Jun
9
Putting Out Fires
Filed Under Uncategorized | By Tim Love
I have run across statements asserting that drugs and alcohol cause violence, including sexual violence, in a couple of places recently, and I’ve done a lot of thinking around it. And, since I have this vehicle of the blog, I’m gonna share my thoughts and encourage you to share yours so we can figure this out together.
I’ve run into a lot of folks who have drug and alcohol counseling backgrounds who put forth this belief about the causal nature of drugs and alcohol, as well as folks who’ve lived with violence and substance abuse in their lives, so I want to honor their very real experiences. However, it seems to me that alcohol and drug abuse is more of a symptom, an excuse, and at most correlates to violence. I think that most folks would agree that drugs and alcohol lower ones inhibitions, but it is the underlying propensity towards and belief in the validity and right to violence that causes violence. If alcohol is the accelerant that fuels the fire of violence, it is still the fire of violence already burning that must be extinguished if we are to prevent it. If we remove the accelerant (drugs and alcohol) the fire will still burn and people who are violent will find other excuses to justify their violent acts. We know that many people who abuse drugs and alcohol are not violent. Likewise, we know that many people who are violent don’t abuse drugs or alcohol.
As we move forward in our prevention work, we must keep an eye to drug and alcohol abuse as they are factors in many sexual assaults, but we also must remember that the removal of substance abuse will not make our communities safer without first dealing with the underlying violence in individuals, communities and our society as a whole.
I know that not everyone agrees with me, so I really do want to hear your thoughts so that we can have this conversation and learn to understand where each of us is coming from. Maybe we can find a way to talk about drugs and alcohol that allows us to acknowledge its role in sexual violence while maintaining our focus on the underlying conditions that contribute to violence.
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2 Responses to “Putting Out Fires”
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well, time…
you have heard (at least once) my opinion on this matter. (amarillo prevention training)
drugs & alcohol are most definately a symptom of a culture grounded in violence. we can even take it to a deeper level than lowering inhibitions. we could consider that drugs & alcohol free the id, leaving us with no filter.
i am really glad you brought this up, and i look forward to hearing what others think about this!!
I agree with the assertion that drug and alcohol abuse are symptoms of larger societal problem. I posted a blog few months ago alluding to teen pregnancy as a symptom of a larger societal problem. In the blog I sooo wanted to include a piece to applaud the STARS program not with the intention of promoting STARS as a teen pregnancy prevention program but as a tool to addressing gender roles, respect and acceptance. Which I personally feel begins to scratch the surface on the source of societal ills. The more vigilant we become in distinguishing between symptoms and acutal root causes the closer we become in formulating interventions that get to the heart of the problem (proactive)instead of always “putting out fires” (reactive). There my two cents.