We hear so much about drug addicts becoming criminals and criminals being drug addicts that two terms seem to be mostly synonymous. What is it with substance abuse that makes people to resort to a life of crime?

Mostly, it is the need for money. One implication of drug abuse that normal society fails to realize is that the habit costs a lot of money. Most drugs are self-accelerating. The person will begin with smaller doses but will soon require higher doses to get the same kind of high. It is not easy to keep up this bodily demand without having a lot of money for the habit.So what does a person do when the money starts dwindling but the habit doesn’t do anywhere? Quite understandably, the person will look for other avenues for money. Stealing from home will be the first step in this direction. Then the person may graduate to stealing from the office, from the neighborhood, even from the church collection box. If you think that these habits are going to be unnoticed for a long time, you have no faith in our legal system.

As the habit grows, the crime will proportionately increase too. And the law doesn’t take kindly to even light offenders if they have a drug addiction history. Many drug addicts who are arrested are ordered by the court to get into a drug rehab program, and they are kept on parole for a fixed period of time.

Getting substance abuse treatment is a good option for people who are already into a drug addiction to save themselves from all these embarrassing complications. It is advisable to get humane treatment before things get nasty.