Drug Overdoses Increase in the Homeless and Impoverished

Courtesy of Above It All Treatment

Impoverished and homeless populations have long had a tie to higher rates of drug use, abuse, and overdose; the most recent studies, show that these rates have skyrocketed in the past few years -- leading to "drug overdose" as the number one cause of death in the homeless and impoverished -- surpassing HIV/AIDS for the first time.

The results of this study came from over 5 years of data provided by homeless individuals participating in Boston's Healthcare for the Homeless program. An isolated case study in the Boston area, researchers promote that this trend can also be related to other urban areas across the United States.

There are a few certain aspects of this research study that do pose problems, however. Firstly, this only applies to those homeless people that took part in the program willingly while alive. There are no specifications as to whether or not all possible overdoses of homeless individuals were originally treated at a hospital -- under the Healthcare for the Homeless program -- or whether or not HIV/AIDS patients were able to migrate from the Healthcare for the Homeless program to other qualified programs. All of these un-specified aspects can definitely cause some wavering in the numbers, but the general concession is that these numbers are correct. More homeless people are dying of drug overdoses these days than from HIV/Aids.

While this does show that HIV/AIDS raids are beginning to slow, it also shows that drug use is quickly passing up traditional diseases as the leading cause of deaths in the US. While we have been making some headway for the past several decades, in offering more public health knowledge, warnings, and information about diseases (especially STDs such as AIDS); this also proves that we have turned a blind eye to those that are struggling with addictions to drugs and alcohol. Health officials are beginning to take the news of these studies as a sign that more needs to be done to offer more drug rehab classes, counseling, and 12 step recovery programs.

How 12 Step Programs Breed Continued Success

There are a number of different types of programs used to treat chemical dependency and addiction, each of them utilizing their own form of guidelines. Christian rehab programs often use the bible's laws of morality and the teachings of Jesus Christ as the groundwork for their treatment, while homeopathic and naturopathic programs use spirituality and and the laws of nature to guide patients along in their journeys. 12 step recovery programs use the twelve steps themselves to work as a rigid structure in which patients can navigate their way to sobriety. The twelve steps are as follows:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

The 12 step method has been touted and heralded for its success for many years now, and many believe that the rigid guideline -- and not the steps themselves -- is the reason. during the path to sobriety, the individual needs structure; not only to keep the mind occupied, but also to draw a clear path to success so that that person can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Above It All Treatment Center in California is a huge proponent of the 12 step program, but also employs other treatment types in its arsenal of programs. Above It All understands that patients battling addiction often feel that they are at a dead end, or "have hit rock bottom." When a patient reaches this point, it is essential to illustrate a way out that not only gives them the initial push towards success, but also escorts them all the way through to sobriety.

To learn more about drug and alcohol treatment programs, and how their structures can offer higher chances of success, read about the program options Above It All offers at:

www.aboveitalltreatment.com/