> drug abuse being primarily being a function of the existence or lack of interpersonal involvement and responsibilities that would preclude spending time and money on them
AFAIK there have always been addicts in every culture. Alcohol, various drugs, and strongly self destructive behaviors are not recent additions to the human experience. But I don't know any if the numbers or the research on this root cause you mention.
"AFAIK there have always been addicts in every culture."
Surely you would agree that there the proportion of addicts varies by culture and society, that the US for example has a much higher proportion than many poorer nations? I don't know about the first comment's claim that lack of interpersonal relationship is the root cause, but a strong social component looks obvious to me.
I didn't claim that it wasn't culturally-dependent. Both people turning to drugs to self-medicate, and people not supporting and funding effective interventions - people on both sides rejecting or not seeing the opportunity to engage in community-building - is absolutely a culture issue.
I suspect they're referring to experiments like the famous "Rat Park". There is clearly a strong social and environmental component to addiction susceptibility, at least in rats.
I don't know if I'd go as far as to say it's the fundamental problem, but definitely a major factor.
Not the OP, but bring back real jobs and real way of spending your time (like real family and friends) and much of the meth problem will get solved by itself.
> AFAIK there have always been addicts in every culture
Alcohol addicts are a totally different thing compared to drug addicts. You can die as a result of alcohol, but there's nothing like fentanyl in the alcohol world (I'm talking about the scale of the disaster, I know about the few alcohol intoxications here and there).
There is in countries where alcohol is illegal, like in the Middle East. There, wet have similar problems as we have in the western world with poisoned supply - people buying liquor, but it turns out to be bleach. So I'd say bleach in your liquor is the fentanyl of the alcohol world. We don't see that in countries where alcohol is legal though, hmm.
> drug abuse being primarily being a function of the existence or lack of interpersonal involvement and responsibilities that would preclude spending time and money on them
AFAIK there have always been addicts in every culture. Alcohol, various drugs, and strongly self destructive behaviors are not recent additions to the human experience. But I don't know any if the numbers or the research on this root cause you mention.