Funding treatment programs can save much pain, greater expenses down the road March 4, 2007
Gov. Jennifer Granholm says the state needs to raise money for a better future while cutting spending for the present. But there's also a way to invest in the present that could save a fortune now -- and down the road.
Take a slice of the governor's proposed tax increase on liquor, add a piece of the higher taxes that also should be imposed on beer, and pour the money into treatment programs for drug and alcohol abusers. Cut into the physical damage these folks do and the crimes they commit and you get huge savings in health care, law enforcement, courts and prisons, where 80% of the inmates have histories of drugs or alcohol abuse. Intercept chemically addled people on their inevitable downward spiral and you can make them productive taxpayers, instead of a burden. Intervene early enough with a young person headed for trouble and you save not only millions of dollars but also a life. Lives, even, when you count the innocent victims of drunken drivers.
Michigan does have treatment programs and diversion projects and sobriety or drug-abuse courts that have impressive results, but the state doesn't attack addiction the way it does other diseases. Why not? Well, the booze business, which now advertises more than ever, seems to think that it's doing enough with those "drink responsibly" tags on the commercials. And the public, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, doesn't buy drug or alcohol addiction as a disease, seeing it instead as a personal problem, a lack of willpower, even a shame.
In Detroit, that false notion will be attacked this month as part of a national effort that local treatment advocates hope will result in more public money dedicated to fight an enormously costly problem. (By the way, if setting aside some of the beer and liquor taxes won't work, what about some of the money from unclaimed can and bottle deposits, an estimated $50 million a year now split between the state and beverage retailers?)
The campaign to inform the public about addiction is centered on "The Addiction Project," a series of HBO documentaries that will begin with a 90-minute program on March 15. It's part of a free-HBO weekend for cable subscribers who don't normally get the premium channel.
"How can we comprehend the concept of a person who wants to stop doing something and cannot, despite catastrophic consequences? That is what we are up against," says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and a groundbreaking addiction researcher. "Some people don't want to speak about addiction, or compare it to other chronic diseases. Well, this is a disease, a treatable disease, and it needs to be understood."
Locally, substance abuse treatment professionals will gather Tuesday at the University of Michigan Learning Center in Detroit to preview the program and participate in a workshop about the education campaign. Speakers will include Dr. Mark Menestrina, director of the Detox Center at Brighton Hospital and a guy who's not shy about his own catastrophic struggles.
"I was arrested 12 times before I got into a recovery program," he said during a meeting at the Free Press last week. "Addicts are 5% of the population and we consume 50% of the drugs and alcohol. ... But we just don't deal with addiction like the disease that the AMA (American Medical Association) declared it is way back in 1956."
Benjamin Jones, president of the Greater Detroit Area chapter of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, said the insurance industry has an uneven standard for addiction, setting artificial limits, for example, on the time that can be spent in treatment. Michigan is among a handful of states that do not require health insurer to cover mental illnesses -- including addiction -- at parity with physical problems.
"That's not how we usually do medicine," Jones said. "We usually give people the treatment they need."
The state Department of Community Health estimates Michigan has about 1.27 million residents who are addicted to alcohol or drugs -- more than one in 10. The general rule of thumb is that one in every four people has a family member with a problem. My guess is less than one in a hundred ever try to do something about it, other than talk with each other.
Watch the show. Learn something about this huge problem. Maybe you'll recognize its symptoms in someone you know, maybe in you. And maybe you'll agree -- a larger investment in treatment programs would pay off for Michigan, big time.
RON DZWONKOWSKI is editor of the Free Press editorial page. Contact him at dzwonk@freepress.com or 313-222-6635.
Source: Jason Schwartz Addiction and Recovery News March 5, 2007
