Drug Abuse: Treatment versus Punishment - Report Example

Drug abuse: treatment versus punishment Introduction Drug abuse involves the provision of illegal drugs intothe body purely for the wrong motive or intension. It can also mean misuse of legitimate drugs against the prescribed procedures (Trevor and Halloway 8). Drug abuse causes the body to react differently. Across the whole world, there are two basic means by which drugs are abused. One possible means involves the use of illegal drugs, which have been declared toxic by governments. Another means is the usage of drugs, which have been bought across the counter, against the prescription of physicians. Consistent abuse of drugs can cause numerous side effects such as damage to the body organs, changes in behavioral patterns or even memory loss. A number of considerate methods have been used by different governments to culminate the consistent abuse of drugs by individuals. However, most attempts have been fruitless as the fight has taken a different direction. Amongst the methods used is the imposition of tough legal laws to punish the offenders who abuse drugs while another alternative has been treatment of drug addicts and mutual reinstatement into society. Comparing the two methods used, drug treatment has proven the best method of dealing with drug addicts in order to stay drug free. Drug treatment allows decision for change. A person undergoing drug addiction has got high chances to resort to change when subjected to treatment and counseling as compared to when he is in detention (Loue 68). Change is made easier when the exact treatment is provided and the exact cause of the problem has been addressed. Change tends to take considerations on the emotions, individuals temperaments and time. This effect is brought about by chance that some drugs like bang can be psychologically addictive. Whatever the number of years individuals get while in detention have very little effect to divert the mentality for recovery (Blume, 156). Treatment allows community support. One of the best methods to administer treatments in drug addicts is to allow for a helping hand. This is best achieved by incorporating all members of the society (Blume 166). Recovering from drug addiction is not a simple issue. This is because there are a few people who would clearly understand the concept of life one is going through. For sustainable step to adoption, one should consider having friends who would give encouragements towards a positive change. Drug addicts are also advised to adopt drug free environments. Besides, they can also have peer networks to facilitate recovery like in a church or in areas where civic education is provided. Receiving the support of close friends and family members will always enable a faster recovery (Blume 166). This is contrastingly different from carrying out punishment which only concentrates on dealing with the vice as compared to mitigating the root cause of addiction towards any other future occurrence. Treatment is also very healthy to an individuals’ life. In most cases, people indulge in drugs due to misguided attempts. These are brought about by conditions, such as efforts to avoid stress, shame in the society or some sort of frustrations. Treatment therefore helps to relieve unpleasant thoughts and natures restoration of a reformer’s state of life. During reform period, people are advised that resorting to drugs is not the best solution from life pressure. There are also a number of means which can be chosen to overcome such obstacles as engagements in physical activities, attending talk shows or even participating in games (Blume 185). Such kinds of considerations cannot be achieved with punishments or within a constrained environment, which has got high chances to distort the sense of mind. Drug addict undergoing reforms will always get intense from time to time. A free person always has a free mind to manage the state of cravings. This is brought about by the fact that when the mind becomes sober, one will always want for some more. When a person is made to live free from fear, he is uplifted to a status of being able to make decisive thought to avoid circumstances that landed him to the same fault. In most cases, one adopts the potential choice of avoiding his peers, avoiding environments which he considers unworthy and is able to restrain from drugs allied groups. All this can be made effectively when a person is free from any sort of detention. An attempt to enforce punishment cannot handle cravings whatsoever. Instead, it will lead to the development of new tactics to facilitate a continuation. Drug treatment is considered a derivative solution to mental illnesses. Because drug addiction is a complex illness which interferes with most peoples’ way of life, those who suffer from a definite sort of mental illness may resort to taking of drugs to sustain the suffering they are undergoing. Such kind of persons can be easily given a provision of correct medication and necessary alternatives to control pain (Blume 179). In most cases, this is done through trained professionals but not law enforcers. Resorting to giving punishments to such individuals will not bear results but instead, cause more suffering to the already bored problem. Medication can also be used as an alternative to alleviate addiction brought by specific substance in some drugs. For instance, addiction in tobacco is due to the presence of nicotine while in heroine there is morphine. A number of substances have been developed to formulate replacements which in turn de-motivate patients’ cravings of such kind of drugs. For alcohol addicts, naltrexone is used to derail a persons’ appetite to take more drinks (Blume 179). However, its response relates to the gene of an individual. In addition to the treatments above, behavioral treatment is recommended where a patient attends a medical center for counseling, either in groups or in person. This is in contrast to when one is subjected to punishment where the patient cannot be in a position to make full discloser about his feelings towards addiction and this mitigates the process of reform. Treatment of drugs addiction also involves chemical perception (Blume 179). Drugs like marijuana and heroin contain active chemical structures which affect the nervous system. In this case, medication can be used. The damage they cause to the nervous system instigates abnormal response in an addict who may either make very low speech or can decide to shout for no good reason. Such states and conditions mean that someone is suffering from mental illness. The best perceived way of assisting such individual is through medication and not subjecting them to punishment. Treatment of addicts is formulated in rehabilitation centers facilitating their recovery. Rehabilitation centers have got sufficient facilities with qualified personnel necessary to take the patient through the procedure of recovery (Davis 49). The locations and the formularization of the centers also vary enabling the addicts to make a choice which they feel is vital according to their case. These centers are developed to provide patients with stress free environment. The choice of the center enables the patient recovery according to his condition. Besides, patients are also introduced to therapies which allow them to forfeit drugs at their own will. In prisons, all the criminals of different cases are treated equally under the same environment, and this cannot give a possible solution to an addicts’ recovery. Most of the drug addicts are in it not because they love it but it is the nature that has led them to that (Blume 179). Therefore, they should be treated as sick people and not as criminal offenders. In life, some people may indulge in drugs simply because they have been brought up in the environment with numerous cases of drug abuse. However, when given a chance they can prove that their status of being over indulgent into drugs may have no link to criminal activities. Others cannot just do without drug and restricting them through the use of federal courts is considered an unjust solution since it may not alleviate them from suffering. Instead, they only bring more suffering. In another dimension, rehabilitating drug offenders would help reduce crime. Addicts who are considered to have made a criminal offence are better placed while in a rehabilitation center as compared to when they are in police custody. Because taking drugs is brought by the desire of the body. In rehabilitation centers, offenders would be given effective assistance in order to deceit from criminal issues and instead take an active role in society building. On the other hand, treatment incorporates persuasion. Criminal actions are always accustomed by use of force and involuntary response. It has been evidenced that legal education, care and treatment serve as an effective solution as compared to being taken to jail (Loue 68). Detention around one’s dwellings can also serve as an alternative way of helping individuals with drug addiction problem. Offenders who have been identified with drug related issues can be confined in their residential areas. This can be done in a proper way which does not violate their rights. Such kind of pressure may force an individual to abide with the treatment and achieve a meaningful reform. For such reasons, some slight legal pressure may be mounted to the patient to help in the treatment. The decisions to either adapt to treatment or not should still be left with the patient. At this point however, the facilitation and coherent approach in dialogue with the community and people around should take a course. This would restore patients’ attention to accept the issue of treatment. Ideally, it would be evidenced that treatment would enable the patient to recover faster as compared to when exposed to legal punishment. Treatment has also led to the discovery of science of drugs. A lot of scientific researches have been done leading to much more exposal and deeper understanding of drug abuse (Egon, Thelander and Berglund 9). Most of these discoveries have brought about flourishing advancements in medication that allows addicts getting reformed and becoming proactive in life again. Just like any other disease, having been regarded as patients, drug abusers should be treated so that they can gain normalcy into their lives. Most of the federal states have belittled rehabilitation as one of the basic treatment for drug abuses and this has in turn led to congestion of jails resulting to more costs needed to reconstruct new facilities. Conclusion In trying to find a solution to drug abuse, most countries have resorted to the provision of very heavy penalties for the drug offenders and drug related crimes. This has only led to more drug prisons and forceful rehabilitations which have not bared any meaningful result. Therefore, drug treatment is the best solution for a person to stay free from drugs. Works cited Blume, Arthur. Treating drug problems. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Print. Davis, Sally. Rehabilitation: the use of theories. Edinburgh: New York Elsevier Churchill Livingstone. 2006. Print. Loue, Sana. Diversity issues in substance abuse treatment and research. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, cop. 2003. Print. Trevor, Benedict, and Halloway, Katy. Understanding drugs, alcohol and crime. Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2005. Print. Egon, Johnson; Thelander, Sten and Berglund, Mats. Treating alcohol and drug abuse. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH. 2003. Print. Read More