Crimes Committed due to the Use of Alcohol and Drugs

By Sarfaraz Haider

Drugs and alcohol can be so destructive - (Kyan Douglas). There is a serious and hazardous relationship between alcohol, drugs and crime across the world. The use of alcohol and drugs can harmfully affect all the aspects of a person’s personal life, family life, social life, occupational life and spiritual life. Alcohol and drugs are occupied in offenses leading to detention. Such as household aggression, driving when drunk, land offenses, drug offenses, and public-order offenses.Alcohol Addiction is rooted to violent crimes, murder, rape, physical abuse, child and spousal abuse more than any illegal drugs .Alcohol is often a factor in violence where the enemy and the casualty know each other. Directly or indirectly, alcohol and drugs influence  every one of us, in our homes, in our families, in our school,  or in our community as well.

The relationship between drugs and crime is composite, and one question is whether drug use leads people into illegal activity or whether those who use drugs were are already predisposed to such activity. Many unlawful drug users commit no other kinds of crimes, and several who commit crimes do not use illegal drugs. However,in the severe state of addiction and drugs, it is highly likely that drugs and crime are interconnected with each other.

There are basically three types of crimes associated with drugs:

• The crimes that result from or involve individuals who use drugs, and who do crimes as a consequence of the effect the drug has on them. Their actions , reactions, responses and mental  processes, i.e thinking, reasoning, problem solving and decision making are all affected negatively.
• Crimes where an individual has to do crimes in order to support a drug habit. These may include economically related activities like robbery, drug dealing and prostitution. Drug addicts are also more likely to be arrested for crimes such as shop theft and stolen goods etc
• Crimes that consequence from the formation of the drug system. They include production, manufacture, transportation, and sale of drugs, as well as violence related to the production or trade of drugs, such as a territory war. 

Causes mentioned above create further problems 

• The sex business easily exploit women, men and children who are involved in drug use. Due to crimes caused by drug addiction, family's face different kinds of illegal complications like jail and court related issues. Many of whom are caught up in the criminal justice system. However, there is evidence that drug use is both a pre-determining factor in such sexual abuse and a means of coping with it.
• Though there is no “root” of abuse and no specific profile of abusers, many factors contribute and make abuse more likely to occur. Due to drug crime there are pressures on the family. Individuals face decrease social support and social network. Social isolation can all lead to parental anxiety and increase the chances that a parent will strike out at their child. 

Other sociological factors are also important in understanding why someone turns to drugs or alcohol or engage in criminal behaviors. These include living conditions, family, employment, marital status and mental hea

Focus on the Solution

• Treatment always works and people can feel better from addiction, maintaining self-denial from alcohol and drugs. Healing offers the best substitute for interrupting the illegal justice cycle for offenders with drug and alcohol problems & decease the criminal behavior. Prison should be a place where people can get the help they need.
• Treatment also saves money. many researches showed that substance abuse treatment saved more money than expenses of substance use in terms of fewer arrests, incarcerate, food stamp use, and less child welfare and medical costs because, criminal behavior decreases as alcohol and drug use decrease, and saving can be use for the benefit and welfare of family .Recovery is possible.

 By Sarfaraz Haider

Clinical Psychologist

Nishan Rehab, Multan.

Overcoming Negativity in Addiction Recovery

By Maryam Malik

Many of us have tried to fight substance abuse by simply deciding not to drink alcohol or throwing away the drugs. Our lives would be much better if only we could quit that easily. But it is so hard to quit the behaviors even after knowing they are harming us.

Addiction isn’t just about the behaviors you engage in. Rather, it’s a complex disease through which the brain’s decision-making processes lead you to act against your own best interests.

By learning how to change problematic thought patterns, we can take back control of our life and overcome addiction! One of the most important steps we can take on our recovery journey is learning how to become a positive thinker.

Make a Conscious Effort to Only Think Positive Thoughts

Positive people don’t live in a magical world full of rainbows and unicorns. Bad things happen to everybody, and we all spend a large portion of our time thinking about life’s challenges.

The difference between positive and negative thinker isn’t what we think about, it’s whether we choose to ruminate over our troubles or respond productively to them. For negative thinkers, every problem in life can feel like a massive boulder cutting off their path through life. But for positive thinkers, life’s struggles become an opportunity to climb over that boulder and continue on their path. The most common types of negative thought patterns are:

• All-or-nothing thinking—Assuming that anything less than perfection is a complete failure.
• Disqualifying the positives—Focusing on the negative aspects of an experience, but fail to acknowledge that these negative aspects are frequently intermingled with positive ones.
• Negative self-labeling—Reacting to negative circumstances by making negative judgments about yourself.
• Catastrophizing—Assuming that actions will result in the worst-case scenario.

When we take a step back and look at these thought processes, we can tell they’re unhelpful and irrational ways to approach problems. If a friend expressed one of these negative thought patterns, we would probably point out the ways in which their thought process was flawed — yet, we often don’t think to step back and correct our own faulty thought patterns.

Nishan Rehab not just focuses on quitting drugs rather help patients to confront problems with positivity. While we might have to cut old friends out of our life as we recover from addiction, our recovery process shouldn’t be a lonely time in our life. It’s important to have the right kind of social support when we are undertaking a life challenge such as overcoming addiction. Making a conscious effort to spend time around positive people can help our brains develop positive thought patterns. These thought patterns help us believe we can overcome the challenges we are facing. When our brain absorbs the speech and logic patterns of positive people, we find our self-talk will become more positive as well.

When it comes to overcoming addiction, you don’t have to go it alone. The experienced addiction specialists at Nishan Rehab are here to support you towards a life free of drug or alcohol addiction. Nishan specialists will design a plan just for you that address your specific needs, concerns, challenges, goals and interests.

By Maryam Malik

Clinical Psychologist

Nishan Rehab, Islamabad