Miscellaneous

Blog Action Day 2008: Poverty, or How Low Can You Go?

By Anne Skove, Esq.

How do addicts hit rock bottom? It's a question drug court judges, social workers, counselors, family members, friends, prosecutors, and yes even (especially?) attorneys representing addicted clients, have asked time and again.

Mike Henson, who writes about poverty and addiction for StreetVibes, explains:

"Reality smacks them in the face. Concerned family or friends can help raise the bottom by setting limits. The courts can intervene. In some cases, a few nights sleeping on the sidewalk -- and waking up cold in the morning with the sidewalk grit in your face and hair -- can be enough to convince an addict that he or she needs help."

Court can be a wake-up call for many. It brings problems to light and into the public sphere. Still, the revolving door of the courthouse causes us to see the same people over and over: repeat offenders, hardcore drunk drivers, recidivists.

Rock bottom is elusive because it is so subjective. Henson asks "Why is it that some people find their bottom on the first little bump -- a DUI or a warning from a spouse? Why is it that others will drink and drug themselves into disease and death?"

Certainly, we have all seen someone dive towards what we would consider rock bottom, only to find that their low is lower than we can imagine. Or maybe we've looked up from some unfathomable hole of whatever sort ourselves.

One reason for the differences in perception is the addiction itself. Addicts "all come bundled with denial," says Henson.

Other factors are at work. One of those is poverty. According to Henson:

"Poverty skews the bottom. [...] If you are raised to believe everyone goes to jail at one time or another, as it seems in many poor communities, then jail becomes a rite of passage rather than a consequence. If you have learned to do without, you'd better handle situations like hunger or homelessness. If society mocks your poverty and tells you that you count for nothing from the day of your birth, then you might expect nothing. And when nothing comes, it is only a matter of course, not of your use. [...] There are plenty of former high rollers sleeping on sidewalks, too. But poverty complicates the process of hitting bottom simply because the low-income addict is so close to the bottom to begin with."

See "Hitting Bottom," Mike Henson, StreetVibes (October 2008). (As of this writing, the October issue was not yet available online.)

Thanks to f/k/a for the reminder that today is Blog Action Day! This year's focus is poverty.

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on October 15, 2008 (boomark / email).