Research Proposal - Researching Drug Abusers

Hypothesis

In researching drug abusers I have found many theories on drug-abuse and abusers. Also through my own personal experiences how drugs can destroy a person and his or her own life. Seen time and time again people struggle to stay clean and have been astonished at how many times a person can go through rehabilitation and successful complete only to relapse a year or less later. Paying for the treatment of drug abuser can be very costly, especially when it is unsuccessful and the person at some point later enters back into rehab to once again clean up. My partner and I have looked thoroughly at other research that has been done on this subject and based on our discoveries we have found that the average drug abuser must go through rehabilitation a total of seven times before becoming successful at staying clean. We however will be conducting our own research to ensure that what we have found is correct among drug abusers in Utah.

Statistics have shown that there are currently 17,000 citizens who are either in prison or on probation for drug-related charges. Statistics also show that every month the population in Utah decreases by about 70 people, due to alcohol or illegal drug overdoses. Even more alarmingly, The Department of Health reported that the citizens of Utah are poisoned at twice the national rate. Even worse these numbers are fact that the death rate is contributed more by the use of prescription drugs then by illegal street drugs. Treatment is a must to any drug abuser who decides to discontinue using drugs. Options for drug abusers considering treatment is first outpatient treatment and the other is inpatient treatment. The difference in treatment does not stop at how the treatment is run but also by the results each treatment reflects (Utah Drug Rehab 2011).

Outpatient treatment is the most preferred method of treatment by drug abusers because it is convenient. Outpatient treatment allows him or her to continue life as normal as possible, while seeking treatment. Although this sounds easy to many people it has been found to be problematic. Allowing people to continue their lives and to interact with friends and family, who may also have the same type of drug addiction. This ultimately sets up the perfect environment for relapse. Outpatient treatment has a success rate of about 10 percent that is quite low in comparison to inpatient treatment. Outpatient treatment is designed towards the traditional

12-step model, that includes meetings, which consist of group therapy. These meeting also set up recovering addicts to fail because these meetings are full of stories about drug addictions and many failures others have experienced leaving everyone with a lasting impression that they will forever be addicted (UtahDrugRehab 2011).

Numbers show inpatient treatment is definitely more effective than Outpatient treatment. Many people believe the reason behind this is because it takes the drug abuser away from their environments and friends who carry the same drug habits. This makes it a little easier for the drug abuser to break out of their habit-related patterns. This allows the drug offender to focus more on overcoming their drug addiction without any distractions or temptations. The highest success rates also show up in those who participate in an inpatient program the last at