Without programs to treat addiction, it's no wonder that the social fabric is torn to shreds--
Gee where have I heard this from before todays Headline in "Newsday"?
Hopenetworks-text I wrote, 3 years ago....from our archives.
"Today there is work to do. Regardless of who you are, what profession, your education, your race, religion, or political beliefs or non beliefs, you are impacted by addiction. Like the plague itself, there are no persons in the U.S. free from the impact of addiction. The lack of education and awareness by the general
public is as rampant as the problem itself! People, are indeed funding the clean up efforts for a problem that can be prevented and treated with unbelievable savings both in lives and dollars. This is a concept that must be brought to the forefront of every state's political arena. "
Our website -Another victim of Katrina's wrath- that we hope to rescue from New Orleans sometime soon while using
this temp site we are building as we go....The first real public collaboration effort is also a huge clearinghouse of resource and data from our efforts to work on these issues at the grassroots level--not a very welcomed effort -we spoke the truth about these issues and took virtually all actions possible to see policy change. A puzzle that simply did not connect data, facts, and research sup
porting a comprehensive approach to the "elephant in our livingroom" alcohol/other drug addictions just did not support current systems and those that are vested in seeing their operations continue with little interest in real action for change in our state.Just this past legislative session, we were slammed, no I was slammed as I pushed for the unwelcomed political pitfall--an alcohol tax to increase the measly 32 detox beds available to the public statewide--an apalling fact considering alcohol is the most abused drug in our state, and one of the most life threatning detox experiences --this alone tells part of the story.
As a novice, diving into this effort, it was shocking to me to realize that incarceration dollars were available yet treatment/recovrey support funds were not. The federal government spent lots of money in research etc to advise America that treatment worked, recovery was possible, yet that had little impact on those who have dug into the stigma and moral beliefs that kill addicts/alcoholics and destroy communities.
As a person who has worked tirelessly to organize, educate, raise awareness about the crisis in Louisiana, especially the most densly populated city of New Orleans--I am just filled with heartbreak, knowing how different the news stories could be. It is very hard to read outsiders writing and commentary. We didn't all ignore the harsh reality and dirty secret of alcoholism and addictions hold on our communities. No, some of us did all we could to ring an alarm bell to any lawmaker, media, or possible power that would listen, Louisiana's cycles of addiction, poverty, incarceration and illiteracy are huge indicators begging for reform.
The knowledge that the poorest among us were what I have called "throw away souls" have been hardest hit, again nothing new.
BY PATRICK MOOREPatrick Moore is a writer and drug counselor living in Los Angeles. His book on crystal meth addiction, "Tweaked," will be published next year.September 8, 2005Many television viewers watching the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina last week found that their compassion soured as they watched the violence and looting in New Orleans. But what did those images really mean?Disasters have a way of making hidden problems visible and, in this case, the effects of disproportionate addiction and alcoholism rates in poor, minority communities have been dramatically revealed. Already living in despair before the disaster, the looters were deprived of the "medicine" that made life bearable; violence was inevitable.As New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin said in an interview on a local radio station, "Drugs flowed in and out of New Orleans and the surrounding metropolitan area so freely it was scary to me. ... People don't want to talk about this, but I'm going to talk about it. You have drug addicts that are now walking around this city looking for a fix, and that's the reason why they were breaking in hospitals and drugstores. They're looking for something to take the edge off of their jones, if you will."The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has identified lack of education and unemployment as characteristics of those most likely to develop addiction problems. As an HHS report states, "Those who live in poverty are also exposed to other adverse conditions, including availability of drugs, lack of legitimate opportunity, alienation and hopelessness."New Orleans is known as a party town, but the truth of addiction there is far from a party, especially for those living in poverty. Louisiana has been identified as one of the top 20 states in America where a treatment gap exists between those who need treatment and those who receive it. In New Orleans, where nearly a third of the population lives in poverty and the majority of the poor are black, addiction is a major problem among the very group left behind to face the hurricane. That nearly half of the men arrested in the city in recent years have tested positive for cocaine, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, is only one indicator of the problem's extent.Addiction is, of course, not limited to New Orleans. It is estimated that more than 20 million Americans are dependent on illicit drugs and alcohol. Be it New Orleans, New York or Los Angeles, large numbers of poor addicts exist in most urban areas in America, and a natural disaster or terrorist attack in another city might well yield similar results.The Bush administration has been particularly adept at providing false linkages between some subjects - 9/11 and Iraq, for instance - while denying others. New Orleans illustrates President George W. Bush's willful ignorance. When the president talks about "zero tolerance" for looters, he seems unable to recognize the conditions that produced their behavior. It's hard to imagine his drawing a connection between the violence of looting by desperate poor people living in addiction and his own economic policies. Yet, the brutality of his "compassionate conservatism" is evidenced by poverty levels rising under this administration while federal funding for drug treatment has gone down.While the total drug control budget has risen, law enforcement remains the primary focus and treatment funding shows a net decline. Experts have long agreed that treatment is more effective than law enforcement sweeps and drug eradication. Yet valuable funds continue to be spent prosecuting medical marijuana clubs while millions need treatment.Addiction is admittedly a difficult disease to treat. Prevention campaigns and physical detox are useful, but effective approaches demand greater resources. The most successful rehabilitation programs are in-patient and last at least 30 days. During that time, patients are provided with counseling, medical care, psychiatric evaluation and job training. Transitional housing after treatment further enhances the chances of an addict staying sober and returning to a productive life.This type of treatment is now mostly available only to the wealthy or those with private insurance. We need to widen the range of recipients. While rigorous treatment programs are expensive, experts agree that they are still far more cost-effective than law enforcement.In America, the poor are disproportionately likely to be addicts and less likely to have effective treatment available to them. When these people are forced to come down hard, it's not surprising that some of them turn to violence. Law enforcement is not the answer. We need to reduce poverty in America and provide effective addiction treatment. We can no longer hide this problem or wait for the next crisis to deal with it.
Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.
From the Archived Website -text I wrote in 2002 -linking to the various studies/state rankings where Louisiana lagged--these social ills were the focus point of advocacy efforts for the people of our state, not the lobbysits that killed much of our legislative efforts that grew from the bottom up into the chambers of the louisiana legislature.
Louisiana has Social Ills, that add up in both lives lost, and dollars spent.Louisiana provides 8% of the population in need of Alcohol/Drug treatment with availability, the national average is 21%. Below you will find links to problems that have been identified as areas impacted in states attempting to "clean-up" the wreckage of addiction related illness, rather than stop the cycle, provide treatment, and comprehensive community support systems.
Education, Healthcare, Social Services, Judicial, Corrections, Public Safety, Economic Development, are all areas impacted in both dollars spent, and quality of life in our communities. Unhealthy communities will struggle. Addiction is the nation's number one public health problem, and Louisiana has not tackled this "elephant" in the living rooms of Louisiana. The negative impact of poverty, incarceration, and illiteracy becomes critical when we as a state attempt to reduce state spending and grow our economy. Living in denial of these problems, won't allow us to move forward. So below is an effort to identify the fact that we have real problems, that require intensive, comprehensive, collaborative efforts to improve systems that are not working.
Some 80% of those incarcerated have untreated substance abuse problems. Jail is not medical treatment, and most will return to our communities, still facing their addiction, with little hope of contributing to the tax base. We need comprehensive support systems, that return those with the ability and skills to succeed. A Trained healthy workforce, means more industry attracted to the state, improved quality of education, safer communities, and improved overall community support systems, that is what we hope to grow out of HopeNetworks.
