By Jeff Nesbit, Contributor |Dec. 19, 2016, at 1:32 p.m.
There are so many issues dividing America right now. But there is a terrible scourge that both national political parties agree on: we’ve become a nation of drug and alcohol addicts, and it is destroying millions of lives and families, and harming countless communities and cities. The only question left to debate is what to do about it.
Marijuana is not the problem here, and neither is a six-pack of beer on a Sunday afternoon, although the latter isn’t helping the obesity epidemic, but that’s a different story.
I’m talking about the horrific problem of serious drug and alcohol misuse chronicled in shocking fashion in a recent report from the U.S. Surgeon General. There were 27 million people in America last year who self-reported the misuse of illegal drugs or opioid-based prescription drugs, while another 66 million reported binge-drinking in the past month.
Those sorts of numbers are hard to fathom. The economic toll is beyond staggering. The yearly annual economic impact from the misuse of prescription drugs, illicit drugs or alcohol is $442 billion. Think about that number for a second. That is an economy-wrecking number. That sort of number means that this problem is taking root everywhere.
“Alcohol and drug misuse and related disorders are major public health challenges that are taking an enormous toll on individuals, families, and society,” the authors of the Surgeon General’s report wrote. “Neighborhoods and communities as a whole are also suffering as a result of alcohol- and drug-related crime and violence, abuse and neglect of children, and the increased costs of health care associated with substance misuse.”
We are witnessing a war on children. When parents and adults misuse drugs and alcohol or look the other way as family members do so, it is nearly always the children who suffer the brunt of the impacts all around them. Crime and violence, abuse and neglect – these are downstream effects that land most harshly and directly on children in families and communities who have no voice and can’t adequately defend themselves from the onslaught and the economic and emotional toll it brings through the door. Addiction also powerfully strikes children first, as their brains are developing. Once upon a time, decades ago, tobacco industry executives recognized this simple truth. Nicotine, for instance, starts the addiction process in an adolescent brain within the first 10 cigarettes, which is why they gave away free ten-packs near playgrounds.
“Most Americans know someone with a substance use disorder, and many know someone who has lost or nearly lost a family member as a consequence of substance misuse,” the Surgeon General’s report said. “Yet, at the same time, few other medical conditions are surrounded by as much shame and misunderstanding as substance use disorders.”
Thankfully, especially in light of how much is dividing our country right now, national politicians on the left and right are finally recognizing the monumental problem facing us. The Surgeon General’s report was a clarifying wake up call.
“For too long, we tended to think of substance abuse as a moral failing rather than the dangerous disease that is,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said in response to the report. “That’s starting to change. The Surgeon General’s report and other new research are showing how substance disorders work and how best to treat them.”
Whitehouse has spoken out often on the subject of treating drug and alcohol addiction as a disease that can be treated, rather than as a moral failure. Congress agreed, and passed legislation that alters the way the federal government approaches addiction. Federal health and science agencies now focus on drug and alcohol addiction in a public health frame.
“Addiction is a powerful illness and recovery is a long and difficult path, but we are making progress,” Whitehouse said.
President-elect Donald Trump appears to be taking a similar approach on the treatment side of the issue, which makes it more likely that his administration and the GOP-controlled Congress will approach this issue as a public health problem that can be solved.
Trump gave a major address on the problem of heroin and prescription drug addiction during the presidential campaign and promised to expand access to treatment slots for those who are addicted to either heroin or painkillers – a promise that was immediately embraced by public health groups advocating for more treatment.
While Trump also used the heroin epidemic as one more reason to build a wall along the Mexican border and deport millions of immigrants in the country illegally, local public health and law enforcement officials have seized on Trump’s promise to expand treatment – and not the law enforcement and policing elements of Trump’s campaign pledges.
“My opinion is that the new way we need to deal with this epidemic is not only reducing supply but reducing demand,” Lake County State’s Attorney Michael Nerheim told the Chicago Tribune recently. “While I certainly support being aggressive with trafficking, I also support being aggressive with getting people into treatment.”
The authors of the Surgeon General’s report take a similar approach.
“Despite the social and economic costs, this is a time of great opportunity,” they wrote. “Ongoing health care and criminal justice reform efforts, as well as advances in clinical, research, and information technologies are creating new opportunities for increased access to effective prevention and treatment services.”
Treatment options for this epidemic need to be expanded and clarified. Only 10 percent of people with a substance use disorder receive specialized treatment right now. Roughly 40 percent of people who have a substance abuse problem also have mental health issues, yet fewer than half receive treatment for either disorder, the Surgeon General’s report found. That’s a ridiculous situation. This “treatment gap” needs to be fixed immediately.
With luck, this awful problem is one of the few areas where both national parties in Washington can reach some sort of common ground – at least on the way in which the problem is described and the manner in which treatment options are financed within federal programs. The law enforcement actions will, hopefully, be debated elsewhere. But the problem itself is just too overwhelming and devastating to ignore any longer. We are a nation of drug and alcohol addicts. As a result, we have all essentially declared a war on children, who are swept up both directly and indirectly in the awful consequences of the epidemic.