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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

drug treatment availability, child abuse, substance abuse

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Economics

Abstract

The consumption of illicit drugs is on the rise. In 2013 the number of people in the United States who admitted that they had used an illegal drug in the last month rose to an all-time high of 24.6 million (NIDA). As drug use spreads across the nation, so do efforts and initiatives to curb its rampant negative effects, ranging from stricter law enforcement, more comprehensive treatment, and broader inoculation efforts. While it seems that few of these interventions have proven to be effective—let alone cost effective—Swensen (2015) demonstrated that more available significantly reduces the number of drug related deaths in the counties where they function. This project assessed whether the availability of drug treatment has positive spillover effects on negative behaviors like child abuse that are highly correlated with substance abuse.

Included in

Economics Commons

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