use among arrestees to be at epidemic levels.

Chemical Dependency is a problem in our society. We have the war on drugs but that is not enough. We need the war on drug addiction.

Further complication to this problem we also have people who have a personality disorder along with a drug addiction. When the two interact, it can exaggerate the mental illness. This dually diagnosed population is clogging our criminal justice system because they are repeat offenders. Unfortunately, the popular form of action is to lock these people up for a short period and then throw them back out on the street. Chemical dependence and mental illness are a disease, and this is not the cure. Mental illness and chemical dependency are both curable diseases, but often not without help. Our criminal justice system is where many of Americas mentally ill are also found. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics survey (1999), in 1998 about 238,000 mentally ill offenders were incarcerated in American prisons and jails. This number represents about 16% of all state prison and local jail inmates and 7%...