Power is out for days, water supply becomes tainted, and children are scarred physically and mentally for life… but it is the bomb blast that gets the coverage. I feel this is the same way we deal with the collateral damage that stems from drug and alcohol abuse. Divorce, neglect, abuse, bankruptcy, infidelity, sickness, accidents, miscommunication, tardiness, absentees, mistakes, disease, theft, property damage, fights, arguments, and even unplanned pregnancies can be traced back to drug and alcohol abuse but this rarely happens. I wonder why?
Is our society’s deep seated love and adoration of alcohol/drugs so great that we refuse to see the true impact of its destructiveness?
IMHO, yes.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
STD’s
Diabetes
Cirrohsis
Gout
jsut to name a few more.
The economic cost of drug abuse in 2002 was estimated at $180.9 billion. This value represents both the use of resources to address health and crime consequences as well as the loss of potential productivity from disability, death and withdrawal from the legitimate workforce. This estimate has incorporated extensive new data, although several major components have been trended forward.*
*http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/economic_costs/e_summary.pdf
Boils and abscesses!
I think our culture loves to either romanticize or demonize substance abuse and addiction. I’ve noticed in following the news about heroin worldwide that the human side of addiction is covered much more closely in the UK…there are always headlines about a mother who lost a child to an overdose or a child who lost a mother…
Apt metaphor!
And murder/suicide.