Victimization of Drug Addicts and Human Rights (From Crime and Its Victims: International Research and Public Policy Issues, P 267-271, 1989, Emilio C Viano, ed. -- See NCJ-119600)

• NCJ Number: 119625
• Author(s): A Balloni
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 5 pages
• Sale Source: Hemisphere Publishing Corp
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Drug addiction is traditionally classified as a form of criminal or deviant behavior. One of the strongest reactions to this type of deviance is the attempt to "sweep it under the rug" by assigning the task of dealing with it to professional specialists whose main responsibility is to keep it out of public view and concern.

Abstract

There are four aspects of the institutionalized expectation system relative to the sick role: the exemption from normal social role responsibilities, the requirement of being taken care of, the obligation to want to get better, and the seeking of technically competent help in the process of trying to get well. In the case of the drug addict, it is perceived that the consumer of the drug "chooses" his or her behavior, and there is no expectation that the addict will cooperate in his or her cure. Becoming addicted is accompanied by acts held to be illegal that support a program of punishment to cover the entire drug-using system and act as a deterrent. This is in contrast with the treatment ideology that considers drug abuse as an expression of a pathological personality or of an illness. Social therapy is based on the assumption that narcotics constitute a threat to society and the use and abuse of drugs have medical and legal implications. Bibliography