Volume 8, Issue 1/2, 1996
The City in the 21st Century
George B. Palermo
Pages 1-18
The City Under Siege
Drugs and Crime
This essay explores the impact of alcohol and drug abuse on the individuars life, family, and community in a secularized society. The upsurge of crime in the city is the consequence of many variables, besides drugs and alcohol: lack of education, training, and jobs, the disintegration of the family, and inadequate administration of justice in the midst of a social climate of relativism. There is a need for the reintegration of the family, particularly the re-inclusion of a responsible father as a role model. In order to restore city life, there is an urgent need for a more active religious involvement at all levels, especially for teaching moral values in homes and schools. A new global evangelization of communities would highlight the importance of Judaeo-Christian values for the formation of character, and personal and community responsibility so necessary for a civil society.