Drugs In Hawaii

The abuse of drugs is an issue in all societies, and it equally affects people living in Hawaii. Drug abuse contributes to a huge amount of deaths and injuries whether it be overdoses, car accidents, or violence related to drug abuse. While Hawaii was below the national average in residents who reported they had used illicit drugs at 8.76%, it is still a number that has been going up steadily every year in the over 10 years since the survey. It is obvious to many people the issues that drugs can pose to a community, but the main point of contention between people is how the problem should be addressed by the community and government. While some people believe that drugs should be cracked down on and heavily enforced, others believe that some compassion for the drug users is necessary, along with the belief that not all recreational drug use is bad. The strain drugs put on a community cannot be understated, and many problems that are seen on a day-to-day basis can be traced back to drugs. 

In dealing with drugs, it is important to note the many other problems that are caused or related to drugs. For instance, while drunk driving is talked about a lot, drugged driving can be just as or more dangerous. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 44% of drivers involved in fatal crashes tested positive for drugs besides alcohol. It is important to note that although these numbers are very high, it is not clear in how many scenarios the drugs found in the person’s system actually affected their driving abilities. Many drug tests can detect drugs in someone at a longer duration as the effects of the drug.  Another big problem is violent crimes that are related to drugs. Many homicides, robberies, and assaults are drug-related, whether drugs were the reason for the violence, or if one or more of the parties involved was using drugs during the incident. 

Homelessness is also a big topic when talking about drug usage, but it is important to know that the two aren’t as related as many people may think. Although drug usage within the homeless population is greater than the non-homeless population, it is still under half the amount of people that are homeless.

Some people believe that drugs should be treated as a criminal problem more than a medical problem. These people believe that the harsh treatment of drug users and dealers encourages other people who may be using drugs to not use drugs. There is also an idea that while drug users should be treated with sympathy, nothing is stopping them from using drugs again if there aren’t any penalties. Some people also believe that people’s bad choices lead them to take drugs and they should be held responsible for those bad choices. Overall, these ideas are very controversial but do have some merit. When Alaska experimented with the decriminalization of marijuana in the 70’s the rate of teens using the drug almost doubled. It could be argued that the treatment of drugs as a criminal issue overall makes the usage rate lower which minimizes the negative effects of drugs. 

The other side argues that drugs should be treated as more of a medical issue. Many of the problems that drug users face are due to the negative stigma of drugs. If someone wants to treat an addiction, it would be harder for them to get the correct treatment because of the negative stigma with drugs. Many people argue that if drugs were treated solely as a criminal issue, then people who did drugs and needed help would never reach out for help because it would be the same as incriminating themselves. People that believe this argue that non-violent drug users have no reason to be treated as criminals as they need to get help and criminal penalties can make people more opposed to giving up drugs, because they don’t feel they are treated well.

Although those are two commonly-held viewpoints, most people are in the middle. A common view people have is that drug users should not be treated as criminals, but the penalties for drug dealers should be very harsh. This is a compromise that many people agree with, but it still has its problems. Many people disagree on the more in-depth details. Some people don’t necessarily disagree with the morality of putting drug users in jail, but they don’t want prisons to be overfilled and prefer to keep drug users out of prison for that reason.

Overall, the discussion on drugs is something that can cause emotions to be high and opinions are very different depending on who you ask. The society-wide problems however are very evident and that is the big problem. Drugs affect individuals in a bad way, but affect society in a much worse way. Drugs as a whole are not the cause of all problems in society, but the reduction of the drug abuse rates would certainly decrease the rates of some other problems that are seen in society.