Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-4-2022
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Public Policy Leadership
First Advisor
Kyle Fritz
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
People struggling with addiction in the United States of America deserve better treatment. The current stigma of people struggling with addiction as moral failures perpetuates a policy of drugs that sees them as criminal. This policy should be repealed and a better culture of care should be created. People struggling with addiction deserve a standard of treatment based on the core tenet of human dignity. In engaging with the history and cultural beliefs that are the foundation of this mistreatment, this same tenet of dignity must be upheld. This specifically comes into my project when exploring methods of changing these very cultural understandings. To explore how this can be done, I look at methods of influence and leadership, identifying that government leaders have a moral obligation to right historical and present wrongs. I evaluate potential methods on the basis of their effectiveness and their respect for human dignity. I arrive at a method that focuses on autonomous leader-follower relationships with the purpose of discerning the public good. I apply this method to potential visibility and outreach strategies on the local government level and classify my proposal as a matter of justice and equity for people struggling with addiction.
Recommended Citation
Fennell, Jacob, "Confronting Stigma: Ethical Leadership, Influence, and the Dignity of People Struggling with Addiction" (2022). Honors Theses. 2599.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/2599
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