Recovery Month draws attention to addiction help

Ronny gave up drinking three years ago, and he has fought to keep alcohol at arm’s length ever… Ronny gave up drinking three years ago, and he has fought to keep alcohol at arm’s length ever since.

“I didn’t want to die a drunk, so I joined AA” the Pitt graduate, who asked that his last name not be used, said of his membership in Alcoholics Anonymous.

As a student, he faced constant pressure to drink in order to feel “normal” with friends, acquaintances and strangers, he said. After reaching a point where he was drunk six out of seven days a week, having too many mornings of waking up alone and depressed, he realized he was an alcoholic and turned to AA for support in quitting.

The government has dedicated the month of September to people of all ages, all over the Unites States, who are trying to make the same tough decisions about drugs and alcohol.

This September is the 14th annual National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. Organized and sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the month is intended to educate the public about substance addiction, its negative effects on public health and its treatment options.

Among the students who went to Pitt’s counseling center for substance-related issues during the 2001-2002 school year, 5 percent of the cases concerned alcohol and 3 percent concerned drugs, according to the center. After alcohol, marijuana is, by far, the most abused substance, they said.

On-campus groups dedicated to addiction recovery and education at Pitt include both AA and Narcotics Anonymous.

The Personal Education and Referral Program, familiar to anyone who’s been cited for underage drinking or smoking marijuana, is run by the Student Health Education Office. The Judicial Board and residence halls usually refer offenders to the office for help.

For the next generation of Americans, prescription drug abuse has become increasingly common. The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimated that, in 2001, 957,000 Americans over the age of 12 had used OxyContin, a prescription painkiller, for non-medical uses at least once in their lifetimes. This estimate came as a steady jump from the previous two years – in 1999, only 221,000 had abused it and, in 2000, 399,000 people admitted to using it – and researchers expect the number to be even higher for 2002 and 2003.

The biggest obstacle for many with a substance addiction or abuse problem is the perceived social stigma that asking for treatment is either a sign of weakness or pointless altogether.

The late Harold Hughes, a former U.S. Senator from Iowa, helped drive through a proposal offering extensive federal funding for community drug and alcohol rehab in the 1970s.

“Without the examples of recovering people, it’s easy for the public to continue thinking that victims of addiction disease are moral degenerates – and that those who recover are the morally enlightened exceptions,” said Hughes, a recovering alcoholic, when he offered his support for the proposal. “We are the lucky ones, the ones who got well, and it is our responsibility to change the terms of the debate, for the sake of those who still suffer.”

There are serious socioeconomic costs associated with drug and alcohol addiction in the United States, according to SAMHSA. A 2001 survey put the societal cost at an estimated $294 billion each year, based on costs for lost productivity, law enforcement, health care, welfare and other services.

Most adult, working-age, users of illicit drugs are employed – according to one study, 77 percent held either full- or part-time jobs in 2000.

But employees who have substance addictions use more workers’ benefits and sick days, are late more often, are more likely to cause accidents and are less productive than other employees, the study indicated.

In recent years, there has been a national controversy on how to handle crimes driven by substance addiction – particularly in regards to illegal drugs. SAMHSA estimates that for every $1 invested in addiction treatment, there is a return of between $4 and $7 in reduced drug-related crime, criminal-justice costs and theft.

In 2001, drug-abuse rates in urban areas were about one-third higher than rates in more rural areas.

An estimated 22 million Americans were addicted to alcohol, drugs or both in 2002, according to a recently released SAMHSA survey. Among Americans aged 12 or older, 19.5 million, or 8.3 percent, were regularly using illicit drugs at the time of the survey.

In that same age group, 54 million Americans, or 23 percent, engaged in infrequent, heavy drinking, commonly called “binge drinking.” Another 15.9 million, or 6.8 percent, were frequent, heavy drinkers.

Most people in these groups neither sought nor received treatment.

“Of the 3.3 percent of all Americans – some 7.7 million people – with a diagnosable drug problem, only 1.4 million, or 18 percent of those with a drug problem, received treatment, according to the survey. Out of the 18.6 million Americans with a diagnosable alcohol problem, or 7.2 percent of the total population, only 1.5 million, or 8 percent of those with a problem, received treatment.