This project concerns the secondary sources tasked in providing evidence and research to answer the critical research question of “Why has addiction risen during the pandemic, and what steps can be taken to prevent it.” The first source is answering the first part of that CRQ, it is an article by Michel Rounds an addiction recovery specialist. His article published by psychology today sheds light on why addiction has risen in the pandemic. Rounds makes his first remarks saying “When an individual is isolated at home and there is nothing to do, the individual often turns to things that are deemed unhealthy for them” (Psychology Today). He then goes on to explain how “Over 81,000 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States in the 12 months ending in May 2020, the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period.” (Psychology Today). These are small quotes of a much larger article written by Rounds to bring attention to suffering addicts during the COVID-19 pandemic. His main point was that isolation and quarantine created a vortex of addiction as peoples boredom turned into a dangerous search for excitement. The rhetorical strategies he uses are his credibility as a former addict and a professional recovery specialist, that as well as using factual evidence from places like the CDC make a compelling argument for his side. This seems to be adding on to a long time discourse of addiction specialists who all seem to agree, as observed in this project's preliminary research, that isolation and addiction have a positive correlation to one another. This secondary piece of research is in a word, valid. The author is very credible and makes compelling and reasonable claims, but still backs them up with evidence even though most would not take a second glance. As to the question of the CRQ, the first piece of research as seen here answers the first part of my CRQ as to why addiction has risen. The second part is more difficult to answer but vastly more important to find.
Finding the answers to how one can solve the problem of addiction during the pandemic is more difficult than finding the cause. The answer lies in the National Library of Medicine as they published an article describing SUD (substance use disorder) increase during the pandemic. The article states “Addiction care must be reinforced, instead of postponed, in order to avoid complications of both SUD and COVID-19 and to prevent the transmission of coronavirus.”(National Library of Medicine). It seems here the clear line between help and hurt is whether or not addicts can get treatment or if those critical treatments have been shut down or closed because of the pandemic. This article is very credible as it was published in May of 2020 and was published by none other than the National Library of Medicine. The authors point to this article was that the blanket shut downs that governments have employed to combat covid have caused critical treatment centers to close as well. Thus the rise in both addiction rates and fatal overdoses. Their purpose was to explain to their audience that while some COVID-19 measures are very helpful others are counterproductive to the salvation of the people there trying to save. The authors use the logical argument and evidence based claims to create a very comprehensive argument. The discourse this article is surrounded by is journals and scholars writing in favor of the COVID-19 measures and shut downs, making this article out of left field in a sense. In terms of the overall critique of this source it is rather positive. The credibility, logical argument, and level of evidence provided to support the claims of the authors provides solid ground for a great secondary research piece. The National Library of Medicine is clearly “on the ball” with their articles as they provide all citation materials, author credentials and peer reviewed publications. The question of what steps can be taken to solve the epidemic of addiction has an obvious and critical step: open treatment centers. This research will provide answers to the CRQ, and relates well to the interviews in the previous writing project.
Citations
Ornell, Felipe et al. “The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on substance use: Implications for prevention and treatment.” Psychiatry research vol. 289 (2020): 113096. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113096
Rounds, Michael J. How Is Addiction Affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic? 14 Jan. 2021, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/10000-days-sober/202101/how-is-addiction-affected-the-covid-19-pandemic.