“It is like drowning except you can see everyone around you breathing just fine.” This is one of the most poignant responses got in a recent project aimed at getting depression sufferers and survivors to explain the illness to those who have never experienced it. I think addiction feels like that too. And I think social justice to avert or reduce addiction is like reaching into the water to pull them out or placing an oxygen mask over them, whereas social injustice is tantamount to tying deadweight to the poor drowning soul.
Addiction is not a new thing (ding-dong! ancient bongs were discovered in Russia in 2013) but what about widespread addiction? This has increased in recent centuries, possibly because social institutions like families, schools, religions, neighborhoods and governments no longer protect us and our young from addiction as they did before. In ancient times such as in my African tribe, there were mechanisms, however subtle, that regulated substance (ab)use, keeping addiction at bay. For example, traditional sorghum and millet beer was strictly consumed at certain ceremonies and meetings by specific people, such as clan elders, revered warriors and the king’s advisors. Women were busy nursing children, weaving baskets, fetching water from the river or gathering firewood. The young were kept actively busy; sent out to graze cattle or as among the community I was born in, the famous Maasai, you were sent out into the wild to hunt a lion. So you see, there was some clear and functional structure.
Compare that with our current generation that boasts of children without bruises because we prefer to close our doors and open our computers. Conversation has become a lost art because we rely on the virtual world to build social support, to feel valued and to be validated. This may be why in recent years Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) has become a reality. Poor self-esteem and cyber-bullying have led to an alarmingly increasing number of young people to abuse prescriptive drugs, such as Vicodin and Xanax, as taking drugs temporarily makes one feel good.
Before delving any deeper, let us take a mental note that there is no set of rules or patterns that people follow in the development of addiction; some zig while others zag, but the bottom line is that all end up addicted. Also addicted people come from various different backgrounds. Their social situations vary and thus, there may be a network of causes, a food chain of sorts with one injustice feeding another.
According to theories by John Rawls and David Miller, social justice promotes human relationships, such as communities, instrumental associations and general citizenship, that fabricate a strong social support system. Without these, some society members, particularly the youth who are susceptible to societal pressures, may venture into drug use in order to gain a sense of belonging.
Social justice also exalts freedom and equality of all people, taking into consideration those excluded and exploited by social forces of privilege and power and empowers people to struggle for a more equitable distribution of social and economic benefits. Such a system allocates a fair share to various people, offering greater personal and political dignity. With absence of such a system, vulnerable society members like those in deplorable socio-economic conditions may spiral down into addiction faster than others, without much chance of survival because education, treatment and detoxification are beyond their means.
Social injustice weakens background institutions, which are the basic structures of society, such as family, school, religion, economy and policy. This can be referred to as “background justice.” These institutions are a buffer between the individual or collective society and averse influences. With their absence comes greater susceptibility to drug use and addiction. Adolescents, for example, are at a stage where the brain is developing ability to assess situations and manage emotions thereby drugs and alcohol lead to increased risk for poor decision-making. To make it worse, some social institutions such as colleges are tolerant of heavy substance abuse and have even come to expect it, throwing the net of addiction further out into the population.
Injustices also exacerbate some risk factors, such as unfavorable environment, lower overall happiness, weakened relationships within the family, drug availability, peer pressure and lack of authority figures, pushing many people to delve into drugs and dive into addiction. Those with individual risk factors, such as being victims of child abuse, having personality disorders and having suicidal tendencies, are more likely to turn to drugs, seeing them as offering a serene escape route. Social shunning and other cultural attitudes that shame addicts also compound risk factors, keeping those secretly and slowly but surely sinking into addiction from reaching out.
Devastating experiences, cultural and social changes are components of social injustice that alter the stabilizing forces of family and community. Native American people, for instance, unfortunately have significant alcohol problems. This is somewhat expected of a people whose native land was invaded and taken over by conquerors and since culture is handed down from one generation to another through family, one can transmit a sense of loss and despair. Other similar experiences can stem from emotional distress brought on by death of a loved one, divorce or intra-family dependence problems.
Social justice is not a goal but a process. It’s a struggle that seems pointless at times like Sisyphus rolling the accursed boulder uphill only to watch it roll back down every time, particularly because procedures alone will not necessarily produce just outcomes. However, we have to strive to move toward a society where all the hungry are fed, all sick are cared for, the environment is treasured and we treat each other with love and compassion, protecting and enhancing the worth of each person. Because we deserve healthier communities. Because addiction is a global grim reaper and social injustice his scythe. Because social justice is not just right. It is just.