Relationship Between Community Involvement and Drug Abuse

An examination of how community involvement can affect the

rehabilitation of drug addicts and can contribute to social mobility.

Rosa-Lee Jimenez
California State University, Chico
rjimenez17@mail.csuhchico.edu
November 16, 2016

Jimenez 2
Introduction/Significance:
Drugs in our society is an area within political science that I am
interested in researching. Specifically, Id like to focus more on drug
abuse and addiction. Both drug abuse and addiction are considered to
be serious burdens to our society. Not only does drug abuse and
addiction harm the individual, it also harms the community as a whole.
These communities could face issues such as a high homeless
populations, increase in taxes, and nearby crimes, either violent or
minor. This topic is a major controversy in politics, considering most
left wing politicians see our drug issue as an illness and most right
wing politicians see our drug issue as criminal activity. This inability to
compromise and make a plan that could help our social, political, and
economic mobilization truly hinders growth in all aspects of our
democracy.
My motivation is to seek answers to develop a better
understanding of how drugs affect our society. I would like to find
better solutions to clean our communities of drug addicts and
rehabilitate them back into a stable mind and a valuable member in
our society. Id like to shine a light on the topic and focus on how
disruptive and destructive drug abuse is to our society. In addition, Im
motivated to find how, as a whole, we could help prevent issues that
follow the use of drugs such as incarceration, homelessness, and
unstable environments for the youth. Overall, I am interested in finding

Jimenez 3
how sending individuals to rehabilitation instead of prison, would
improve our social mobility. Furthermore, social mobility is classified as
the ability to move either forward or backward in status in areas such
as class, education, etc.
There are a few reasons why this area of research is important to
pursue. One main reason is that one could see how a rehabilitation
system could help or hinder those who suffer from addiction.
Furthermore, one could see how professional assistance from a
rehabilitation center could help these individuals rather than
classifying these people as criminals. With a successful rehabilitation
process, we might also reduce inmate population, allowing more space
in prisons for those who have committed more severe crimes. In
addition, parents suffering from this illness could improve lives by
providing stability for their children. Stability in the terms of a stable
income (that would not go towards drugs), home, a food source, and
most importantly a stable mind. This process could positively alter our
communities and with adequate research one could measure and
compare the growth of both social and political mobility with our
current process. With more improvements to childrens home life, our
society creates countless opportunities for the youth to earn a living
and get an education and not follow the path of their parents.

Research Question:

Jimenez 4
Does community involvement decrease drug abuse and does drug
abuse cause a decrease in social mobilization?
Theoretical Framework:
Some theories to this topic are the medical model, psychological
model, psychiatric model, social model, community healing, social
development strategy, community treatment model, and coerced
treatment. However, some of these models and theories are similar to
the tee. For instance, the community treatment model consists of the
medical model, social model, and psychological model. The psychiatric
model is by Oreskovic, however, Wangs definition of the psychological
is quite similar. Oreskovic brings the topic of abstinence into his model,
which does not correlate with Wangs definition. Whites community
healing/community guides are incredibly close to the social model and
community treatment model. As for the social development strategy, it
mainly focuses on children and procedures for adolescents. Ultimately,
all of these models and theories really focus on prevention and
mobilization of the community.
Literature Review:
Introduction:
During the 19th and 20th century, many people gave up or turned
away from those suffering from alcohol and other drug addictions
(White). This was known as the prohibitionist vision. This vision did not
only demonize those suffering from drug use, but it turned the

Jimenez 5
community and its support away. The prohibition eras goals were to let
those with addictions die off and prevent the usage of drugs with the
prohibition policy and strict control on illicit drugs (White). The purpose
of this research is to see how communities can influence mobilization
and promote recovery. The prohibitionist vision is clearly an example of
how the community can inhibit addiction recovery; however, there are
several methods to promote recovery and increase mobilization.

Models of Treatment:
Brief descriptions of some of the models of treatment were
explained in the theoretical framework. However, in this section Ill
further explain the models and their use for my research.
As stated before, all of these models and theories focus on
prevention and the mobilization of the community. First, Wang
describes the United States three different viewpoints of treatment,
which include the medical, psychological, social. In addition, he
explains the community treatment model, which combines all three of
the United States viewpoints. The medical model defines drug
addiction as a disease, thus the type of treatment tends to involve
outpatient or open-ward medical treatment. As for psychological
model, its treatment is for the client to go under psychotherapy to
understand their reason for drug use and correct such behaviors.
Lastly, the social model uses the method of treatment within a

Jimenez 6
community camp or boot camp (social groups). As for the community
treatment model, it combines all three of the United States models as
one. The mechanism of the camp approach is to reinforce existing
positive social bonds in the community to facilitate the process of
rehabilitation (Wang). This model focuses on how the community can
influence and promote rehabilitation.
Manager et al. does focus on adolescent drug use, which adds
different type of knowledge of addiction. However, even with the focus
on adolescents, the authors still focus on mobilizing the community to
help in the process of prevention. This journal also brings up the idea
of prevention, whereas my other journals discuss types of rehabilitation
and how successful these models are. The topic of prevention is not
needed for my research, however the steps and process used in the
program and their focus on adolescent drug use adds information on
the influence of community based programs.
White also believes in a community related or based procedure
for rehabilitation. His model is known as the community recovery
capital, which focuses on health and clinical models. The health model
focuses on environmental strategies for the management of alcohol
and other drug problems while the clinical model focuses on
professional treatment for addicts (White). In addition, White also
brings up the aspect of abstinence support in the journey of recovery.

Jimenez 7
Oreskovic et al. mainly focuses on a psychiatric model; however,
the authors also mentioned the aspect of abstinence-based programs.
When explaining how important abstinence-based programs are in
long-term recovery, they do mention that abstinence-based programs
are not for everyone. The psychiatric model puts a lot of pressure on
the individual to correct their behaviors and personal motives.
Furthermore, these authors go in-depth to explain how efficient social
pressures are in the process of recovery. In particular, Oreskovic et al.
explain the differences between those who voluntary participate in
treatment and those who are coerced. With that being said, these
authors also address the philosophical and ethical concerns of coerced
treatment.
Recovery:
White has the best and clearest explanation of recovery. He
states that recovery as a stage-dependent process. The stages consist
of stage one: destabilization of addiction, stage two: recovery initiation
and stabilization, and stage three: recovery maintenance. In addition
to these three stages, White is a big supporter of social support. He
believes that social support is also better for adolescents too. Also, he
states that abstinence-specific support is important for long-term
recovery. Ultimately, White stresses that personal recovery can only
flourishes in communities that create the physical, psychological, and
cultural space for recovery to grow and sustain itself.

Jimenez 8
However, Oreskovic and White bring up topics that do not
coincide with the recovery process, but are important to mention when
discussing recovery methods and strategies. For instance, Oreskovic
mentions the topic of chronic abuse. In particular, he discusses that
due to the usage of drugs these people are unable to begin with a
program. Due to the damage, these types of people have poor or
impaired judgments that do not allow them to understand or
participate in recovery programs. As for White, he explains the topic of
spontaneous remission or natural recovery. Natural recovery is defined
by individuals who have low to moderate addiction problems and that
can be resolved through nonprofessional recovery supports within
their family, community, or brief professional intervention (White).
Ultimately, all of these studies emphasize establishing a
relationship between community and recovery. With this relationship,
it establishes improvement in drug use, medical, family, and
psychiatric problems (White). Furthermore, these studies convey how
these types of improvements can affect social mobilization.
Effects on Mobilization:
Wang gives great examples of how those suffering with addiction
negatively effect mobilization. For instance, in Shanwei, China there
was young couple with two children worked very hard during the
Economic Reform. They saved money, bought two grocery stores and
one fish farm on the seaside. Once they started using drugs, they had

Jimenez 9
to sell their properties one by one in order to pay for the drugs
(Wang). This example conveys a decrease in economic growth, which is
a key aspect in social mobilization.
Another aspect of social mobilization is the level of crime activity.
With that being stated, drug use is often related to crime (Wang). In
particular, high or low criminal activity will either decrease or increase
mobilization. Low criminal activity would produce an increase in
mobilization, which implies that high criminal activity will decrease
mobilization. Great examples of a high criminal activity that is
influenced by drug use are prostitution, arson, theft, and murder.
Wang gave an example of how a mother killed her son because she
would rather her son be dead then use drugs. Although this example is
not how a drug user committed a crime (because there are plenty of
those), its an example of how drug use affected others negatively.
Ultimately, these effects on mobilization and data retrieved
convey how a decrease in addiction would increase mobilization. For
instance, with lower drug use and addiction, Oreskovic describes how a
decrease would make improvements in drug use, medical, family, and
psychiatric problems. In addition, Wang introduces the idea of an
increase in employment. Conclusively, with positive effects on
economic growth, criminal activity, employment, and personal growths
(all aspects of social mobilization) there should be an increase in
mobilization and vice versa.

Jimenez 10
Gaps:
Manager et al. explains prevention programs for adolescents;
however, these authors do not really go in-depth about adolescent
treatment procedures. Thus, a gap I have in my research is adolescent
versus adult treatment. For instance, are there any differences
between the structures of recovery programs? Or how should
adolescent treatment be handled, with the same treatment? In addition
to adolescent versus adult treatment, theres a gap in how addiction
begins. In other words, I do have a study that focuses on adolescents;
however, it does not really introduce the topic of how adolescents
begin their addictions. In addition, assume addiction does not start at
the adolescent stage, then that is also another a gap in my research.
Oreskovic et al. touches on the subject of chronic abuse and how
some people are unable to proceed with a program. However, these
authors do not describe any procedures on dealing with these types of
people and how the judicial system handles these types of cases.
Overall, there are a few gaps in my research and these gaps would be
interesting to discover. However, doing further research into the
differences of treatment, how addictions begin, and the procedures of
how chronic abuser are dealt with, will not further my knowledge in the
correlation between drug addiction and social mobility.
Conclusion:

Jimenez 11
Each of these studies convey the relationship between the
community and recovery. Furthermore, these studies give a
background of how mobilization is effected by drug abuse and
addiction. In the present study, Ill display the relationship between
drug abuse and social mobilization. In particular, Ill declare if the
relationship between drug abuse and social mobilization has a positive
or negative correlation.
Hypothesis:
As community involvement increases, drug related crimes decrease.
Research Design:
Data & Data Collection:
I will be collecting data on drug users, usage and rehabilitation methods that
involve community involvement. In particular, I imagine using reports of expert
knowledge, reports of acts, behavior, events, and economic data. I am
choosing these approaches because it will convey the behavior
changes of addicts when moving towards mobilization. In addition, Im
choosing reports because I will not be collecting that data myself; Ill
be researching reports on behavior from knowledgeable observers and
expertise. Hopefully, Ill understand the correlation between
mobilization and drug use.
Proposed Methodological Approach(es):
I

expect to be using an empirical method with mainly qualitative

research. However, there will be times in my research that I will be

using quantitative data in order to clearly support my qualitative
claims.

Jimenez 12
Limitations and Weaknesses:
With such a broad topic about drug abuse and community, there
are a few limitations and weaknesses in my proposal. A main weakness
is that these approaches of social mobility differ from country-tocountry, even state-to-state, so some research may not be able to be
replicated. In other words, there are several definitions of social
mobility and community involvement, thus it makes it rather difficult to
address the subject. Another limitation would be the difference
between adolescent and adult procedures and treatment and the lack
of information on how programs would differ with these age groups.
However, this could be due to the lack of research. Lastly, chronic
abusers are a weakness. However, this weakness doesnt necessary
affect my research too much. Yet, its still important to understand and
to take in consideration that there are individuals who have damaged
parts of their brain due to high amount of abuse and thus cannot
properly or understand the process of rehabilitation.
References Cited:
Evans, Arthur C., Roland Lamb, and William L. White. 2013. The
Community as

Patient: Recovery-Focused Community

Mobilization in Philadelphia, PA
Treatment Quarterly

(USA), 20052012. Alcoholism

31(4): 45065.

Hawkins, J. David., and Richard F. Catalano. 1992. Communities That

Care:

Action

for Drug Abuse Prevention. San Francisco:

Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Jimenez 13

Manager, Tracy Harachi, J. David Hawkins, Kevin P. Haggerty, and

Richard F. Catalano. 1992. Mobilizing Communities to Reduce
Risks for Drug Abuse:

Lessons on Using Research to Guide

Prevention Practice. The Journal of

Primary Prevention 13(1): 3

22.
Oreskovic, Anto et al. 2013. Coerced Addiction Treatment: How,
When and

Whom? Alcoholism: Journal on Alcoholism & Related

Addictions 49(2):

107- 14.

Thurman, Pamela Jumper et al. 2003. Community Readiness: The

Journey to Community Healing. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
35(1): 2731.
Wang, W. 1999. Illegal drug abuse and the community camp
strategy in

China. Journal Of Drug Education 29(2): 97-114.

White, William L. 2009. The Mobilization of Community Resources

to Support Long- Term Addiction Recovery. Journal of Substance
Abuse

Treatment 36(2): 14658.