Missoula,
Montana is stereotyped as a hippie college town with a good football team,
middle sized college, and an abundance of friendly faces around every corner. The
friendly faces have facades that indicate that they are happy and carefree with
no problems burdening their lives. But statistics are showing that under those
facades are sad people that feel the need to abuse drugs, misuse guns, and then
commit suicide. The suicide in Missoula county in 2008 showed that there were 29
cases that year, the highest ever. Why such a drastic increase? Drug usage
possibly? Lack of finance possibilities for underprivileged individuals with
mental illnesses? All of the above?
At
this time in history, people are able to obtain prescription drugs, alcohol,
and other substances that potentially cause harm to our bodies. Not only do
these substances hurt us physically, but also skews our mental train of
thought. This causes irrational thoughts and actions, and some of those actions
can lead people to attempt suicide. The availability of guns and drugs for
people is almost overwhelming, as nearly anyone can obtain a gun, alcohol,
prescription drugs, or another form of mind altering substance.
Also,
people that can’t afford to be put into mental institutions or get help with
their mental dilemmas are not given much of an opportunity to get the help they
need, and that also causes a problem, because they are then forced to self-medicate
their problems and sometimes ends up in deep depression, attempted suicide and
even successful suicide. The lack of mental facilities and financial coverage
has a great impact because most people need the mental attention to help aid
them in their struggle and without that they are left to suffer. They then lean
toward drug usage which often acts as an instigator to their mental problems
and leads to further suffrage.
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