The Impact of Drugs on Homelessness
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The use of illicit drugs has a profound impact on homelessness. Use of illicit drugs coupled with personal distress can act as a gateway to homelessness and perpetuate it making it impossible to recover. Illicit drug use can have severe medical consequences to homeless addicts to the point that it can become life-threatening. Homeless individuals and families must be willing to deal with their addictions if supported housing is being offered to them. There are many ways we can create new programs and improve current programs to help curb the epidemic of illicit drug use and the rising epidemic of homelessness. Understanding how drug use can cause a person to become homeless is the first stepping stone in helping with prevention or recovery.
The Illicit Drug Gateway
Most individuals in our society today would attribute homelessness to drug use. While it is a common misconception that every homeless person uses drugs it is extremely important to realize it is a common cause of homelessness and can prevent someone from getting the assistance they need. The National Coalition for the Homeless (2009) found that:
Substance abuse is often a cause of homelessness. Addictive disorders disrupt
relationships with family and friends and often cause people to lose their jobs. For people
who are already struggling to pay their bills, the onset or exacerbation of an addiction
may cause them to lose their housing. A 2008 survey by the United States Conference of
Mayors asked 25 cities for their top three causes of homelessness. Substance abuse was
the single largest cause of homelessness for single adults (reported by 68% of cities).
Substance abuse was also mentioned by 12% of cities as one of the top three causes of
homelessness for families. According to Didenko and Pankratz (2007), two-thirds of
homeless people report that drugs and/or alcohol were a major reason for their becoming
homeless.
The number of persons that the National Coalition of the Homeless found were introduced to homelessness through drug use in the cities studied is staggering. Addictive disorders can cause major disruptions in a persons life or in a familys life and can lead to homelessness. Among the many issues that arise once a person becomes homeless they are also susceptible to the severe medical conditions that homeless persons can face while using illicit drugs.
Medical Implications of Homeless Drug Use
Homeless drug users, particularly unsheltered homeless drug users must hide their drug usage for a variety of reasons. When homeless drug users try to avoid detection to prevent the authorities from disrupting their lifestyle and addiction it creates situations that can allow serious medical conditions. According to
Injecting drugs under these conditions presents several health risks that have been
observed and described by drug ethnographers, including failure to disinfect body
injection sites properly, resulting in viral infections (Varga, Chitwood, and Fernandez
2006); use of unclean water mixed with drugs to create an injectable drug mixture (page,
Smith, and Kane 1990); use of syringes purchased or acquired on the street or at an
injection location (Buchanan et al. 2003); and missed veins, resulting skin abscesses, and
other soft tissue infections (Ciccarone et al. 2001) (p. 107-108).
Although the authors in this particular book focus on injecting drugs most people realize that any drug is dangerous to the body. Since homeless people have limited access to appropriate sterilized equipment and means to smoke, snort or inject their drugs it poses a great risk to their health and well being. It is imperative that society use its energy in a more constructive means to create programs to help homeless people work through their addictions. As a society we must decide if they should deal with their addictions before, after or while they are aided with proper housing.
Housing: Before or After Drug Treatment
When dealing with homeless persons, housing