Drug abuse impacts are cumulative influencing negatively people using them, their families, and their communities at large. According to Spooner and Hetherington (2004), problematic drug use is increasing bringing with them various psychosocial problems. Both individual and community factors such as the socio-cultural norms, drug availability, and initiation venues contribute to drug use and their related psychosocial problems (Spooner and Hetherington, 2004). However, the traditional drug prevention measures focus mainly on changing the person’s behavior, which only has limited effects especially if the contributing social determinant such as the economic, socio-cultural and physical environment remains the same.
To lead an adaptive change in the drug abuse problem the criminal justice leadership should start by identifying and accepting responsibility for their contributions to the current drug abuse problem (Heifetz and Linsky, 2002). They can avoid being sidelined and vulnerable from the community’s attack in the drug problem by avoiding pointing fingers to people within and outside the community thus, accepting a share of responsibility. The leader ought to make simple helpful observations to the community on drug use, ask pertinent questions on the socio-cultural norms and initiation venues, which enlightens them while giving helpful interpretations of the existing drug problem. According to Heifetz and Linsky (2002), the community is willing to make the necessary sacrifices if they understand the reasons for their activities. Therefore, a leader ought to help the community understand whom and what they are willing to let go, in the various values accepted and honored in the community that needs sacrifice for obtaining the sustainable solution in the drug use problem.
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Additionally, the leaders ought to acknowledge the loss of the community, when they tell them to get rid of their socio-cultural norms, venues, and selling drugs for the sake of obtaining long term effects in the drug abuse problem (Heifetz & Linsky, 2002). The leader can adopt simple statements to show the community they are grieving with them as well as in the memorialization of their loss to show that they understand the real value of what they have to do away with to achieve better results in the drug problem issue (Heifetz & Linsky, 2002). Assessing the case of Mayor Giuliani after the 9/11 attack, he acknowledged people's struggle to adapt to their pre-attacks normal events thus, encouraged them to be strong and avoid giving in to the attackers' intentions, which were to scare them. Therefore, the community is the main player in adaptive change, and the criminal justice leadership needs to lead them appropriately towards that change.
References
Heifetz, R., Linsky, M., (2002). Leadership on the line: staying alive through the dangers of leading. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. ISBN No. 1-57851-437-1.
Spooner, C., & Hetherington, K. (2005). Social determinants of drug use . Sydney, Australia: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales.
