Addiction to drugs is one of the main causes for homelessness. Drug addiction to pain killers is one of the worse drug addictions today. It is estimated that 2.1 million people abuse or are addicted to pain pills. Even worse, there are now approximately 467,000 people in the United States addicted to heroin and the consequences are rising. One of the consequences of this addiction is homelessness.
The Prescription Drug to Heroin Pipeline
Abusing or actually becoming addicted to prescription pain pills might start out as a back ache or some other pain. A doctor will give the patient a legitimate prescription for opioids or pain pills for a prescribed time period. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, prescriptions for opioid prescriptions skyrocketed from 76 million in 1991 to 207 million in 2013.
There are signs that a
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One of the main consequences of addiction is homelessness.
Drug Abuse as a Cause for Homelessness
Drug abuse and drug addiction can affect many aspects of a person’s life, including relationships, home life and their job. Buying opioids or heroin cost a lot of money per day. In addition to wasting money, drug abuse can cause a person to lose their job. Drug abuse causes job performance to decline and too many sick days. This can lead to the loss of their job.
Without income, it becomes hard to pay rent or mortgage, especially if all of their money is spent on drugs. Being addicted to drugs makes it very hard to get a new job, mainly because most job applicants have to pass a drug test in order to get hired.
This can start a downward spiral. Without a job, eviction or foreclosure is probably what happens next. Experts agree that homeless people have a much higher rate of drug abuse than the general population. Once homeless, it becomes even harder to get another job without a place to