The bottom line is that we have 23 million drug addicts in this country.  Whether they are abusing cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine or prescription drugs, the reason most of them continue to use drugs is that they cannot afford drug treatment.

Illicit drug use is costing this country plenty through lost production and the cost of incarceration.

How can we afford NOT to provide treatment?   Addiction has a heavy price and someone is going to win up paying.

Instead of paying for the ill effects of drug addiction – the illnesses, accidents, consequences of illegality, etc. etc., why not invest this money in effective drug rehab?

Not only would we save money – most importantly we would be saving the lives of our citizens.

BALTIMORE, Sept. 15 (UPI) –

Untreated alcohol and drug addiction in the United States remains at pandemic levels, with little change from year to year, an expert says.

Victor Capoccia, director of the Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap initiative — a nationwide effort to expand addiction treatment — says 23 million Americans are addicted to alcohol and drugs, but only one in 10 are treated.

Capoccia says the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health Data released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration shows in 2008, 23.1 million persons ages 12 or older needed treatment for an illicit drug or alcohol use problem — consistent with numbers reported in previous years.

The most common reason cited by those who wanted treatment but did not receive any was the inability to pay for it.

“The nation is focused on how best to reform our healthcare system. Access to effective addiction treatment will save billions of dollars over a decade’s time compared with the costs and health complications that come with not treating people at all,” Capoccia said in a statement.

“Ignoring any disease — be it addiction, diabetes or hypertension — is bad medicine and should not be an option in today’s healthcare system. Addiction treatment should be fully covered by all insurance plans.”

Copyright 2009 by United Press International
All Rights Reserved.

There is no doubt that every state has the capability of creating a data base to follow prescriptions obtained by individuals.  In fact, it would be possible to create a national data base to keep addicts from doctor shopping across state lines.  We are already doing this in the criminal justice system.

This is a well done for California.

“Officials in California are now making it harder for drug addicts to get their hands on prescription medication — and they’re citing Michael Jackson and Anna Nicole Smith‘s deaths as reasons why.

Attorney General Jerry Brown announced today that an online database has been created so doctors can keep their eyes on patients’ drug records — making it easier for the docs to determine if someone really needs drugs … or if they’re simply desperate for a fix.

The database — called the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (or CURES) — will be available to doctors, pharmacists and law enforcement officials.

When I started doing drugs, almost immediately all sense of my self control went out the door!  I felt like I had lost it completely.  Now, after doing this program and clearing my mind and body, I am proud to say I have regained my self love and most importantly, MY SELF CONTROL.

I am no longer going to start something I can’t finish.  I definitely will know when to stop myself from making bad decisions.  Before I was clean, I would take pills consistently until I was “toasted”.  Doing this also made me drink to get blacked out drunk.  I couldn’t stop myself.  All of this in turn led to poor decisions and HUGE MISTAKES.

Now those desires are GONE.

I fully regained my self control – the self control that I always had before drugs.  I will keep it for the rest of my life in everything I do!”