Pubdate: Fri, 25 Apr 2003
Source: Roanoke Times (VA)
Copyright: 2003 Roanoke Times
Contact:  http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/368
Author:  KURT L. SCHMOKE, and RICHARD K. WILLARD

Stop Discriminating, And We'll All Be Better Off

IT'S TIME TO RETHINK HOW WE TREAT PEOPLE WITH ADDICTIONS

MOST AMERICANS agree it is wrong to have rules and laws that single out a 
person or group and treat them differently from the rest of the population 
simply because they have a disease.

But that is exactly what happens every day to people with alcohol and drug 
problems. Public and private laws and policies make getting appropriate 
medical care, housing or jobs difficult - frequently impossible - even 
years after they have entered recovery.

For the past year, we have been part of a national panel reviewing these 
policies. Our group included a judge, prosecutors and defense attorneys, 
physicians, labor and business executives and advocates. We heard from 
people throughout the United States about their experiences with 
discrimination. We took testimony from experts in effective alcohol and 
drug treatment. We weighed the safety concerns of employers, schools and 
communities with the needs of people in recovery to live full, productive 
lives.

As individuals, we represent the broad ideological divisions present 
throughout the country. Despite our differences, we were able to reach 
consensus on ways to change public and private policies that discriminate 
against people with alcohol or other drug disease.

First, policy should be based on the growing understanding that addiction 
is a disease.

In her testimony to the panel, former first lady Betty Ford told us, "Still 
today I sometimes get the reaction of how could a nice person like me be an 
alcoholic. It is hard not to take it personally when I read public opinion 
polls of both professionals and the general public who believe addiction to 
be [more] a moral weakness than a disease. How could people still believe 
this?"

We should change the unfair differences in health insurance coverage and 
access to care for people seeking treatment for alcohol or drug disease. 
Many health insurance policies provide little or no coverage for alcohol or 
drug treatment.

If people do have coverage, they often face higher co-payments, deductibles 
and limits on the number of visits they can make to their doctors. Research 
shows that the longer people spend in treatment, the more likely they are 
to recover. But the limits placed by most health insurance coverage do not 
allow that recovery to happen, so people stay ill. Punishing them with 
inadequate treatment will not make them better. Second, laws and policies 
targeted to people with alcohol or drug problems are often 
counterproductive. For example, the drug-free student-aid provision of the 
Higher Education Act denies federal financial aid to people with 
convictions for drug possession - and not to people with any other 
conviction, including drunken driving and violent crimes such as rape and 
murder.

Women with drug convictions are not eligible to receive welfare benefits 
after they leave jail, so they are unable to continue treatment or attend 
job training because they have no way to support themselves. Neither a 
youthful indiscretion nor a past criminal conviction should play a role in 
denying a person opportunities that will enable him or her to get a job and 
earn an honest living.

Our panel believes that the nation can change the policies that 
discriminate against people with alcohol or other drug problems without 
condoning illicit drug use or lowering safety standards in our communities, 
workplaces and schools. In fact, we are convinced that if we stop 
discriminating, and help people reclaim their lives, we will all be better off.

KURT L. SCHMOKE, a former mayor of Baltimore, is dean of Howard University 
School of Law. RICHARD K. WILLARD is senior vice president, legal and 
general counsel of the Gillette Co. They wrote this essay for The Baltimore Sun.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart