What Do You Assume to Be True About Substance Abusers?

Over the course of the semester I feel I should more closely examine the vulnerable human population of substance abusers.  I think that with this subgroup it is very easy to judge and label substance abusers as bad and wrong (and I definitely believe this to be true in most cases of substance abuse).  I have had contact with substance abusers (in my family and acquaintances) throughout my life and I would like to be able to understand why it is they have come to the conclusion that it is alright to readily abuse substances which alter their personality and actions so greatly from what they were, into someone who is possibly incoherent and frankly quite annoying at times because of it.  I feel that I could further benefit from understanding what it is that happens when a person uses/abuses a substance (such as brain chemistry, and their thought processes) since I do not know that much about it and I feel it could be of use to me if I attain a job in the medical field as a nurse.  I also am not that familiar with the types of substances/drugs which one is able to abuse, so I would like to learn more about them.

The assumptions I have about the substance abuser population are that those who are in this category are pathological liars who will steal from and manipulate those around them so that they will be able to continue the abuse the substance of their choice.  I believe that people who are substance abusers are in a sense bad people (the level of bad varies though I suppose) who often if they have a family will disregard or take lite of those peoples involvement in the situation; or future involvement in the situation.  They don't care that other people will have to deal with the consequences of their substance abuse (such as if they OD, or if they become verbally abusive).  I believe that it can also be said that to some level in my own opinion most substance abusers are people who have not received a good education and are not highly intelligent.  I believe this because one would think that if a person was well educated they would not allow themselves to go down that road when it is so publically advertised that it could and most likely will ruin their life.  I also feel that substance abuse (though I am sure it is not limited to a select group of people) is prevalent among the African American populations and Hispanic populations.

I believe one part that has shaped my view of this group of people is due to those I have talked to briefly about it in my daily life or in classes I have taken. In which they informed me that substance abusers avidly use manipulation and will constantly lie if they think they can benefit from you and use you to their advantage.  I also think that the local news, such as Fox news and the St. Cloud Times have shaped my views since most of the time when you hear about substance abusers it is often those people who were raised and or are currently living in a poor/bad neighborhood.  And most of the time these substance abuse news articles will feature African American/Hispanic peoples who live in a bad part of town and are substance abusers... (I’m not labeling African Americans and Hispanics as substance abusers.... only that most of the articles which I have seen have featured those two races a great portion of the time in regard to substance abuse.... it probably hinges (is made easier) on the economic status (poor community) of the community which allows substance abusers to flourish more readily if I think about it... so it can affect any race… but I will consider that later on....)

I think the most difficult challenge of researching the topic of substance abuse will be finding sources which views do not show an overwhelming bias towards substance abusers, such as them being victims to the substance who can't control their actions, and then those who just have something ethically wrong with them because they have decided to go down the path of substance abuse.  I will most likely also have to deal with my own person encounters of substance abusers, and separate them from the information I gather so that I do not skew my research with my opinions on the subject.