Addiction to substances such as illegal drugs and alcohol are something that many people are familiar with. In fact, recent socio-political events have now put the spotlight into this glaring menace that many Filipinos have succumbed to. Now, more people know just how many are addicted to drugs, with figures estimated to be over 3 million.
However, it’s not just these 3 million people who are affected by addiction.
Image source: propagandapress
Addiction to drugs and alcohol have disastrous social and financial consequences, especially to the immediate family of the addict. Addiction can infiltrate what could be a happy and warm home, turn it on its head, and wreck it all down. This so-called menace also have long-lasting, profound effects on everyone swallowed into its dark shadows.
The Law of Diminishing Returns
Addiction is a compulsion, an uncontrollable yet fruitless struggle to overcome a state of diminishing returns. This means that something of a large quantity is not proportionally satisfying as a small quantity. One example is eating a pie. While eating a single slice of pie can make one feel good or satisfied, eating ten slices of it is not ten times more satisfying. Each following slice will even be less satisfying than the last.
So when it comes to drugs, people who are addicted can often come to realize how unsatisfying theitr addition is. But instead of stopping, they continue to take it, hoping that they can still feel the satisfying, euphoric feeling that they associate with taking the drug. And thus continues a deadly cycle that chains the addict not just to the drug but to the behavior, making it difficult to stop however they try.
Addiction and Poverty
All over the globe, addiction is associated with poverty. However, this doesn’t mean to say that it is only the poor who are addicted, as addiction doesn’t choose its victims. However, many people, in the hopes of escaping or finding respite or joy amidst their problems, are the ones who are most often drawn to substance addiction. Addiction is an easy way to be instantly gratified, which many low-income households find pleasure in as they struggle to live from paycheck to paycheck.
The link between poverty and addiction goes the other way as well. Addiction can lead to financial ruin as maintaining the behavior can make maintaining financial security and stability difficult. Addicts can blow their full month’s salary on drugs or alcohol, as well as the consequences of their actions. For example, addiction can causes health problems, which can hugely affect employment and finances. Addiction can also cause people to turn to illegal activities to support their habit, which can also cause incarceration.
Aside from all these, addiction can also result to problems at work and at home, resulting to unemployment or termination and broken homes.
As the addict sinks further and further into debt and financial ruin, the more they will turn to drugs or alcohol for comfort, thus continuing the cycle.
The Cost of Addiction
Addiction’s costs are insidious. It can creep on you without you knowing. A gram of shabu can cost around Php 5,000 in 2012, but by 2015, it has cost around Php1,000 per gram due to competition among drug cartels operating in the country. Despite this, taking shabu regularly can add up to a family’s daily costs, when money could be better spent on food, health, or education.
Then there’s the problems with work. They may first start out not going to work, going home without enough pay, acquiring debts, selling their stuff, until a day comes when they’re completely broke. Jobless, they may even have a harder time securing jobs, leaving them unemployed for long periods of time. For teens, not being able to graduate can cause them to obtain secure and high-paying jobs. There’s also the legal costs entailed when the addict comes across brushes with the law or have committed crimes.
Aside from this, there’s the medical costs to consider, as addiction causes a plethora of health problems that can add up in the long run. Opportunity costs are consider as well, as life experiences, enriching activities, and education are set aside in order to look and use drugs.
For families, the problems become loud and clear. Children from drug addicted households are more likely to be physically, mentally, and sexually abused. And the problem snowballs into generations. As abusers grew up in abusive households too, it’s hard for them and their own children to break free from the lifestyle, the life that they grew up in.
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