As we focus on adults in recovery from addiction, we often overlook the needs of their children. In many cases they have to find their own way.

There are some stories that go untold. As we focus on adults in recovery from addiction, we often overlook the needs of their children.

In addition to what kids have to go through when their parents are active, there are countless adjustments following their parent's recovery that often go unsupported. The long-term affects of this failure can be debilitating. As the adage advises: "What we lived with we learned. What we learned we became."

Haven's Story

HAVEN is an amazing young woman who reached out to me long after I helped facilitate her father's recovery. She thanked me for helping her dad as he is thriving today but went on to ask, "You remember me as a kid. I'm an adult now but I'm by no means grown up. What am I supposed to do?"

To best determine what would be helpful and to support her in having a voice, I encouraged Haven to share her story of surviving her parent’s addictions and mental illness and what her needs are today. Her insights as an Adult Child Of an Alcoholic/Addict (ACOA) show wisdom well beyond her years:

“I want you to know that no one in the last three generations of my family had a 'normal' childhood. When I was born, my parents were turning 20 and 21. It was kids having kids. To be honest I don't think anyone really 'grew up'. While I wasn’t ever free to just be a kid, it takes longer for people like me to mature emotionally. We tend to stay stuck at the same mental ages as when we were the most hurt. For me that’s eight years old.”

A Child’s Wish

Clinicians call it “magical thinking”. A child wants something so desperately, they simply decide that bad things were only a dream and/or good things are going to happen because they are necessary. Haven explains this occurring in her childhood:

“I had the strongest wish, a theory, that this was all a horrible nightmare, and that I would wake up tomorrow with everyone home, sober, and filled with love. And every time I realized that wasn't going to happen, it broke my heart even more. Then there were times where I wish we could just pretend, and maybe it would just end up working out.”

Being Parentified

Growing up in a family where addiction and/or abuse and neglect is present forces a child to take on roles to compensate for the ways in which the family fails to function in a healthy manner. Most literature on ACOAs recognizes the roles of Hero, Mascot/Clown, Scapegoat, Lost Child, and as in Haven’s case, being a Caregiver:

“My parents did drugs when I wasn't there and drank when I was there. They fought a lot. My mother had a mental health disorder and both of them had a drinking/drug problem. I was eight when the divorce was enacted.

I protected my brother from the things that I couldn't protect myself from. I was young, but I remember how scared I was. He wasn't old enough to remember any of it, which I am glad for. I wish he had some of the good memories. “

Labels

“I’ve been labeled an "affected other". That term is so cold and unfeeling to me. It doesn't express the trauma of what I’ve been through. I had to move my bureau in front of my door because I was afraid my Mother's “parties” would enter my bedroom. No child should have to deal with that. “Affected other” doesn't even begin to describe the things I have seen, heard and felt.

Kids are seen as resilient little creatures that bounce back no matter what you do. That notion is deceiving. Sure we “bounce back”, but the way we do can be pretty nasty and disfigured. Only a lucky few can take all that hurt and anger and turn it into something amazing. Some of us become artists, some therapists, others become singers. Music is how I cope and singers are what got me through my low points. Unfortunately, many of us go on to become what we feared: addicts and alcoholics.”

Her View on Recovery

"Only one of my parents is in recovery. The other I have lost all contact with and I prefer it that way. In my mind, when someone is in recovery, they are in for life. It isn't a crutch, it isn't an excuse, its a safety system. Going it alone isn’t manageable. We are pack animals, and when the disease makes you turn on your family of origin, you need another pack that knows what you are going through to help. The family of origin mustn’t become enablers and babysitters, but rather, light houses.

How the Past Impacts Her Present

“I have been hurt so much by my parents that I have a hard time trusting people. I am always positive and strong, but if you could project the inside of my mind, it's riddled with worry, self-hatred, loneliness, disgust and love for this world, indecision, depression, anxiety, artistic abilities, a rhythm that would put Elvis to shame, and a need for me to help people with what I have experienced.

According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, I am a Healer. That’s what I tried to do with my parents. I tried to be a mother to them, when they were supposed to be taking care of me. My greatest challenge is to get as good at taking care of me as I am at taking care of others. I have learned that there’s a world of difference between caring for and taking care of."

Today Haven identifies creative expression, writing, and sharing her story for the benefit of others as ways to ensure her continued growth and healing. She is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in the field of health and human services. She shows great wisdom in identifying the need for further healing before entering the field.

As much as some would like to call those with addiction weak willed or immoral, the truth of it is that addiction is simply a treatable brain disease.

No discussion of the social implications of drug abuse and addiction can omit mention of the gap between what doctors and scientists tell us addiction is (a treatable brain disease) and what many politicians and much of the public believe it to be (a moral failing or ‘weakness’).

Neuroscientists are working hard to unlock the mysteries of the human mind. Still, much of what goes on in our brains remains poorly understood. That being said, scientists can clearly show that...¹

• The use of certain drugs and alcohol causes permanent changes in the brain
• Changes to brain function lead to cravings to use drugs or alcohol that can be difficult to resist
• These changes in the brain compromise our ability to resist temptations

Although no one is forced to take drugs or drink alcohol initially, once a person becomes addicted however, free will and choice disappears from the equation - and it is because of this loss of conscious control that addiction treatment is often necessary. In time, the brain heals and normal function returns. Addiction treatment teaches proven strategies that help people resist what would be otherwise very difficult to manage temptations during this initial healing period.

Addiction Is Not Weakness

• Although you may feel ashamed of some of what you’ve done while addicted, you should not feel ashamed of your addiction itself.
• Although addiction does not imply weakness, fighting addiction does prove great strength of character - It takes courage and determination to get help for addiction!

Addiction treatment works. It’s proven to work as well or better as treatments for other common chronic diseases, like hypertension or diabetes. Don’t feel ashamed of your past, but make sure you can be proud of your future by taking the difficult steps necessary to begin the fight against the brain disease of addiction.

You’re not weak, no matter how much you drink or how many drugs you take – in fact you’re probably stronger than you think you are, and with help and with determination, you can make a change in your life!

Image Copyright: FotoRita

Some drug users are willing to get help but aren't ready to quit at this moment. Recognizing this, harm reduction programs exist to minimize the health, economic and social costs of drug use at the personal and community levels.

It would be pretty nice to rid the world of drug addiction and all of its negative personal and societal consequences.

Unfortunately, no one has any idea of how to do that, despite herculean efforts like the prohibition-style war on drugs that have accomplished very little in actually reducing drug use and abuse!

So if we admit that at the community level we cannot stop drug use and abuse, do we then simply turn a blind eye to the needs and suffering of the tens of millions of Americans who use licit and illicit drugs and the hundreds of millions of Americans who love them as sisters and mothers, fathers and brothers?

Or do we take action to help those who are ready to quit using with effective addiction treatments and interventions and to support the left-over majority with evidence-based initiatives which reduce the personal harms and risks of drug use and which protect communities from some of the fall-out consequences?

The question is – are we ready to look at the facts and to base action on science rather than emotion and to see those who require our help as people like us deserving our compassion rather than our punishments?

Principles of Harm Reduction

Harm reduction is an umbrella term for initiatives which strive to reduce the individual and societal harms associated with drug use. Some common principles of harm reduction programs include:

• Accepting that drug use is an enduring part of our communities, whether we like it or not, but knowing that though we cannot rid the world of drug use we can take steps to reduce the harms associated with drug use.
• Accepting that drug users are deserving of the same human rights, dignity and compassion as anyone else
• Accepting that people who cannot or will not stop using drugs can still make good choices to protect themselves from unnecessary harm¹
• Meeting drug users ‘where they are’. Not trying to convince drug users to seek treatments which they do not want but working with them to help them make small improvements in areas like personal health, employment, crime prevention etc.
• Accepting that some ways of using drugs are safer than other ways, and that helping people to use drugs in safer ways can save lives and reduce harms
• Understanding that people are much more likely to make changes in small steps rather than in giant leaps and most commonly, major life changes are made through a series of many small steps. It makes sense to support people in making these small positive steps and not to only support major leaps (like going from injection drug use to sudden abstinence). At the societal level, there can be greater benefit from helping many people make small improvements than in helping a motivated few make great improvements. ²
  
• Evaluating a harm reduction program’s success by the degree it improves life at the individual or societal level, whether or not the initiative results in a reduction in drug use.³
• Being committed to using the strongest available evidence to justify a course of action and to seeking the greatest possible benefit through programs that maximize impact and minimize costs

Examples of Different Types of Harm Reduction Programs

Some examples of harm reduction programs include:

• Needle or crack pipe exchange programs
• The use of methadone or Suboxone
• Providing condoms to sex workers
• Supervised injection clinics
• Designated driver programs
• Health outreach programs
• Street drug testing (such as testing for the purity of ecstasy in a club to prevent inadvertent overdose or use of a more dangerous drug)
• HIV testing and counseling services
• Care for wounds (injection drug related)
• Peer drug use information outreach programs

Evidence for the Effectiveness of Harm Reduction Policies

• A study of injection drug use harm reduction programs found no convincing evidence that needle exchange programs increased injection drug use (one criticism of certain types of harm reduction programs is that they encourage drug use, however research rarely finds evidence to back these assertions.)⁴ A separate review of 42 studies on the use of needle exchange programs found that these programs were associated with reducing the reuse of injection equipment, reducing the frequency of injecting, reducing the frequency of crack cocaine use, increasing referrals for substance abuse treatment and increasing the use of condoms.⁵
• A review study of harm reduction programs found that methadone maintenance programs were effective in retaining opiate dependent people in treatment and in reducing illicit drug use and crime participation. This same review study also found that needle exchange programs were a very cost effective way to reduce the transmission of HIV among injection drug users.⁶
• A study in published in The Lancet medical journal found that fatal overdoses were down by 35% within 500 meters of the Insite safe injection facility in Vancouver since its opening, compared to a reduction of only 9% across the rest of the city.⁷

Children living with drug or alcohol addicted parents may experience neglect and endangerment. Here are 13 situations that warrant outside intervention.

If children that you care about live with drug or alcohol abusing adults, you might wonder what you can do to help them grow and thrive, and in extreme situations, you might wonder if you have an obligation to intervene.

Intervening, possibly even involving child protection authorities, can create significant consequences. It's not something to take lightly. On the other hand, you’d never want to underreact and leave children in a dangerous environment - so how can you differentiate between the un-ideal and the unacceptable?

Well, shades of gray complicate most situations, but to simplify things a little bit, here are 13 unacceptable situations that may occur when children live with addicted caregivers. If you observe any of the situations listed below, you should intervene.

13 Child Endangerment/Neglect Situations

In any of the following situations, child-protection or law enforcement professionals would be obliged to take some action to ensure child-safety. This is not a complete list of situations that would warrant intervention.¹

1. Any situation where adults are taking drugs openly in front of their children.
2. Any situation where children become involved in illegal or risky activities related to drug or alcohol abuse. For example being present while a parent commits a crime or buys drugs. Using children to send money to dealers or other drug users also puts youth at unacceptable risk.
3. Any situation where children don’t receive adequate supervision because one or both caregivers is intoxicated or recovering from drug or alcohol use, or absent from the home to buy drugs or get money to buy drugs.
4. Any situation where children are exposed to used drug paraphernalia (there is an infectious disease risk from needle sticks, etc.)
5. Any situation where children have potential access to drugs or methadone/Suboxone etc.
6. Any situation where children are exposed to drug or alcohol fueled violence or aggression in the home.
7. Any situation where children receive inadequate food, clothing and or shelter due to parental spending on drugs or alcohol.
8. Any situation where the living environment becomes very unhygienic or extremely disorganized due to parental preoccupation with drugs or alcohol.
9. Any situation where children seem unclean or uncared for because caregivers devote all attention to drugs or alcohol (kids who go to school with dirty clothes or without adequate bathing can be easy targets for bullying.)
10. Any situation where children feel unsafe at home due to drug or alcohol related guests or longer staying visitors.
11. Any situation where children miss school frequently because parents don't support education (too high to get kids to school, etc.)
12. Any situation where parents fail to adequately care for a child's health – such as skipping medical or dental checkups – due to intoxication or preoccupation with drugs or alcohol.
13. Any situation where children show, from their behavior outside of the house, that they are very upset about what’s going on at home.

Image Copyright: Rachel gardner

Substance abuse counselors are supposed to take a whole year off after relapse. Don't these people also need to eat and pay bills? Here's a different approach to getting treatment and getting better - without losing everything.

Who will help the helpers?

Many professionals face career peril by admitting they have a substance abuse problem. They must fear the potential losses of professional license, income, status, reputation and current job. For some, admitting they have a problem is career suicide.

For all of the devastation that addiction creates, some major obstacles to recovery, like career destruction, are often overlooked.

A handful of high-ranking professions, including medical doctors and attorneys, have provisions and contingencies for treatment in recognition that addiction not only threatens the individual professional but also threatens the profession. Treatment programs specifically designed to meet the needs of high-stress professions exist and go to great pains to ensure confidentiality. The importance of anonymity cannot be overstated because who wants to see a surgeon that’s a recovering addict?

What about for substance abuse counselors?

Substance abuse counselors, more so than any other profession, are comprised of recovering alcoholics and addicts and yet these professionals lacks contingencies for those who relapse or develop new addictions.

Worse, the prevailing wisdom in addictions licensing and ethics dictate that a professional who has relapsed ought to take a year off from their work to engage in treatment. It is the rare professional who can afford to do so. Regardless of how healthy or unhealthy we are, the mortgage/rent needs to be paid.

Worse still, addiction is a barrier to being awarded Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). It is still a widely held misconception that somehow being an addict helps one receive SSDI. Private and workplace short-term disability insurances do not consider addiction justified for utilizing benefits.

Finding a Solution

So here's what I propose...

1. Get a diagnosis
2. Report an undisclosed serious health problem
3. Get the financial support and space you need to recover - without tanking your career
   

Given the lack of systemic support for those with the disease of addiction, I advocate manipulating systems. I have always marveled at the ability of addicts and alcoholics to maneuver and con. It should be apparent that when used toward positive ends, manipulation is a talent, and to act in one's best interest when others are not harmed cannot be considered unethical.

The American Medical Association clearly affirms that addiction is a disease. Support for an employee who is an active addict or alcoholic should therefore be equitable to an employee that is diagnosed with cancer.

Employers do not have the right to know which disease an employee lives with. They only have the right to medical documentation indicating that an employee is unable to perform their job functions due to serious health problems.

• Help yourself, then, by asking that the medical professionals you seek help from only disclose that you live with a disease that leaves you incapable of fulfilling your job until a course of treatment is fulfilled.

Shame and stigma remain two of the biggest obstacles to recovery. I am not advocating deception; I’m saying that professionals in treatment are entitled to the same confidentiality as the clients we serve.

• We are free to say to our employers, colleagues, and clients, “I’m very sick. I am not willing to discuss the nature of my illness. I can only assure you that I am seeking treatment and I will return to my duties as quickly as I am able.”

Building a Community of Support

Professionals are often leery of groups like AA and NA for fear that their anonymity will not be upheld. While I would normally encourage a person to seek out these groups, I concede that worries about confidentiality are reasonable. 

So Recovery Allies need to step up to fill this void.

1. This means that the quality of professional support from addictions counselors and therapists is even more important than normal.
2. Therefore, those of us who hate the disease of addiction must go to any lengths possible to make ourselves known as safe people to come to as professionals, as colleagues, as friends and as Recovery Allies.

Addiction is one of the few truly equal opportunity experiences in our society. It does not discriminate based on one’s occupation, experience, education, or socioeconomic status. While it does create wreckage for us all, the obstacles for recovery can differ based on our careers and other pragmatic needs.

Be a Recovery Ally

In every office I have ever worked in, I display symbols and signs identifying myself as a safe person to talk to regarding a variety of populations that face discrimination. I’d like to see a symbol developed identifying one as a Recovery Ally who is safe to talk with regarding addiction. Every problem has a solution, but those affected by the problems addiction creates are our employees, colleagues, friends, and family who desperately need support.

Image Copyright: Danielle Zeda

Is marijuana good or bad, and if it offers so much to people with cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis...why does it remain illegal? Learn the facts, the benefits and the risks, and learn why medical marijuana faces some significant challenges to acceptance and legality.

Medical marijuana exists in never-never land.

It's a controlled and illegal substance used for decades for intoxication, and more recently a potent medication that can ease the symptoms of several serious conditions and can increase the health and well being of people suffering from serious and terminal diseases.

Medical marijuana is illegal in all 50 states by federal law, and although a majority of people polled favor the use of medical marijuana in a controlled manner, as of yet, no legislation exists that allows doctors to prescribe this medication in complete security.

Medical marijuana faces some significant challenges to full scale approval, and although there have been numerous positive study outcomes on its effectiveness, there are also some health risks, it remains a widely abused and addictive drug, and there is little will within the private healthcare system to introduce marijuana on a large scale.

Why Do People Use Medical Marijuana

Medical marijuana helps people enduring symptoms of disease, or enduring symptoms of harsh treatments for disease. Cancer patients, multiple sclerosis patients, Aids patients and Glaucoma patients, amongst others, have all felt medical marijuana's remarkable ability to ease their discomforts.

One of the most impressive effects of medical marijuana relates to its nature as an anti emetic and appetite increasant. For patients with AIDS wasting or cancer patients enduring severe regimens of chemotherapy, smoking marijuana can truly make the difference between life and death. Marijuana decreases nausea and vomiting and increases appetite. It allows these patients to eat, to gain strength and nourishment, and to arrest continuing and problematic weight loss. Medical marijuana seems to work better than anything else currently available for those people suffering and unable to keep food down.

It also seems to help a great deal to reduce the pains of glaucoma and the pains of multiple sclerosis, and it also eases the anxiety present with all of the above conditions.

Because of marijuana's real efficacy as a life saving drug, several organizations including the AIDS Council, The American Public Health Association and the California Medical Association, have all called for an easing of regulation on its use.

Health Risks

Two major issues currently affecting access are that marijuana is a widely abused intoxicating substance, and that marijuana is most frequently smoked. Opponents of medical marijuana point to the risks of abuse and addiction as a significant problem with its use and its acceptance.

Additionally, the health risks of marijuana smoke (a proven carcinogen) the inability to control the quantities of active substances within a freely growing plant and the existence of synthetic alternatives, all reduce the probability of a near future acceptance of marijuana as a viable public health option.

Medical marijuana has been widely promoted as a solution to deadly AIDS wasting, but there has been some recent evidence that the positive appetite increasing effects may be countered by a real lowering of immune system functioning.

Current Legal Status

A number of states have decriminalized medical marijuana or have eased restrictions on doctors, allowing them to prescribe the medication. Unfortunately, federal law still prohibits the use of and possession of the substance, regardless of state initiatives to change its legal status, and as such clinics providing medical marijuana in these states have been subject to DEA raids and harassment.

No one in America may currently use medical marijuana without some fear of legal repercussions. It remains completely illegal in all 50 states.

Marinol vs. Marijuana

Opponents of medical marijuana point to synthetic drugs such as Marinol, which synthesizes the THC from marijuana into an oral form of medication. They argue that these medications offer the same health benefits of medial marijuana, but are controlled in quantity per dose. Taking a pill also eliminates the risks of smoking on the respiratory system, and also reduces the probability of abuse.

Problematically, these medications have not performed as well as ordinary smoked marijuana in a number of studies, even studies seemingly designed to show that Marinol equals in benefits and exceeds in safety. It doesn’t work as well, many patients suffering the effects of chemotherapy cannot keep any medications down due to extreme vomiting, and it doesn’t seem to offer the same pain or anxiety relief as does the original plant.

Medical marijuana proponents argue that marijuana offers more than THC alone, and is composed of over 400 active substances, not all of which are completely understood. Marinol, and other replicated forms of the THC in marijuana, do not offer as much as simple marijuana can.

Public Opinion and Should You Use Medical Marijuana?

Almost 3 quarters of Americans polled favor the use of medical marijuana. Americans overwhelmingly believe that doctors should be allowed to prescribe the drug in a controlled manner to those in real need, and to those for who medical marijuana can ease some suffering.

In response to this increase in public approval, congress has been getting successively closer (increasing yes votes) to legislation that will make it easier for the decriminalization of medical marijuana for those in need.

Although there are certain medical organizations which do not call for medical marijuana (most notably the AMA) a majority of public health groups do favor its use in a controlled manner.

Problems

One of the most significant challenges facing medial marijuana within the American health care system regards it's composition as a natural plant. The FDA approval process, and indeed the entire medical industry, is not designed to accept medications from outside of the pharmaceutical industry. No one can patent a plant, there is no money to be made off of its use, and there is little incentive for anyone to lobby for its acceptance.

Additionally, because so many millions of Americans do smoke marijuana for non medical reasons, there is a legitimate fear of broadening access to the drug, and possibly losing control over its distribution. No one wants to see more marijuana available to those who would abuse it, and even though it does seem to offer legitimate medical efficacy, the risks of abuse make it politically problematic.

Should You Use Medical Marijuana?

Medical marijuana is illegal, and if you do decide to use the drug, you must be aware of the risks of prosecution. You may decide that legal risks are an acceptable price to pay for a drug that may offer significant symptoms relief, and allow you better health and a better quality of life. Before trying medical marijuana you should talk with your doctor about your suitability for marijuana therapy. He or she may not be able to prescribe or even recommend its use, but they will be able to inform you better of medical marijuana's relevance for your symptoms expression.

Medical marijuana is a valid choice for those in real need but although marijuana may serve a beneficial function for people with certain health conditions, marijuana is not a beneficial drug for anyone who does not explicitly require it for symptoms relief. Because medical marijuana can help some people does not make marijuana a good idea for all people.

Image Copyright: Troy Holden

Although a legal substance, a lot of legislation regulates how we can buy, sell and consume alcohol – and this is understandable, since alcohol misuse costs Americans an estimated $223.5 billion per year. Find out what types of alcohol polices actually work well to reduce the harms of excessive alcohol use and which ones – though they may sound good – do not work very well at all.

At the societal level, the social and economic costs associated with alcohol use and abuse are staggering, and because they run so high, government plays a necessary role in enacting regulations to minimize these costs. Ideally, these regulations walk a fine line between reducing alcohol related harms while still respecting individual choice and the rights of industry to make money and create jobs.

Unfortunately, though a great deal is known about what works best at the macro level to reduce the harms of alcohol abuse, what gets put into play at the municipal, state and even federal levels doesn’t always make best use of this knowledge base.

In some cases, a great deal of taxpayer money gets spent on programs that sound very impressive but are proven to have little impact, and in some more depressing instances, legislators put the profit goals of the alcohol industry over the health protection of the citizenry.

Alcohol abuse issues affect many 10s of millions of families very directly, but the indirect costs of alcohol abuse affect every American. This year, the CDC released an updated estimate of the true economic costs of excessive alcohol use, numbering it $223.5 billion, which equates to more than $700 for every man woman and child in the country.¹

So no matter who you are and no matter how much you do or don’t drink, you should care about alcohol policies – if for no other reason than to increase the amount of money in your wallet in any given month.

And so no matter where you live - as another election season nears - pay attention to the alcohol policies proposed by any candidates under your consideration and see which candidates have a real understanding of effective alcohol policies and which only propose those programs that sound nice, but that just don’t work very well.

Reducing Harmful Drinking – Which Policies Work and Which Policies Don’t

Researchers at The World Health Organization (WHO) did a review of research literature to determine which types of alcohol polices worked to reduce harmful drinking, which types maybe worked (but lacked conclusive evidence proving their effectiveness) and which types of polices most likely did not work well.

Alcohol Policies That Very Likely Work (Backed by Convincing Research Evidence)

• Raising alcohol taxes
  
• Maintaining a government monopoly on the sale of all alcohol
  
• Reducing the allowable number of alcohol sales outlets in any given area (reduced density)
  
• Reducing the hours of sale in any given day and reducing the days of sale per week
  
• Raising the minimum drinking age
  
• Reducing the maximum allowable blood alcohol content for driving (such as having no allowable BAC for new drivers)
• Increasing random BAC checks
  
• Providing brief interventions to people with possible alcohol use disorders (such as in ERs or with primary care doctors)
  
• Increasing the availability of alcoholism treatment
  

Policies That Likely Work (Backed by Moderate Evidence)

• Enforcing a minimum price for alcohol (such as a minimum price per gram of alcohol) so that there is no very cheap option for intoxication
  
• Restricting the amount of alcohol related advertising and marketing
  
• Working to increase the enforcement of polices which prohibit alcohol service to underage and intoxicated persons

Policies That May Work (Backed by Some Limited Evidence)

• Suspending driver’s licenses for alcohol infractions
• Mandating alcohol ignition locks
• Enacting community or workplace alcohol programs

Alcohol Polices That Don’t Reduce Harmful Drinking

Alcohol Polices That Very Likely Don’t Work (Backed by Convincing Evidence)

• School alcohol and substance abuse education programs (In one review, only 6 of 59 high quality high school substance abuse education programs were able to demonstrate any effectiveness)
  

Alcohol Policies That Probably Don’t Work (Backed by Some Evidence)

• Designated driver programs
  
• Training alcohol servers to enforce alcohol laws
  
• Community education campaigns
  
• Warning labels on alcohol product²

Image Copyright: Pixie Clipx

You have a legal right to confidential treatment, and you cannot be discriminated against on the job, in the housing market, or for access to any governmental programs. Find out what your rights are, and get help today.

Your legal rights to treatment…you cannot be discriminated against for present or past participation in medically needed substance abuse treatment.

Too many people avoid needed intervention and treatment out of fear of repercussions. People fear that once they enroll in a drug treatment program and receive needed treatment they will be punished on the job and that they will be discriminated against in both the public and private sectors.

The reality is that people who continue to use and abuse illegal drugs have very few rights and are not protected under federal or state statutes against discrimination, but those people who have received treatment for substance abuse problems, and who have achieved abstinence, are very well protected from discriminatory practices by a number of federal and state initiatives, including The Americans with Disabilities Act, The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, The Fair Housing Act and The Workforce Investment Act.

Although the information as follows is not a complete or legal document of your rights against discrimination, you can in general assume that after achieving sobriety or after having participated in substance abuse therapies, your history of abuse can never be used against you on the job, for housing, or for access to public or private programs.

Your Rights on the Job

The vast majority of employers are compelled to offer 12 weeks of unpaid leave to any employee seeking time off for a major medically necessary period of treatment. Employers may not sanction or punish any employee who requests needed medical leave, providing they have net certain requirements for eligibility (have worked with the company for more than one year etc.).

Any medically related information that employers may have access to for insurance, Medicaid or other purposes is also completely confidential, and cannot be revealed without your consent.

Your employer must also provide reasonable allowances to you for medically necessary reasons when it would not cause undue harm to do so. For example, if you need to maintain weekly meetings with a psychologist, you have the right to alter your work schedule to allow you to fulfill a medically required treatment.

If on the job drug testing reveals the presence of a legal and prescribed substance such as methadone used therapeutically, an employer can bring no sanctions, nor reveal the presence of the therapeutic substance to anyone without your consent.

You have the right to get treatment, you cannot be punished for seeking treatment, and your employer cannot tell anyone without your consent that you have received treatment.

Additionally, when applying for a job it is illegal for a prospective employer to ask about past substance abuse or a history of treatment for substance abuse. You cannot be discriminated against when applying for a job for having sought needed medical treatment, and employers are not even allowed to ask about it by law.

You also have equal rights to access to federal and state job placement and employment training programs, regardless of any history of substance abuse or treatment.

Your Rights to Housing

You cannot be denied access to a rental or saleable property because of your past history of substance abuse.

You cannot be denied access to public housing because of a past history of substance abuse (although a criminal conviction may alter your status in this respect).

Your Right to Government Services and Programs

You cannot be discriminated against for any publicly available governmental support programs based on a past history of substance abuse. Programs may include social assistance or welfare, housing assistance, job or employment assistance or licensing programs

Your Right to Public/Private Facilities

You cannot be denied access in a discriminatory way to any private facility that provides services to the public. Examples of such facilities include schools, universities, hospitals, emergency shelters, churches, day care centers and senior centers.

You Are Only Protected Once You Have Stopped Abusing Drugs

All of the above legal protections do not apply to people currently engaged in illicit drug taking, and are only applicable to people no longer illegally using drugs of abuse. Most of the above statutes do protect people who are actively abusing alcohol, but alcohol abuse behaviors will often give organizations or employers legitimate grounds for action against the abuser.

Anyone considering treatment for a substance abuse problem should know that their right to confidential treatment is protected under law and that after achieving sobriety they cannot be sanctioned for a history of abuse or treatment, whether on the job, for housing, within governmental programs, or within private/public institutions.

Resources

If you feel that you are being discriminated against because of a past history of treatment, or want to learn more about your rights to sanction free substance abuse treatment, please visit the following governmental web sites for more information.

Employment rights 

Medical leave rights

Housing rights

Image Copyright: Mr. T. in DC

Why cuts to addiction treatment funding may not save money in the short, medium or long term - Uncovering the hidden long term health care costs of untreated addiction.

Although addiction treatment funding is quickly cut in periods of economic belt-tightening, the immediate savings of a budget slashing are not always true savings, when you consider the long term costs of such reduced funding.

Reducing funding for addiction treatment programs affects everyone in our communities. Whether or not anyone in your family will ever need addiction treatment, when that tax bill comes around - everyone pays for the costs of untreated addiction.

Addiction and substance abuse in our communities comes with a hefty price tag; from increased incarceration, increased burden on law enforcement, increased need for child social services, decreased work productivity, and very significantly - in increased health care costs. In 2005, Americans spent $467 billion dollars paying for services or costs related to substance abuse or addiction. Of this staggering amount of money, only 1.9% went to treatment services and prevention programs.

You pay a bit now or a lot later. To illustrate this, here are some numbers which tell the story of addiction’s toll and on the health care system.

The Health Care Costs of Untreated Addiction

* Roughly 23 million Americans have a drug or alcohol problem severe enough to warrant treatment – yet only about 10% of these people will ever get addiction treatment

* In 2005, Substance abuse funding ranked the sixth most expensive federal expenditure, behind only social security, national defense, income security, Medicaid and other federal health programs. In 2005 federal and state governments spent $207.2 billion on health care costs relating to addiction.¹

* In 2004, 1 out of every 14 hospital stays in America was related to addiction or substance abuse. The total cost for these addiction related hospital stays ran to $2 billion.

* 1.7 million emergency room visits per year are related to the misuse of alcohol or drugs²

* A study out of Washington State showed that providing methadone treatment to Medicaid using opiate addicts at a cost of $219 per person per month netted total Medicaid health care savings of $765 per person per month (excluding the $219 methadone costs, average monthly Medicaid costs dropped from $2020 to $1036 for those receiving methadone). For those who take methadone for longer than 365 days, the average monthly savings increase to $899. ³

Addiction Treatment Pays Off

People who aren’t abusing drugs or alcohol do less damage to their physical and mental health. Additionally, people who focus mostly on getting drunk or getting high each day may not attend to their daily health needs or take adequate care to prevent the worsening of existing medical conditions – and the costs of these behaviors are tallied in reduced public health and increased total taxes.

On humanitarian grounds, we owe it our community to help every person we can to receive the addiction treatment they need, but beyond thoughts of altruism, helping people get past addiction and substance abuse just makes good economic sense.

Image Copyright: United Nations Photo

Although drunk driving isn’t as common as it was 20 years ago, well over 10 000 Americans are still killed every year in alcohol involved traffic accidents, and if you’re driving around after midnight on a Friday night, then about 5% of those driving around you are over the legal limit. In all, drunk drivers take 159 million perilous and sometimes tragic driving trips in America each year.

Although it’s impossible to quantify the tragedy that is a single loss of life from a DUI accident, it’s also impossible to ignore the consequences of drunken driving during any discussion on the social issues and costs of binge drinking, alcohol abuse and alcoholism.

DUIs in America, the Numbers and the Social Costs

• Roughly 30% of Americans will be involved in an alcohol involved accident at some point in life
• In 2002, drunken divers took an estimated 159 million vehicle trips while impaired
• In 2006 1.46 million Americans were arrested for driving while intoxicated and the average offender arrested for the first time for drunken driving will have driven while intoxicated 87 times before getting caught
• In 2000, the estimated societal costs of DUI crashed topped $114 billion
• In 2008, 11 773 Americans were killed in DUI accidents, which is 32% of all Americans killed in car accidents that year.
• Between 50% and 70% of DUI offenders with suspended driver’s licenses will continue to drive and drivers over the legal limit who are involved in a fatal traffic accident are 8 times more likely than non drunk drivers to have had a previous conviction for drunken driving.¹
• Within the last 30 days, 28% of high school students have ridden in a car at least once piloted by a driver who had been drinking alcohol. ²
• In 2006, 31% of teen drivers between the age of 15 and 20 who were killed in a traffic accident had been drinking alcohol.³
  
• During the 2007 National Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers, almost 5% of the drivers stopped late on Friday night and early (after midnight) on a Saturday morning were over the legal minimum blood alcohol content level.⁴

Image Copyright: Vikisuzan

Binge drinking is bad for you and bad us. When you binge drink you put yourself at an increased risk of accidents, trauma and assault, and when you binge drink regularly your risks for a host of chronic disease go up substantially; but binge drinking affects more than the individual alone, at the societal level, binge drinking costs Americans well over $100 billion dollars per year.

While there are undoubtedly some health benefits to regular very moderate alcohol consumption, (heart health and red wine, for example) binge drinking is never good for you, and on a societal scale, our enormous binge drinking habit results in definite social consequences.

Binge drinking refers to consuming 5 or more drinks in a session (within a few hours). A drink refers to a regular sized glass of wine (5 ounces) a regular strength bottle of beer or a cocktail containing 1.5 ounces of 40% alcohol spirits.

Binge Drinking and Your Health

Binge drinking is bad for your health and well-being.

If you binge drink you are more likely to:

• Feel hung-over the morning after
• Get into a traffic accident, and more likely to suffer a wide array of traumas, such as drowning, burns, falls, broken bones and firearm injuries.¹
• Be involved in a violent incident (either as the perpetrator or the victim) ²
• Engage in risky sexual activities
• Overdose on alcohol (can be fatal)

If you binge drink on a regular basis you are at an increased risk of:

• Developing an alcohol dependence (alcoholism)
• Liver disease, such as alcoholic hepatitis or cirrhosis
• Brain damage
• Heart disease, high blood pressure
• Kidney damage
• Depression and anxiety
• Decreased fertility in women
• Insomnia
• Hormonal alterations (a decrease in testosterone)
• Stomach problems, such as gastritis or ulcer
• An array of different cancers, such as mouth, throat and esophageal cancers
• Sexual problems, such erectile dysfunction³

For good health and a long life, if you choose to drink, drink only in moderation.

Binge Drinking – The Social Costs

Whether or not you choose to binge drink, everyone is affected by the alcohol choices made by those in their communities.

• About half of all Americans are regular consumers of alcohol and about 20% of Americans aged 12 and over engaged in at least once binge drinking session within the last month
• Young adults are the age group most likely to engage in binge drinking – among 21 year olds, 48.2% are binge drinkers.⁴
• Communities that have a higher density of liquor stores and other alcohol outlets have higher rates of violent assaults
• 40% of fatal traffic accidents involve alcohol
• The economic cost of heavy drinking is tabulated at $134 billion per year (factoring in costs such as lost productivity, early death and increased crime). In total, less than half of this economic burden is imposed on those individuals that actually drink alcohol – with government and private corporations paying more than half the total costs.⁵
• Each year, 590 000 college students are injured while under the influence of alcohol and 97 000 students are involved in an alcohol involved sexual assault or rape⁶

Tips for Drinking Less

By making a conscious choice to limit how much alcohol you’ll consume during a night out on the town you can avoid dealing with the negative consequences of overindulgence.

To drink less during an evening out, try:

• Deciding in advance on how much you’ll drink and stick to your limit
• Start out with a non alcoholic drink and try alternating between alcohol and non alcohol drinks as the night progresses
• Drink “lite’ beers or half measure cocktails
• Drink slowly, sipping your drink
• Don’t get pressured into rounds of drinks or shots⁷

Image Copyright: A Tai

The number of Americans imprisoned on drug offenses, the cost of keeping them within the corrections system and the racial disparity of this offender population.

While differences in politics or philosophy can lead to debate about the best course of action for bettering our national drug problem, no one who looks at the statistics that illustrate the consequences of drug abuse and addiction can deny the enormous monetary and human costs of drugs.

Any conversation on the social costs of drug use must surely contain at least a mention of the enormous numbers of Americans who are or have been incarcerated due to either the use or sale of illegal drugs.

Some of the facts:

• In 2008, according to the Department of Corrections, there were 7,308,200 Americans in the corrections system. On a per capita basis, America has far more of its citizens in jails than any other country in the world. Following America are Russia, Rwanda, St Kitts & Nevis and Cuba.

• In 2007, it cost a state prison an average of $67.55 per day to jail a drug offender. In 2007, state prisons held 253,300 men women and minors, which totals up to a daily cost of $17,110,415 and an annual cost of $6,245,301,475.

• In 2008, states spent $52 billion in jailing people, which is more than twice the amount that was spent on public assistance of all kinds ($25.1 billion)

• In 2006, of those held in state prisons on drug offences, Of the estimated 265,800 prisoners under state jurisdiction sentenced for drug offenses in 2006, 27.1 % were white (27.1%), 44.2% were black and 21% were Hispanic. Blacks account for just over 12% of the total American population.

• In 2000, the average drug felony offender in federal prisons had been sentenced to 75.6 months, which is just slightly less than the average sentence of 86.6 months given to federal offenders who had committed felony violent crimes. ¹

• Since 1992, more than 5 million Americans have been arrested for marijuana. In 1999 - 60 000 Americans were serving time for marijuana offenses.

• Every extra dollar that is spent by local, state or federal governments on substance abuse treatment yields an eventual social costs savings of $7.46²

Image Copyright: Prisoner 159753

Marijuana, smoked by either a man or a woman, reduces the chances of a successful conception.

Heavy marijuana use by either women or men decreases the chance of a couple conceiving a child.

Marijuana Alters Hormone Levels

Heavy marijuana usage in men is associated with an increase in endogenous estrogen levels at the expense of testosterone (which can also cause enlarged male breasts by the way) which negatively affects sperm counts and sperm activity and effectiveness.

About 50%

Studies of heavy marijuana smoking men show that they produce roughly half the amount of seminal fluid when compared with non smoking men, and in this decreased quantity of seminal fluid are a significantly reduced number of active sperm.

It has the effect of lowering fertility levels significantly. Men who boast a very high sperm count will still be capable of conceiving children, but any man with an average or below average count is going to be pushing his sperm count down into the infertile region.

Tired-out Sperm

The sperm are not only delivered in a lesser quantity, the marijuana stimulated sperm also react differently, and after ejaculation start swimming far too quickly towards the ova on their multi hour journey. They approach a marathon like a sprint, and by the time they reach the ova, they are too fatigues and lethargic to push through the wall of the ovum they are too weakened to push through the wall and begin conception.

Women Shouldn’t Smoke Either

But it's not only male smokers who reduce the chances of procreation. When a women smokes marijuana, the THC lingers in the reproductive system, and has the same hyperactivity and fatigue affect on delivered sperm, even if the man is a non smoker.

Men who stop smoking marijuana will gradually over a period of several months return to a baseline state of fertility.

Couples who use marijuana and suffer difficulties in conceiving children are strongly advised to eliminate fertility harmful marijuana consumption.

Women who smoke marijuana can also alter their hormonal chemical levels, decreasing the odds of successful implantation in the womb.

Image Copyright: Hazli.G

Unfortunately, the damage done through drug abuse far exceeds the sometimes substantial destruction of the drug alone, and can also include infectious diseases and other health risks. Don't risk your health and happiness for a few hours of dwindling pleasure; get help and get better today.

In additional to the direct damage that drugs and alcohol inflict on the body and mind; the behaviors of drug abuse often place addicts at a greatly increased risk for a number of serous and sometimes fatal conditions.

HIV and AIDS

Injection drug users are at a very high risk for the transmission of the HIV virus. HIV may be transmitted through the use of shared needles, but the virus can also be transmitted through shared spoons for cooking, cotton swabs or rinse water. Using a personal and disposable needle does not necessarily prevent against HIV infection.

In additional to the direct risk of injection administration of the virus, people abusing heroin and other drugs are at a greatly increased risk for HIV simply through the behaviors of intoxication. Drug users exhibit riskier sexual behaviors, and are more likely to contract the virus through unsafe sex practices, and through sexual contact within members of a very at risk group for HIV and AIDS.

Hepatitis C

An extremely contagious disease, Hep C can be contracted through shared needles or shared drug paraphernalia, and as well through unsafe sexual practices. A virus far more contagious than HIV, a survey of injection drug users found that most intravenous drug administration users contracted the virus during the first three years of injection administration drug use.

Hep C is a dangerous and possibly fatal viral infection, and can lead to liver damage, including cirrhosis of the liver and an increased risk for liver cancer. Hep C is the leading cause of liver disease.

Hep C is treatable if detected in the early stages, but chronic Hep C re infection is a significant predictor of liver disease and liver failure (fatal).

Tuberculosis

Completely intertwined with HIV infection and drug use and abuse, tuberculosis remains a significant threat to injection drug users. Tuberculosis is a very infections lung disease, and it is estimated that a significant percentage of intravenous drug users are latent carriers of the disease. Tuberculosis often emerges during a period of immune system weakness, as exhibited during AIDS infections and other chronic diseases.

Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases

For the same reasons that IV drug users at an increased risk for HIV, they also suffer from greatly elevated rates of all other STD infections. STD's can be transmitted through shared drug injection paraphernalia, and also through unsafe sexual practices, particularly within a community of very at risk people.

Skin and Other Infections

Through infected sites of administration, injection drug users often suffer from serious and painful skin infections. Due to decreased health and a weakened immune system, injection drug users are also more susceptible to diseases such as bacterial and viral pneumonia.

Decreasing the Risks

Injection drug users can decrease their risks of contracting serious infectious diseases by maintain a vigilant cleanliness during injection procedures, and by always maintain safe sexual practices. The best way to minimize the risks of disease however is to stop unsafe injection and drug taking practices altogether.

Drug abuse damages the body, the mind and the soul, and the damage is not limited to the effects of the drugs in the body. The behaviors of administration and even the behaviors of intoxication place drug users at a greatly increased risk for serious and sometimes fatal and incurable diseases.

Effective professional intervention and treatments are available for any drug users wanting to make a change to sobriety.

Image Copyright: Zoriah

Does it exist? Learn about marijuana amotivational syndrome; the truth, the facts and the hearsay.

Is there any truth to the stereotype of the lazy, half-witted, burnt out marijuana smoker?

Amotivational Syndrome...The Facts

Amotivational syndrome, a collection of observable consequences of heavy marijuana use that includes apathy, lethargy, reduced concentration, lowered intelligence and a lack of desire to partake in meaningful activities of upwards mobility; has never been clinically proven as factual or real.

No Clinical Causal Link

Problematically, the difficulties inherent in proving a casual link between marijuana usage and such a wide collection of behavioral changes prohibits a clinically demonstrable relationship, and some marijuana users, even heavy smokers, do not seem to display the characteristic traits of the amotivational syndrome.

Governmental propoganda?

A fact not last to marijuana advocates who argue of governmental propaganda and the propagation of myth, something that government have in the past been guilty of, and some would argue remain guilty of to this day. This is unfortunate, as there are enough legitimate risks of marijuana usage to give weight to arguments against its use, without resorting to half truths and myth.

Some Real Statistics About the Harms of Marijuana

But although amotivational syndrome cannot be proven as a casual result of marijuana usage, there are certain statistics that do illustrate the correlation between marijuana use and lowered academic and professional success and accomplishments.

• Marijuana users are less likely to finish high school
• They get lower grades in high school and in college than do non smokers
• They perform lower on tests of intellectual capacity
• They self report a decreased ability to excel professionally
• Heavy marijuana users self report that their marijuana habit decreases their ability to perform complex work tasks well, to learn new tasks professionally and that their marijuana usage has hampered their upwards professional climb.

Marijuana and Developmental Delays in Teens

Marijuana usage is conclusively and casually linked to a reduction in ability to consolidate new memories for about 24 hours after you smoke; which for heavy or daily marijuana smokers means all the time. Essentially, marijuana can decrease your ability to learn.

Psychologists argue that when a teen starts smoking marijuana heavily, they lose the ability to consolidate the emotional and social learning necessary for a real transition out of adolescence and into adulthood. Marijuana blunts the emotional response to external stimuli, and as such when under the influence of marijuana, teens do not appropriately experience complex emotional and developmental challenges, and do not learn healthy was to navigate the emotional and psychosocial landscape of adulthood.

The earlier teens start smoking, the greater the deficit in learned social behaviors, and the greater the eventual harms.

So there is no direct evidence linking marijuana usage to amotivational syndrome, but marijuana does cause decreased academic, professional and general life performance. It does lessen the ability to learn, and when younger teens smoke marijuana heavily, they do not effectively develop emotionally and do not learn effective and appropriate ways to deal with emotional and social challenges in life.

Does It Make You Lazy?

And although marijuana cannot be conclusively linked to amotivational syndrome, most marijuana smokers will concede that under the influence of regular intoxication they are not as likely to accomplish worthwhile goals, and are more likely to focus on transient and meaningless pleasures of stimulation.

• Far less likely to crack the books, and far more likely to play video games.
• Far less likely to look for a new job and far more likely to watch a movie.

Scientists may not be able to prove a casual link, but marijuana smokers know that while high, they just aren’t as motivated to accomplish in life.

Image Copyright: Banalities