Connection Between Substance Abuse And Violence: There’s Research Money For This?
As if it weren’t obvious, there is now a study to support that those who use drugs are more likely to be violent than those who don’t. Also, it seems that the research implicates alcohol as having a critical role in instigating said violence, especially when combined with other drugs.
Shocker.
Says Dr. Jeff Kretschmar, a project director at Kent State University’s Institute for the Study and Prevention of Violence (ISPV): “By far the greatest support for a link between substance use and violent behavior involves alcohol.”
Excuse me, but to whom is this surprising? Or even newsworthy? Are not the number of assault arrests that are drug-related a first clue? If not, hasn’t everyone—at the very least—run into a drunk and violent frat boy or neighborhood jerk in their day? A belligerent aunt who had too many chardonnays at Thanksgiving? Come on.
Cambridge, apparently, isn’t convinced. They continue to pour money into this kind of research. It sounds like something President Bush would deem budget-worthy.
I will say this, though: No one ever did any research to support the idea that opiate users were violent. In fact, if anything, those who use painkillers are perhaps the least violent drug users, in league with marijuana smokers in their relaxed state. Perhaps if there were a few studies done on those who used Subutex and Suboxone to detox off of prescription drugs and the lack of violence in their lives, then we could get some funding where it really matters: for federally funded buprenorphine prescriptions for those who really need it.
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