Drugs and Their Impact on Poverty

There are many ways in which the drug problem impacts poverty. The most obvious way drug use impacts poverty is through the fact that drugs are addictive and an addict will do anything to get their drugs. A drug addict will spend their life savings on drugs once all of their money is gone they may then resort to criminal activities such as robbery in order to satisfy their growing habit. This drastically contributes to the issue of poverty because not only is the drug addict in poverty but the victim being robbed is also suffering financially. Crime is closely related to drugs because first of all drugs are a crime whether or not they are used for personal purposes or with intent to sell.
An extremely important issue is the fact that drug users resort to crime but also that the dealers of these drugs are using their profits in illegitimate ways. This affects the economy in a negative sense because the money that the drug dealers are spending on guns, foreign items, and on non taxable merchandise is money that is not going back into the American economy. That issue contributes to poverty because the government is now unable to use those funds to benefit the financially unstable population of the country that need financial assistance such as welfare and other governmental programs. Without those programs the poor will certainly be unable to climb out of poverty which will most likely result in their children living in poverty and also in some cases their children 's children.
Poverty and drug abuse are definitely problems that go hand in hand. People resort to drug use and abuse to escape reality. However, there is evidence that poverty is a considerable risk factor for drug abuse and vice versa. Drug addicts generally use all, or a large portion of house-hold income to buy drugs. Depending upon how expensive the substance, it is a costly hole in one 's pocket especially just entering the real world. To be exact, "Of the forty five thousand addicts in