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