The opioid crisis has ravaged communities across the nation, resulting in medical reevaluation of drug prescriptions. The addiction to opioids has a lot of complexity and requires immediate solutions, embracing rehabilitation and treatments over punishment. Policymakers should lessen the sentence for prescription opioid misuse and prioritize rehabilitation over Incarceration and training programs since healthcare systems play a critical role in reducing addiction and improving the potential for recovery.
Lessening the punishment for opioid abuse should be the best solution to curb the abuse. The victims addicted to opioid drugs should be treated and rehabilitated as patients, not as criminals. This is because imprisonment cannot address the root cause of opioid addiction. Reducing the punishment for opioid abuse will enable the victim to search for help from health providers. The enforcement agencies can address addiction to opioids through different ways, including treatment and rehabilitation instead of Incarceration of victims. The agencies have a significant role in prioritizing the rehabilitation and treatment of all the addiction victims and facilitating their recovery process. The recovery and treatment plan will offer room for home-based therapies for people with an addiction compared to punishing them (Rosas 113). On the other hand, Incarceration will prioritize the stoppage of abuse but not the recovery of the victims. However, the lessening of opioid possession punishment might encourage more abuse of the drug. A well-structured guideline can be enacted to prevent further abuse of drugs by the victims undergoing rehabilitation programs. Therefore, treatment and rehabilitation will enable most victims to recover from opioid abuse rather than incarcerating them.
Incarceration of victims of opioid abuse can lead to stigmatization. When the victims develop a stigma, they may fear to consult for help. Lessening the punishment will facilitate the victims to seek help from the healthcare providers who have a role to play in the treatment and prevention of addiction. Healthcare providers ensure that there is limited accessibility to opioid drugs by the public undergoing pain management plans. Moreover, health providers have to ensure that they have experienced training programs to avoid overdosing patients with drugs to prevent addiction (Siddiqui and Urman 132). Proper training will help them identify the addiction and treat it accordingly. However, over-regulation could limit access for patients requiring pain management plans. Therefore, healthcare providers are vital in rehabilitating and treating the victims.
Lessening the opioid punishment for opioid abusers will contribute to the implementation of community recovery plans, which will be a vital tool in ensuring ideal recovery and rehabilitation programs for individuals with an addiction. Moreover, the implementation of housing and employment programs will be critically helpful in the recovery process compared with Incarceration, whereby the victims will have minimal health help. Evidence-based treatment and support systems positively impact the successful recovery of victims in the community. Adapting different recovery programs and approaches is vital in addressing the concern involving the effectiveness of recovery programs. Thus, extensive research can improve recovery and adaptation programs for drug addicts under rehabilitation compared to Incarceration.
In conclusion, the punishment for possessing opioids should be reduced to encourage the rehabilitation and treatment of the victims to prioritize their recovery process. The approach improves public health outcomes and crime rates, thus benefiting individuals and the community. Incarceration will only facilitate the stoppage of drug abuse, but it will not facilitate full recovery and rehabilitation of the victims.
Works Cited
Rosas, Raymond D. “From Junkies to Victims: The Racial Projects of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 and the US Opioid Epidemic.” Rhetoric of Health & Medicine 6.1 (2023): 95-124.
Siddiqui, Neha, and Richard D. Urman. “Opioid use disorder and racial/ethnic health disparities: prevention and management.” Current Pain and Headache Reports 26.2 (2022): 129-137.
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