| Alcohol or drug abuse affects 25 million | | | | most famous, prolific and successful writers who |
| Americans; only four million get treatment The | | | | for decades was either drunk or wired on |
| need in this country for increased insurance | | | | cocaine, Xanax, Valium, NyQuil, cough medicines, |
| coverage for alcohol and drug addiction treatment | | | | or marijuana? Was Stephen King "mentally ill" |
| is indisputable. Drug rehab and drug detox have | | | | when he wrote several intricately plotted, |
| little or no recognition among health insurers, yet | | | | best-seller blockbuster novels? We never heard |
| drug addiction is a major cause of ruined lives, | | | | anything about "mental illness" when King went |
| family violence, emergency room visits, and death. | | | | into drug rehab in the 1980s. And he's been sober |
| According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, alcohol and | | | | ever since. And let's not forget that Sigmund |
| drug addiction also cost America $77 billion each | | | | Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, was a |
| year in lost productivity. Clearly something needs | | | | habitual cocaine abuser who sang the drug's |
| to be done to make it easier for addicts to get | | | | praises for years to anyone who would listen. |
| alcohol and drug rehab. But the question that leaps | | | | After a friend died of an overdose, he abruptly |
| out when one reads the Paul Wellstone Mental | | | | gave it up and quit promoting it - not the action |
| Health Equitable Treatment Act, H.R. 1402, is this: | | | | one expects from someone who is "mentally ill". |
| is substance abuse and addiction "mental illness"? | | | | The so-called "mental health parity" bills such as |
| The proposed "Wellstone bill", H.R. 1402, would | | | | the Wellstone bill have always failed to pass - and |
| require insurance companies to treat "addiction | | | | there's been a lot of attempts over the decades. |
| and other mental health disorders" on an equal | | | | Aside from the huge lobbying efforts against it by |
| basis with other chronic diseases, such as diabetes | | | | the insurance industry, perhaps people also feel |
| or hypertension. The Wellstone bill is being | | | | deep down that substance abuse and mental |
| sponsored by U.S. Reps. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) | | | | illness are not the same thing at all and do not |
| and Jim Ramstad (R-Minn). Kennedy has said that | | | | belong together in a such a bill. The "mental health |
| we should ". . . end the discrimination against those | | | | industry", as it's known today, receives billions of |
| with mental health and substance abuse | | | | tax dollars every year in grants and other forms |
| disorders." And Ramstad said Congress should ". . . | | | | of support. In comparison, appropriations for |
| end the discrimination against people with mental | | | | alcohol and drug rehab are a drop in the bucket. |
| illness and chemical dependency." Where is this | | | | Yet untreated dependency and addiction are |
| idea coming from that people with schizophrenia | | | | costing us $77billion in lost productivity - more |
| or bipolar disorder are in the same category as | | | | than heart disease, diabetes and cancer combined, |
| alcohol or drug abuse, including those inadvertently | | | | and far more than "mental illness." According to |
| got hooked on addictive prescription drugs. Is it | | | | the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services |
| possible that they are not mentally ill - that they | | | | Administration, nearly 25 million Americans suffer |
| simply need drug detox and drug rehab? For | | | | from a substance abuse problem. And less than |
| example, was Justice William H. Rhenquist of the | | | | four million of these victims receive the drug |
| Supreme Court "mentally ill" because he was | | | | rehab they need. If we really want to do |
| hooked on powerful painkillers for a decade | | | | something about this situation, we need to |
| before he entered drug rehab? You'd have a | | | | separate these two issues and get each of them |
| tough time convincing college law professors or | | | | into their own proposed legislation. That way we |
| anyone on the Supreme Court that we should go | | | | may have a better chance to get the insurance |
| back and cancel 10 years of brilliant and insightful | | | | industry up to speed on helping the millions of |
| decisions and opinions - the ones that later got | | | | Americans who are not mentally ill, and who too |
| Rhenquist appointed Chief Justice - because he | | | | often need financial help getting into and through a |
| was "mentally ill." Or what about one of America's | | | | successful drug rehab program. |