In recent years, many facilities and government grants have been dedicated to assisting underserved rural and urban communities in decreasing mental illness and substance abuse. However, this struck me as odd.
The reason why I thought it was odd that the federal government is still pouring so much money into organizations dealing with mental health
and substance abuse is because I thought the issue of substance abuse has been curbed dramatically after the '90s. After all, the DEA has run an expansive drug war for the last decade or so; eliminating many meth labs across the United States, arresting and stopping incoming cocaine from South America, etc.
Well, I was partially right and partially wrong.
While blatant substance abuse may slowly be on the decline due to rigorous measurements taken by the DEA, the connection of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and substance abuse are only just being discovered.
As Schizophrenia.Com, a non-profit research organization state in their resource publications, "use of street drugs (including LSD,methamphetamine,marijuana/hash/cannabis) and alcohol have been linked with significantly increased probability of developing psychosis and schizophrenia". This claim is based on research done in the last twenty years in U.K., Australia, and Sweden.
From this angle, it seems to make more sense that the government is combining resources and organizations to battle substance abuse and mental illnesses. For while substance abuse may be on the decline, previously unknown effects, such as schizophrenia, is only starting to be understood, researched, and handled.
But should the government focus more energy on awareness as opposed to giving health care to those already affected? Should we dedicate more research to figuring out the causes and triggering mechanism and "cure" for schizophrenia and other psychosis?
