Play grounds, parks and recreational areas are taken over by the drugs trade. Parks, streets and services become no go areas. High levels of unemployment, lower levels of secondary school completion & a high concentration of social housing can leave communities inadequately resourced to deal with these problems.
Communities also suffer from the effects of drug addiction. Overall, substance abuse costs the United States more than $740 billion a year in terms of health care, work productivity and crime; of that figure, illicit drug abuse costs $193 billion and prescription opioid abuse costs another $78.5 billion.