Addiction to drugs is one of the main causes for homelessness. Drug addiction to pain killers is one of the worse drug addictions today. It is estimated that 2.1 million people abuse or are addicted to pain pills. Even worse, there are now approximately 467,000 people in the United States addicted to heroin and the consequences are rising. One of the consequences of this addiction is homelessness.
The Prescription Drug to Heroin Pipeline
Abusing or actually becoming addicted to prescription pain pills might start out as a back ache or some other pain. A doctor will give the patient a legitimate prescription for opioids or pain pills for a prescribed time period. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, prescriptions for opioid prescriptions skyrocketed from 76 million in 1991 to 207 million in 2013.
There are signs that a
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One of the main consequences of addiction is homelessness.
Drug Abuse as a Cause for Homelessness
Drug abuse and drug addiction can affect many aspects of a person’s life, including relationships, home life and their job. Buying opioids or heroin cost a lot of money per day. In addition to wasting money, drug abuse can cause a person to lose their job. Drug abuse causes job performance to decline and too many sick days. This can lead to the loss of their job.
Without income, it becomes hard to pay rent or mortgage, especially if all of their money is spent on drugs. Being addicted to drugs makes it very hard to get a new job, mainly because most job applicants have to pass a drug test in order to get hired.
This can start a downward spiral. Without a job, eviction or foreclosure is probably what happens next. Experts agree that homeless people have a much higher rate of drug abuse than the general population. Once homeless, it becomes even harder to get another job without a place to
Importantly, it is evident that mental illness and addiction that can be attributed to substance abuse are common phenomena among the homeless populations. These prompt the study to recommend integrated and patient-centered treatment services with emphasis being given to addiction
The cause of homelessness isn’t laziness; being homeless requires a lot of stress into thinking about how to survive each day. Most homeless people are not criminals and many of those who are technically criminals have committed property crimes in order to live. In addition, the top reasons of homelessness are lack of affordable housing, lack of a living wage, and medical bankruptcy, but none of these reasons are related to choice. These misconceptions and stereotypes are dangerous to society since they seriously interfere with attempts to help those that are in need and
Underlying Causes: The increase in the sale of opioids is considered to be the root of the opioid crisis, as the drugs have been proven to be highly addictive. An addiction to prescriptive opioids, however, can lead to an addiction to synthetic, illegal opioids, such as heroine or fentanyl, which are less expensive and easier to acquire. In fact, in their journal article, “Associations of nonmedical pain reliever use and initiation of heroin use in the United States” Pradip Muhuri and associates discovered that “the recent (12 months preceding interview) heroin incidence rate was 19 times higher among those who reported prior nonmedical prescription pain reliever (NMPR) use than among those who did not (0.39 vs. 0.02 percent)” (Muhuri et. al). In other words, abusing prescription opioids significantly raises the chances of abusing illicit drugs, such as heroin.
Dependence on prescription opioids can stem from treatment of chronic pain and in recent years is the cause of the increased number of opioid overdoses. Opioids are very addictive substances, having serious life threatening consequences in case of intentional or accidental overdose. The euphoria attracts recreational use, and frequent,
It is indiscriminate and has no concern for one’s status, race, ethnicity, background, religion, and so on. Therefore the fear of homelessness is the fact that it can happen at any time.. As a result of the United States economic situation, there is a lack of jobs and livable wages provided for growing communities. The insufficient provision of financial aid is among the factors that cause homelessness. Unable to be financially independent, the homeless tend to meet their financial needs through illegal avenues. These avenues involve the interaction with drugs and
It is stated that thirty-eight percent of homeless people abuse alcohol and twenty-six percent abuse drug. Some drug addicts and alcoholics become addicts when they are homeless already. However, some become homeless because of being dependent on drugs and alcohol most of their lives. Since they are dependent on drugs and alcohol their family will give up trying to help them, leaving them homeless and without any way of getting help. There are over forty-seven thousand American veterans who are homeless and seventy percent of those veterans are suffering from some form of mental illness.
Disabled individuals, veterans and families are some of the demographic that is affected by homelessness. Physical ailments such as malnutrition, lack of hygiene, undiagnosed diseases and/or disorders can be detrimental. Mental disorders such as depression can develop due to the harsh circumstances of living on the streets. The lack of support, affordable housing and medical care that homeless individuals are receiving are prime examples of the need for compassionate and dedicated social workers to assist homeless individuals in regaining hope, purpose, and to evoke the strength within themselves. Living in shelters or public areas, homeless individuals are extremely resilience.
The continuous use of narcotics results in addiction, and financial struggles due to the costly upkeep. “Financial problems are one of the major side effects of drug and substance abuse” (Buaggett, 2015). Addicts cannot adequately take an active role in the economic activities, as the use of drugs inhibits the abilities of the users to earn a daily living. Due to the instability of finances, this would result in selling personal belongings to continue funding the substance of choice, and depending on the addicts living situation, this could lead to losing their house or being removed from their current housing. While being under the influence, an addicts voice of reason is jeopardized, resulting in criminal activities which raise the chances of being apprehended by the law enforcers, as well as, heavy fines are imposed.
When people take these synthetic heroin pills, they do not feel as though it is a drug addiction as much as it is a way for them to deal with pain, over-stimulation, and as a tranquilizer. Today, we are currently facing an epidemic with drug addiction and continuously trying to solve the problem with a war on drugs. “The U.S. spends about $51 billion a year enforcing the war on drugs, and arrests nearly 1.5 million people for drug violations, according to Drug Policy Alliance, a drug policy reform group” (Ferner). Since the United States spends so much money on this epidemic, the numbers should start to go down, but it is instead doing the opposite. It is easy to figure out the numbers through doctors, “Increases in prescription drug misuse over the last
The issue of homelessness in America has been evident since the early 1600’s. Across the country men, women and children spend their nights on the streets not knowing when or if they will ever find a permanent home. States and federal officials or city councils have tried to alleviate or at least reduce the number of homeless over the last several decades at a city, state or national level but it continues to be an ongoing problem. There is a multitude of factors that account for the growing homeless population that affects each state in the country differently. Though there are many contributing factors that contribute to the amount of people living on the street at any given night in the U.S.
making Mental illness the third major cause of homelessness. C. Most people believe it 's their own fault or it is over drug and alcohol abuse or just being lazy period, but according to rock center by Jessica Hopper believe it or not 20% of people that have jobs who are not on any alcohol substance or drug abuse are also homeless, which leads us to the requirement wages in order to afford a place to stay in. Not just in TN but in every state more than minimum wage is needed, Families need to earn a housing wage of 15$ an hour in order to afford a two-bed room apartment. Transition: it is very clear to us that homelessness is a major problem in our society, and that we need to take action, let 's look at some ways we can help to aid these types of situations. II.
Prescription drugs (opiates only) have caused over 165,000 deaths within the last 15 years and is currently on the rise. Over 2 million Americans in 2014 were addicted to Opiate prescription narcotics. The most troubling fact is listed directly on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website: “As many as 1 in 4
According to nida.nih.gov (July 2020), depending on how someone takes a drug, it increases their chance of getting certain diseases such as HIV if they use injections or dental problems and if they smoke. Additionally, some drugs can also damage or destroy a person’s nerve cells in the brain or outside the brain. These are some of the physical effects substance abuse can cause. All these can increase risk of death and organ damage. Substance abuse doesn’t only affect someone physically but it can also affect someone mentally too.
Some people wonder why homeless people have no jobs, cars, or homes. Here are a few reasons why homeless people are homeless. As we see in every Country, City, and State there are homeless people everywhere.
The effects of addiction on health can be devastating. Once addiction develops, the brain changes interfere with an individual’s ability to make voluntary decisions, leading to compulsive drug craving, seeking and use. 6 Drug abuse can suppress the body’s immune system and is related to risky behaviours, involving the sharing of contaminated syringe, needle or injection paraphernalia and unprotected sex. The combination greatly increases the likelihood of acquiring HIV, hepatitis and many other infectious diseases. 6 Drugs that lead to these diseases are heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.