United States has faced a challenge of substance abuse and dependence, which has being evidenced in more than twenty million individual cases (Inciardi, & McElrath, 2009). Of this population, one-third is women. Men and women depict differences in addiction based on the pathways and precursors to addition, as well as the process of addiction. Substance abuse leads to loss of life. Scientific studies on women and drugs indicate that substance-abusing women are vulnerable and highly marginalized population. They are identified in terms of mental illness, homelessness, poverty, and intimate partner violence (Inciardi, & McElrath, 2009). As such, the most effective means of eliminating the overwhelming problem of drugs is treatment. This treatment may occur in one of the following modalities depending on the type of drug; residential therapeutic communities, chemical detoxification, drug-free outpatient treatment, methadone maintenance, or self-help groups (Inciardi, & McElrath, 2009).
Therapeutic community is an approach, which needs adoption in the treatment of drug problem. This approach focuses on changing lifestyles and has a significant impact in minimizing the drug problem. The approach considers life problems to be the major source of drug problems. This contradicts methadone maintenance, which views addiction as one of the major diseases in society.
Since these communities have been there since historical times, they need to be modernized by ensuring that their processes and activities adopt the current levels of technology. This will ensure that they are easily adopted to all gender groups irrespective of the age gaps. Nevertheless, there should be an integration between therapeutic communities and methadone maintenance treatment in order to attain success in the process of drug treatment. This will contribute towards counteracting the impact of social deviance.
Personal opinion on drug treatment is that each treatment as a different level of effectiveness, which is dependent on the type of drug consumed by an individual. This depicts that there is a need of having an effective prognosis of the drug prior to recommendation of the treatment strategy to be adopted. On the area of women research, more research should focus on how to incorporate drug affected women in the treatment programs, as well as the impact of these programs to the women. This will aid in evaluating the effectiveness of these strategies.
References
Inciardi, J & McElrath, K. (2009). The American Drug Scene: An Anthology. New York: Oxford University Press.
