Pubdate: Fri, 08 Apr 2005
Source: Citizen, The (NH)
Copyright: 2005, Geo. J. Foster Co.
Contact:  http://www.citizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1408
Author: John Koziol
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

DRUG WAR LACKS EMPHASIS ON TREATMENT

Editor's Note: The Citizen continues its series on the impact of drugs in 
the Lakes Region and American society in general with a look at the "war on 
drugs".

LACONIA -- The war on drugs, say substance abuse experts, needs to be 
recast as a health, rather than a criminal problem and resources must be 
reallocated from law enforcement to treatment.

The federal government spends about $20 billion per year trying to keep 
illegal drugs out of the U.S., with about two-thirds of it going to 
interdiction, eradication and law enforcement.

"The one thing that is really critical is the best way to stop the 
importation of illegal drugs into this country is by stopping the demand 
and the only way you're going to do that is by treatment," said Jacqui 
Abikoff, executive director of Horizons Counseling Centers in Gilford and 
Plymouth.

"As long as there is a demand, there will be a supply, and all the money we 
put into interdiction isn't going to make a dent -- and the further people 
sink into addiction the less likely they are to have financial resources to 
access treatment and if funding starts dwindling, like it looks like it 
will, it will make it more difficult for people to get help," Abikoff said.

"We're going to pay either for their treatment or their medical care or 
their incarceration."

On the treatment front, "we're starting to work with people who are in 
recovery or breaking through that stigma and coming forth and not having to 
hide because the more people see people who are in recovery who are 
productive members of society, the more we're likely to break through that 
stigma and help those who need it," said Abikoff. "The same stigma won't be 
attached to that. It won't be any different than from going to your doctor 
because you have the flu."

But the weakest link in helping people recover from substance abuse is the 
lack of treatment programs for them.

"We don't have nearly the amount of access to services; we don't have the 
services we need, not just in this area, but in the state as a whole," 
Abikoff said. "We have waiting lists six weeks long and, when people need 
help, you need to strike while the iron is hot -- because six weeks later 
they might have lost the motivation to deal with their disease."

The war on drugs is not working, said Abikoff, because "no matter how much 
enforcement you're going to fund, you're not going to get ahead if the 
demand is there."

Addiction, she continued, "is a brain disease. It's a very complicated 
disease because it is physical, it is spiritual and it is emotional but the 
bottom line is you can't take the physical out of it."

And, she added, it doesn't matter what the abused substance is.

By repealing prohibition, the U.S. has made "a social investment in keeping 
our alcohol. It's so ingrained in our culture that we defend it; but in 
terms of drugs, I've never quite understood which are the 'good' ones and 
which are the 'bad' ones because, if you're addicted, you're going to 
become addicted to whatever drug you use."

Nancy Dyer, a social worker and a licensed alcohol and drug educator and 
counselor working with the Chemical, Health Advisory Task Force at Plymouth 
State University, said substance abuse is a medical/psychological problem, 
not a moral failing.

"People look at it as a moral issue and I'm afraid that that people in this 
society are very judgmental about people who have addictions. They see the 
addict as someone who is weak-willed or somehow inferior when in fact 
anybody can become a drug or alcohol addict," said Dyer.

Substance abuse treatment does work, said Dyer, as does prevention 
education. She would like to see more education for adults, whom she 
believes have been overlooked, as well as for youths, particularly those 
entering high school where peer pressure to experiment with substances is 
greatest.

Dyer said she's "never been very impressed by the war on drugs."

"I don't believe war on anything is very good. We have to look at it as 
more of a societal issue. Why are people looking to use drugs? What are 
some of the underlying causes to have a person desire to use drugs? And 
we're looking at issues of poverty, discrimination, joblessness. All those 
issues, I think, are related to why people might want to escape their 
current sense of being because they're just feeling pretty hopeless about 
life."

"There has to be a real commitment to treatment, enforcement and education. 
Not one of them works by themselves," said Dyer.

State Rep. David A. Welch, chair of the House Criminal Justice and Public 
Safety Committee, concurs that treatment is a vital part of combating 
substance abuse and addiction.

"The idea of treatment is certainly one that the committee would endorse 
and I think treatment either within a secure facility or outside. If we had 
the treatment centers available to us it would make an impact. It doesn't 
make a whole lot of sense to incarcerate people who are merely casual 
users, and I'm not sure that it's the casual users who are being 
incarcerated but there does not appear to be adequate programs for drug 
users," said Welch.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom