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Addiction-Cost to the U.S.
The choice for governors and state legislators is
this: either continue to tax their constituents for funds to shovel
up the wreckage of alcohol, drug, and nicotine abuse and addiction
or recast their priorities to focus on
preventing and treating such abuse and addiction.
The System-
Addiction is called America's number one Public Health Crisis.
Yet the stigma that acts as a barrier, preventing those in need of
help from seeking it, remains strong. National estimates say
that 1 in 4 American's is directly impacted by someone in need of
help for an alcohol or drug problem.
Research
Addiction is a brain disease. It is not a moral failing, a
lack of will power, or a personal defect. Addiction, is a
chronic relapsing disease, meaning similar diseases (Heart Disease,
Diabetes) the recovery process is ongoing. Learn more about
addiction, and recovery.
Addiction Science-
Treatment and Prevention work.
There are
millions of recovering people across the globe, many in your
community! The
purpose of
HopeNetworks.org
is to network communities, with resources available in their
area/city/state, a
community clearinghouse of sorts. Technology today makes this possible.
Policy
Policy is the term used to describe the way our law
makers, respond to substance abuse, or alcohol and drug addiction.
There are many issues related to this topic and many groups who work
on certain aspects. There are those who work to improve the
laws as they relate to Prevention especially in youth, Access to
Treatment, Research, Education, Crime/Criminal Justice, National,
State, Local, and on and on. Addiction impacts almost
every area of our lives. The costs are enormous. Even
those who believe they are not impacted by addiction should consider
the costs they cover with their tax dollars.
Change
Many national, state, and local groups are doing what
they can to work toward a solution. Like the disease, there is
no simple fix to cure our communities, to un-do years and years of
effect brought about by untreated family cycles of addiction..
Efforts that are far reaching, and comprehensive stand to bring the
most impact in reducing the impact of untreated addiction in our
communities. With more than 26million people in need of
treatment, we have a great deal of work to do, to make improvements.
Family/Faith/Community
For years, many have sought support, and recovery from
alcohol and drug abuse/addiction in their communities.
Church's, Synagogues, and 12Step fellowships (Like AA, NA, GA) have
brought help and healing to countless family's. Spiritual
growth and change often are the cornerstone for restoration, and the
spirit of this movement is strong. Federal entities have begun
to realize that recovery for many begins in a spiritual place, and
is a "cog" in the wheel of efforts needed to restore our
communities.
Medical
Addiction Treatment professionals are credentialed
professionals that are trained to specifically treat addiction. Part
of the ongoing problem is that many "Family" physicians do not have
the training or awareness necessary to address the needs of
those with alcohol or drug addiction. Not all Social Workers,
Psychologists, Psychiatrists, are able to correctly identify the
disease. Yet it remains to be our number one public health
problem. Medical Societies like ASAM, and trade groups that
support other Addiction Treatment Professionals, are working to
assist the medical community in readily identifying those in need of
treatment for this illness, as well as working to change healthcare
coverage to assist families in gaining affordable access to
treatment and prevention services.
Alcohol is a drug
and it kills some 100,000 people
a year why is it not part of our nations
"Drug"
Policy?
Drug
Policy...Alcohol is a drug Right? |
| HopeNetworks, thanks
CASA for the generous permissions for use of the data below, this
resource is a valuable report for our policy makers.
What this report reveals for the first time is that the biggest bang
for the buck in terms of taming the costs of social programs will
come to those states that curb substance abuse and addiction. The
return is not simply in reduced state spending. It also comes in
reduced crime--endmost importantly in reduced human suffering not
only for the addict and abuser, but for parents and children,
classmates, friends and neighbors. And, it can be counted in
positive economic benefits to states from productive, law-abiding,
taxpaying citizens.
- Louisiana has not committed the dollars and energy necessary
to research, treat, or prevent addiction. We are now feeling
the sting and consequence.
- Louisiana is not financially able to support continued clean
up of untreated addiction, rates of incarceration in Louisiana are
the highest in the nation for both juvenile and adult populations.
We simply can't afford to continue, not treating those with
addiction related illness.
-
The heaviest burden of substance abuse and
addiction on public spending falls on the states and programs of
localities that states support. Of the two million prisoners
in the United States, more than 1.8 million are in state and
local institutions.
-
States run the Medicaid programs where smoking and
alcohol abuse impose heavy burdens in cancer, heart disease and
chronic and debilitating respiratory ailments and where drug use
is the largest cause of new AIDS cases.
States fund and operate child welfare systems--social services,
family courts, foster care and adoption agencies--where at least
70 percent of the cases of abuse and neglect stem from alcohol-
and drug-abusing parents.
Addiction is a disease--a chronic, relapsing
one--that, untreated, has nasty and costly social consequences:
illness, disability, death, learning disabilities, poor school
performance, child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, crime--to
name a few. Our fear of these consequences often leads us to respond
with tough sanctions. It is of course important to hold individuals
accountable for their conduct. But the first line of defense is
prevention and we can do a much better job at it. Treatment is no
sure bet, but success rates of good programs exceed those of many
long shot cancer therapies on which we spend millions of dollars.
And if we fail to treat the disease, there is little hope of
stemming these consequences.
Hidden Costs to State Budgets
Substance abuse has a huge effect on the financial
health of government at all levels. Yet, when we look in state
budgets for spending specifically marked "substance abuse," we find
only the funds allocated to treatment and prevention programs. Most
substance abuse costs are hidden in departments and activities that
do not wear the substance abuse label, for example, corrections, aid
to education, Medicaid, child welfare and mental health,
transportation and absenteeism costs of state employees. (Table
2.1)
These estimates of state spending on substance abuse
and addiction are in fact low. Several areas of state spending have
been left out of the CASA analysis because data are not available to
quantify the connection to substance abuse, even though practice and
common sense suggest a link. Costs omitted from CASA's calculations
include the costs of lost productivity, of attributable health care
of state employees, of state police and state subsidies for local
law enforcement linked to illicit drugs, of civil courts for
divorce, domestic disputes, small claims and other larger civil
litigation cases, and of regulation, enforcement, health care and
lost productivity in higher education. A second reason why these
cost estimates are low is that CASA has used conservative estimates
of spending where limited data exist. For example, individuals who
smoke or abuse alcohol have more frequent, longer and more severe
illnesses. These costs are not included in our analysis because of
constraints of available data. (Appendix B, Methodology)
State Spending for Children
One of the most striking
findings of the CASA analysis is that in 1998 states spent
Investment in prevention and treatment.
The most significant opportunity
to reduce the burden of substance abuse on public programs is
through targeted and effective prevention programs. If we can keep
children from smoking cigarettes, using illicit drugs and abusing
alcohol until they are 21, they are virtually certain never to do
so.
Treatment is also a cost-effective intervention as it
both reduces the costs to state
programs in the short term and avoids future costs. States should
make targeted interventions on selected populations that hold
promise for high return:
Prisoners
whose substance abuse problems make them more likely to return to
the criminal justice systems after parole or release. Clients
in the mental health system whose substance abuse problems increase
the probability that they will cycle back into mental hospitals or
emergency rooms. Parents of children in the foster care system
whose abuse of alcohol or drugs interferes with their ability to
care for their children at home.
Linking Expenditures to Substance Abuse
Substance abuse causes and exacerbates costs states bear. Certain
cancers, for example, may be caused by smoking or drinking or both,
or abuse of these substances may be a contributing factor to the
illness (e.g., an estimated 88 percent of lung cancers in men are
attributable to smoking and 13 percent of stomach ulcers are
attributable to alcohol abuse).11
Likewise, addiction may actually cause child abuse and neglect,
violent crime or mental illness or it may be one of the contributing
factors. The bottom-line for states is that substance abuse must be
treated or prevented in order to reduce spending and avoid future
costs. This report establishes the categories of state spending
tightly linked to tobacco, alcohol and drug (e.g., marijuana,
cocaine, heroin, LSD) abuse--the targets for policy intervention.
 
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