The United States, while only 5% of the world’s population currently
houses 25% of the world’s prisoners and consumes 2/3rd of the world’s
illegal drugs. This startling statistic points to the marriage of
widespread drug addiction and high incarceration rates in the US.
Furthermore, meta-analysis of US prison surveys by the Center of
Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia in 2011 show the ubiquity of
substance abuse and incarceration. More than 60% of prisoners have a
medical substance use disorder (SUD) at the time of their arrest with an
additional 20% being classified as substance-involved. Only 163,000 of
the 1.5 million inmates arrested with SUD receive professional
treatment, most of this peer counseling. Only two out of every ten
thousand prisoners receive pharmacological intervention. Last year
Boehmer, et al. discovered that a 35% increase in the use of opioid
maintenance treatment decreased the prevalence of opioid use disorder in
German prisons. If similar medical methods were
instituted at US prisons many prisoners could be freed
from substance addiction. In the documentary, Into the Abyss, a remorseful father feels his 30+ year absence due to incarceration for drug
addiction contributed to his son committing a triple homicide in a grand
theft auto gone awry. Therefore, not only is treatment of drug
addiction a question of medical ethics and justice, but also a question
of preventing generational cycles of crime.
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