Drug and Alcohol Abuse on the Police Force Essay

Drug and Alcohol Abuse on the Police Force - Essay Example d other drugs to some extent, the greatest reason being on-the-job stress – they consume them as a way of helping them deal with the stress that is related to being on their kind of job (occupational stress) (Hensaw, Murphy & Morse, 10). Genovese and Genovese who also support this point indicate that there exists a strong sub-cultural more amongst police officers, which encourages drinking both for stress-reduction as well as social purposes. In Iraqi, where addiction has increased in the course of three decades of economic hardship and war, the year 2010 saw an increase in the numbers of members of the security force who became reliant on drugs or alcohol. This raised concerns regarding a considerable problem of addiction among the armed services of this country as the insurgency continued being a strong force and as American troops prepared to depart towards the end of last year. Military and police officials in Iraqi confess that in some parts of Iraq, as many as 50% of their colleagues use drugs or alcohol while on duty. These include high-ranking officers. There is no way of knowing the correct number of the members of the security force who are dependent on drug and alcohol. However, interviews with scores of health officials, police officers, soldiers, drug dealers, pharmacists and political leaders in the country reveal that drug and alcohol abuse among the military, police and security force has become progressi vely more common and seems to have grown considerably. Although those who confess to using alcohol and drugs while on duty admit that they cause erratic behavior, they state that working at checkpoints for long hours, perpetual fear and observing the horrible deaths of their colleagues make the use of alcohol and drugs less an option than a necessity. Some senior Iraqi army and police officers declared that they were reluctant to take punitive action against drug abusers because they were usually among their most courageous fighters (Williams &