It’s that time again to take an annual inventory and hand out the hurt and hope awards of 2008.
Hope award: To the 110th Congress, for ending long-standing discrimination by insurance companies against people suffering from addiction or mental illness. By approving the “Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Act,” Congress expanded access to treatment for millions of Americans whose private health insurance did not fairly cover alcoholism or drug dependence, eating disorders, depression or post traumatic stress syndrome. The new law takes full effect in 2010.
Hurt award: To President Bush, who signed the parity legislation into law in October but never used his own personal struggles with alcohol decades ago to inspire effective policy change during his eight years in the White House. Instead, Mr. Bush, like his predecessors, further fostered the failed ‘war on drugs’ that favors interdiction and punishment over treatment and recovery. No wonder Afghanistan is still the world’s leading opium exporter and 2.2 million people are behind bars in America, most of them due to drug or alcohol problems.
Hope award: To Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN), who had the courage and conviction to use his own personal experiences with alcoholism to put a face and a voice to addiction treatment issues on Capitol Hill. In long-term recovery since 1981, Ramstad led the fight for insurance parity and helped other members of Congress with their own addiction struggles. He is retiring. But my hunch is that he’ll remain a staunch advocate in Washington, DC.
Hope award: To the A&E Network, for using its media stature to raise public awareness about addiction and recovery issues through a new initiative, “The Recovery Project.” It kicked off in September with rallies across the country, including a human chain of people in recovery stretching across the Brooklyn Bridge. What a sight! The project includes public service announcements by celebrities, a website and town hall meetings. The key message: addiction is a treatable disease.
Hurt award: To states like New York and California for ignoring the reality that recovery is possible and saves money too, by keeping people out of prison. In New York, millions of dollars were cut for treatment programs for ex-cons and people behind bars. In California, voters rejected a controversial ballot initiative designed to steer more low-level offenders into treatment instead of incarceration. Even worse, the debate ended up pitting treatment advocates against each at the expense of addicted people who need their help.
Hope award: To people like C. West Huddleston, Carol Colleran and Merlyn Karst, recovery advocates who help others by publicly standing up and speaking out about themselves. They were among six people recognized by the Johnson Institute’s “America Honors Recovery” awards this year. Huddleston is a champion for defendants who need treatment. Colleran is a leading clinical expert on addiction among older adults. Karst was board chair of Faces and Voices of Recovery. All are inspiring examples of how it works when it comes to recovery and how to give back to communities still suffering the ravages of addiction.
Addiction hurts people, compromises families and impacts small towns and big cities alike. Treating it spawns healing and inspires hope. And so I am confident of the accuracy of my only prediction for the New Year: there is more hurt ahead. But there is more hope too.
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