Spirituality and Drugs Essay

Submitted By veryviolette
Words: 2983
Pages: 12

Spiritual Rehabilitation The United States Department of Health and Human Services approximates that over twenty-two million American citizens suffer from substance abuse related to drugs and alcohol (Williams). Hundreds of traffic fatalities each year are directly correlated to driving under the influence (Salisbury 323). As of late, addiction affects over 23.2 million of the people populating the United States, of which only an estimated ten percent receive needed treatment (“The Science of Addiction”). It has become obvious that addiction is a serious problem that is growing immensely in America. Drug addicts are more likely to continue their substance abuse without a focused plan of action (“Christian Drug Rehab”). Without a successful rehabilitation treatment plan, the addict faces the risk of relapsing, then having to start the rehabilitation process from the beginning (Williams). Although Americans are reluctant to embrace new strategies beyond what they have traditionally seen practiced, it is obvious that spirituality is the underlying factor that makes addiction treatable. The overall success of recovering addicts can be traced back to the spiritual foundation of the drug rehabilitation process. Substance abuse is becoming common in America, increasing the need for rehabilitation. The United States estimated economic cost of addiction and substance abuse alone surpasses a half trillion dollars yearly because of the crime, lost productivity, health care and expenditures (“The Science of Addiction”). The American society is in desperate need of a treatment that consistently works. Since drug abuse, a broad term, covers multiple substances all having the ability to inflict addiction on its user, many people can be declared addicts. According to a survey, marijuana is today still the most commonly used illegal drug. More than a third of marijuana consumers, 4.8 million people, use it more than twenty times a month. The second most popular substance that is abused is prescribed drugs. The non-medical abusers of these drugs are estimated at 6.2 million people that are over the age of twelve. Over 7.7 million need treatment for their drug problems, but only 1.4 million receive the treatment they require. This indicates that over ninety four percent of substance abusers did not seek the treatment they needed nor felt they even needed it (Longley). There are many unique challenges when having to break away from addiction. The substance abuser faces many struggles in the process of restoring their ruined lives. (“The Science of Addiction”). Although drugs are abused in the United States, most addict rehabilitation centers are directed more towards alcoholics. Consequently, the abuse of alcohol is an uprising catastrophe in the American society, adding to the need for a treatment that works, when fighting an addiction. A survey done by the National Survey on Drug use and Health shows that thirty percent of the people between the ages of twelve and twenty reportedly drank in the past month. Of those 10.7 million, 19.3 percent of them were binge drinkers and 6.2 percent heavy drinkers (Longley). It is quite obvious that the substance of choice is alcohol. Despite the fact that drugs are frequently abused, alcohol is the more commonly seen addiction throughout history. The views Americans have had about alcohol consumption over the years has changed tremendously. The first American abuse of drugs and alcohol started when English settlers brought over alcoholic beverages from Europe and offered it to the Native Americans. When the English settlers provided the Native Americans with alcohol, they became extremely addicted to the European import. An appalling and highly dangerous part of the daily life on the frontier was that alcohol was the first choice of beverage among the settlers (Salisbury and Seelig 260). The Native American’s consumption of alcohol marked the beginning of the addiction to alcohol in America.