11.4 Treatment, Jail, or Justice?
Christopher Byers
Preface
I always thought of myself as someone who has been the underdog in life. From my sister’s death, to homelessness, to drug addiction, I thought I had it worse than anyone in the world. My negative experiences played a role in shaping my belief systems about myself and the world around me and, in a way, encapsulated my thinking by keeping me “unique.” But then, that all began to change for me.
It all started with a class. In an HDFS class at Linn-Benton Community College (LBCC), I was introduced to a concept that altered my perception of the world and how I fit into it in a significant way. I began to learn how maybe after all these years of believing I had a hard life and everyone had it easy, this was not the case. I learned about concepts such as privilege, sociological imagination, equity, social constructivism, and many other concepts like those that helped me to slowly and, sometimes painfully, open my eyes to the reality of life.
When I learned about privilege, I had the hardest time wrapping my head around that one. How could I, someone whose sister died and who experienced homelessness and drug addiction, be privileged? I thought at first that it didn’t apply to me. However, through much internal reflection, writing, and processing with people in my life and with my professor, I began to slowly understand what privilege means. That concept alone was a catalyst for me to dive further into researching injustice in the United States. It really inspired me to do a lot of deep reflective work on my own social identity and what it means to be who I am in the United States. I see it as a path of healing not only for myself but for many of us who choose to seek it.
Mental Health and Substance Use
Humans have been ingesting drugs for thousands of years. And throughout recorded time, significant numbers of nearly every society on earth have used one or more drugs to achieve certain desired physical or mental states. Drug use comes close to being universal, both worldwide and throughout history.
—Erich Goode
To the extent that social inequality, social interaction, and drug culture contribute to substance use, it is a mistake to attribute substance use only to biological and psychological factors. While these factors do play a role, it would be a mistake to ignore the social environments in which people participate in substance use. The role that the family plays in substance use potential is vastly underestimated. Weak family bonds and school connections are often seen as a major role in the development of substance use in adolescents. Weak bonds to family members prompt adolescents to be less likely to conform to conventional norms and more likely to engage in using drugs and other deviant behavior. Healthy family bonds, coping with trauma, learning how to identify feelings, and open communication all play a positive role in the reduction and prevention of potential substance use by famil