Social Work: Interconnected Social Problems In The United States

My major is social work which encompasses interconnected social problems such as mental health, drug addiction and homelessness which directly affects the prison populations and Child Welfare agencies. Recently, there have been budget cuts that have affected mental health services causing a chain reaction. A person without access to mental health services will usually self- medicate with drugs which causes overcrowding in local hospitals and prisons, at the same time, these parents are going to prison, because they have a mental illness, and their children are sent to foster care agencies all while the government is cutting funds in these programs.
We all know there is a huge drug epidemic in this country and there are several issues surrounding
treatment. First, the use of suboxone for treatment has been a hot topic, some clinicians agree with this treatment while others say it just leads from addiction from one drug to another. Next is the topic of safe needle exchanges and safe places to inject drugs the idea of these services are controversial due to funding and the stigma associated with drug use, while the point of these services is to reduce diseases and death.
Lastly, the issues women face today. Women face a number of injustices from not receiving equal pay, paying more for health insurance, inadequate sick and maternity leave, lack of contraception and abortion rights, women are more likely to be in poverty, and they are at higher risk for assault and human trafficking.