Addiction has always been a topic with a huge stigma around it. Though most people usually stick addiction and drugs or alcohol together, there are so many other options as well such as caffeine addiction, gambling addiction, video game addiction, etc. All can be dangerous in the worst cases, but some people don’t see it. For drug and alcohol addiction itself, some facilitators are trying to open up facilities in the community, but because there is such a stigma about addiction, neighborhoods are using the phenomenon “not in my backyard.” This means that communities are pushing back against having an addiction facility in their neighborhood.
Communities could be against addiction facilities in their neighborhood for various reasons. One of the biggest is that addicts are usually correlated with crime, such as robbery, but can even be as serious as murder. Other reasons can include a decrease in property value, overcrowding in the neighborhood, increase in traffic, louder noises, and the hostile behaviors it can bring about (Hamberman, 2016). Research has actually found that “the mean count of violent crime was significantly lower around drug treatment facilities compared to areas around liquor stores and corner stores, and there was no significant difference between the crime count around drug treatment centers and convenience stores” (Hamberman, 2016). Regardless of what people think, it was actually found that the treatment centers have a much smaller crime rate than other medical facilities (Hamberman, 2016). It actually seems as though people would prefer to have addicts who are untreated in the community rather than have a treatment center. It is extremely backwards as the thought is that treatment centers will bring in more crime, when in reality, untreated addicts will bring in more crime.
When researching articles on this topic, this writer came upon an article about opening up a treatment facility. Michael Harris started looking into creating a transitional-living house in a neighborhood in Arizona. He wanted to create a house to “help drug offenders such as himself stay clean after their release from prison” (Walsh, 2018). The house would only hold five to six men, whom he started working with for six months now, who have a history of low-level drug arrests (Walsh, 2018). These men would be responsible to attend addiction counseling, take drug test, and have a curfew all while being monitored by cameras throughout the house (Walsh, 2018). Though the facility plans seem reasonable, Harris is getting some backlash from the community. One couple in particular, The Blacks, do not want the facility in their neighborhood. They believe it would be too dangerous and that crime rates would go up. They also do not feel it is safe to raise their young children. The couple is also concerned that there won’t be enough monitoring of the residents. Harris stated that “he would probably be on the premises 50 percent of the time, but he may have to hire other qualified people to be there when he is not available” (Walsh, 2018). Unfortunately, they are contemplating moving if the facility does move in, even though the Mayor told residents not to overreact and “if you are a little bit discouraged right now, please hang on… There are great things ahead” (Walsh, 2018). Fortunately for Harris, the Mayor is on his side and does agree that the town needs a sober living facility and that it will do wonders, but he is still receiving negative backlash as well. The Mayor has been advocating for Harris and his facility by working on community development (Pyles, 2014, p. 20). He believes it is a great idea as it is working well in other cities in Arizona as there is a huge spike in the development of the sober living homes. The Blacks are actually a great example of protest because they are protesting the treatment center (Pyles, 2014, p. 20). They think it is a great idea to have, but prefer to not have it so close to their home. They are very open about their opinion and have spoken to multiple people about it.
As a social worker, it is our job to advocate for the clients. The clients in this case would be the addicts who need more sober living homes. We must be the voices for them and help them get the help that they need. Not only should we be advocating for the clients, but also educating the community. As social workers, we should be teaching the community how safe these houses would be. Safety seems to be the biggest concern for them. They may agree that the homes are a necessity, but may not want them in their home. Research has proved that there are very low crime rates around the homes. Social workers must educate the community that the addicts will be watched under surveillance, have someone in the home with them constantly (maybe even a security guard), and undergo drug test. The social workers can even be mediators between the facilitator and neighborhoods and work to negotiate what the neighborhoods would want such as security guards and fenced in property. Through mediation, everyone can work together to solve any problems each party has. Social workers would play a huge role in a situation like this.
As for this writers’ views on sober living homes, they seem to be extremely beneficial to the clients. It can be tough having them in your own community, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will make the community any more dangerous. As social workers, we can appreciate and understand people believing in the facility, but not wanting it in their own backyard. But the fact is that if these facilities are receiving the backlash wherever they go, where else can they go? As a community, we should be coming together to reduce the number of addicts in our neighborhoods and not the number of facilities that help them. Protesting these facilities that are helping addicts are only increasing the number of addicts in communities. As social workers, this is where we become researchers and show the communities our findings and how dangerous it can be to not have sober living homes.
In all, social workers can play a major role in addiction and not my backyard views. It is very important to help open up the communities’ eyes to seeing how helpful it can be. As a community, we should be more open minded into helping addicts help themselves and reducing the stigma around it.