America’s Drug Problem and Recidivism among Substance Offenders (Essay Sample)

America’s Drug Problem and Recidivism among Substance Offenders
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America’s Drug Problem and Recidivism among Substance Offenders
America`s drug problem has been identified as a significant social problem in the U.S. for over 40 years. Worrall (2018, p.13) enumerated three reasons for this; first, enforcing drug laws is so costly, second, people make a lot of money from selling illegal drugs to clients, and third, personal drug use measured indirectly is huge.
The “Drug Problem” in the United States
There are two main survey agency that the government used to measure drug use-especially occasional use in America (Worrall, 2018, p.14). The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), (formerly titled National Household Survey on Drug Abuse) began in 1979, funded through Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to provide national data regarding drug using trends (p.14). NSDUH strives to (1) provide accurate data on the level and patterns of licit and illicit drug use; (2) track trends in the use of alcohol, tobacco, and various types of drugs; (3) assess the consequences of drug use and abuse; and (4) identify groups with a high risk for drug abuse (SAMHSA, n.d.). NSDUH population estimates of substance use and related disorders across the entire U.S. general population employ a multistage area probability sampling method to select a representative sample of the non-institutionalized population aged 12 years or older. Participants included in the NSDUH study include: household residents; residents of shelters, rooming houses, and group homes; residents of Alaska and Hawaii; and civilians residing on military bases. The 2012 NSDUH report (SAMHSA, 2013) estimated that 23.9 million Americans aged 12 or older were current (past month) illicit drug users; they had used an illicit drug 30 days prior to the survey interview. This included drugs such as: marijuana/hashish, cocaine /crack, heroin, hallucinogens, and prescription-type medicines. The 2012 NSDUH report indicated that the use of addictive medications—prescribed and over-the-counter (OTC)--is becoming an increasing and more accepted part of many young people’s lives as evidenced by use among people ages 12 or over increasing from 8.1 percent in 2008 to 9.2 percent in 2012.