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