Recovery Month supports addiction treatment programs and services

For twenty-three years Americans have celebrated the month of September as National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month.  The purpose of Recovery month is to educate Americans about mental health services and addiction treatment programs that can help people struggling with substance abuse.  Recovery month also raises awareness about specific challenges that people in recovery face.  Although drug and alcohol addictions are complex problems with the correct treatment and support people who struggle with these addictions can recover.

In a Presidential Proclamation On August 31, 2012, President Barack Obama declared September 2012 as National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month.  In his proclamation Obama said: “Over the past 3 years, we have worked to strengthen substance abuse prevention and treatment programs, and to support Americans in recovery… Drug and alcohol abuse continue to take a tragic toll on millions of lives across our country.  Yet, while more remains to be done, men and women across our country are making great strides.”

The prevalence of alcohol and drug addictions in American communities is staggering.  According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. (NCADD) the estimated cost of drug abuse is approximately $190 billion.  More specifically, these costs include an estimated $130 billion in lost worker productivity, $20 billion in health care costs, and $40 billion in legal costs.  In addition to the financial costs of drug abuse, there are other societal costs as well: crime and homelessness, effects on unborn children of pregnant drug users, premature deaths from overdoses, and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases through the sharing of drug syringes or unprotected sex. 

According to the NCADD, the most commonly used addictive substance is alcohol, followed by marijuana.  Other commonly abused drugs include: cocaine, heroin, inhalants, MDMA (ecstasy), methamphetamine, LSD (acid), OxyContin, phencyclidine (PCP), Vicodin, and other prescription drugs.  

“Addiction is a major public health issue.  We all have a stake in adequately funding services and expanding opportunities for treatment.  If we don’t, we will continue to see more emergency room visits, more inpatient admissions, and ever staggering healthcare costs.  Most importantly, the human costs will remain much too high: the lives lost or ruined, the opportunities wasted, the creativity and value never realized, the violence and the pain,” wrote Massachusetts State Senator Katherine Clark in a July 14, 2011 editorial column in The Stoneham Sun newspaper.

An estimated 17.6 million people or 1 in 12 American adults suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence.  There are also millions of other Americans who frequently binge drink, which can potentially lead to severe alcohol problems.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); 79,000 deaths are annually attributed to excessive alcohol use and alcoholism is the 3^rd leading lifestyle-related cause of death in America.  

With the proper treatment and support people who struggle with alcoholism can break free of their dependency on alcohol.  Former U.S. Congressman Jim Ramstad (R-MN) is a great example.  “Nine years before I was elected to Congress for the first of nine terms, I woke up from my last alcoholic blackout in a jail cell, under arrest for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.  I am alive and sober today— almost 30 years later — only because I had access to treatment for my alcoholism,” Ramstad once said of his struggles with alcohol abuse.

Alcohol and drug abuse are serious problems in American communities.  Addictions create emotional, financial, and legal problems for individuals, families, and communities.  In order to alleviate the burdens of these problems it is imperative for addicts to seek help for their struggles.  Clinics, community centers, civic and religious organizations, police departments, schools, think tanks, and political leaders must also lend their support to those who struggle with alcohol and drugs. 

For more information about alcohol and drug recovery visit the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. at: http://www.ncadd.org/index.php

More alcohol and drug facts from the NCADD:

- An estimated 20 million Americans age 12 or older used an illegal drug in the past 30 days.
- Addiction is a chronic disease that is characterized by craving, seeking, and using drugs that affect every organ in the body.
- In 2009, there were approximately 1.7 million state and local arrests for drug abuse in the U.S., according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCRP).
- Nearly 1/2 of jail & prison inmates are clinically addicted and approximately 60% of people arrested for most crimes test positive for illegal drugs at the time of their arrest.
- Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant drug and ethanol is the intoxicating ingredient found in beer, wine, and liquor.