Pubdate: Sun, 03 Sep 2000 Source: Santa Barbara News-Press (CA) Copyright: 2000 Santa Barbara News-Press Contact: P.O. Box 1359, Santa Barbara, CA 93102 Website: http://www.newspress.com/ Author: Alex Brumbaugh Note: The writer is the Project director of the Community Recovery Network DOING MORE TO BATTLE ADDICTIONS This is National Recovery Month. Next Sunday, Sept. 10, the Community Recovery Network will sponsor "Bridges to Recovery," a march and rally to celebrate recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction, and to call attention to the severe shortage of treatment opportunities in Santa Barbara. Thousands of people in our community are successfully recovering from the disease of addiction. Most needed treatment as the first step in their recovery. The Community Recovery Network estimates that there are over 12,000 persons age 16 and older on the South Coast who are not recovering and who currently need treatment. For these 12,000, there are fewer than 800 treatment opportunities available. Of these 800 opportunities, most are restricted. Detox is the first step in treatment, and there is currently no public detox in Santa Barbara. The 12,000 people needing treatment include an estimated 4,000 senior citizens, and nearly 20 percent of high school juniors and seniors. Many others are in the workforce, and on criminal justice and welfare case loads. Untreated, this illness costs our community an estimated $60 million per year in higher taxes, higher insurance premiums and lost productivity. Everyone is affected by this problem. Untreated addiction contributes to many of the problems our politicians promise to solve, from health care and crime to school violence and welfare. Even though addiction treatment is as effective as treatment for other chronic relapsing disorders like asthma, diabetes and hypertension, both the problem and its solution remain hidden and off the page of our local and national political agenda. It is time to bring this public health crisis out of the dark alleys and into the daylight. It is time to move out of the problem and into the solution Join us at 1:30 p.m. next Sunday at Vera Cruz Park on Haley between Santa Barbara and Anacapa streets. We will march up State Street to De la Guerra Plaza for the rally. Speakers will include Hannah-Beth Jackson, Gil Garcia, Rusty Fairly and other elected officials and candidates. The event will also feature brief testimonials of persons in successful recovery, an appearance by actor Chris Mitchum, a dramatic skit, live music, food and information about how you can get involved in this important and growing constituency movement for bringing sanity to our local, state and national substance abuse policies. Alex Brumbaugh, Project director, Community Recovery Network, Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D