Beyond Addiction

Each week in this space I field questions from readers who want to know more about addiction and what to do about it.

But in the spirit of the end of the year, I'm using this column to look back at the hurts and hopes of 2007 and make a prediction for what's ahead in 2008.

Hurt: to Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and all those Hollywood celebs who kept doing the same thing over and over again, expecting something different but getting the same result. That's insanity, and their repeated dashes to and from high-end treatment centers only exacerbated the public's perception that treatment doesn't work.

Hope: to "Good Morning America," CNN and Newsweek magazine, among other media outlets, for looking beyond those Hollywood headlines to explore the truth about addiction, treatment and recovery. Treatment isn't the end of the story. It's the beginning. As many of us know, "It works when you work it, but you've got to work it."

Hurt: to communities in places like Minnesota, Florida and Massachusetts, where local officials hysterically invoked the stigma of addiction in an effort to make it more difficult for addicts and alcoholics to get back up on their feet in neighborhoods were they live, work and recover.

Hope: to town and city councils in some of those communities for seeking a reasonable accommodation through closer regulatory scrutiny of so-called "sober housing" without driving addicts and alcoholics away or to the other side of the tracks. Just like their neighbors, people in early recovery need and deserve a safe and healthy place to live, too.

Hurt: to the U.S. Congress, for failing to end decades of discrimination by insurance companies against people who want to use their health care insurance to access addiction treatment services.

Hope: to that same body of legislators for finally taking up the issue this year. The Senate passed a version of "parity" legislation for the first time ever, and the House of Representatives is moving to a vote early in 2008.

Hurt: to the pharmaceutical industry for continuing to search for or tout a "cure" for addiction with new medications. Addiction is an illness affecting the mind, body and spirit. Simply taking a pill will never be the magic bullet the drug companies are looking for.

Hope: to researchers and scientists and federal agencies like the National Institute of Drug Abuse for breakthrough studies identifying the brain's role in fostering addiction. Already those insights are giving treatment programs new opportunities to use pharmacology to reduce the effects of craving in some of their patients.

Hurt: to the success of the failed war on drugs to lock up low-level drug offenders. A record 2.2 million people are behind bars in America. At least 60 percent are there because of problems with alcohol or other drugs, and few of them ever get effective treatment.

Hope: to the slow expansion of drug courts and treatment programs behind bars for people whose sentences include getting sober and staying out of trouble. It's a fact: sobriety usually results in employment, stability at home and fewer crimes.

Finally, in 2007 the federal government estimated that 20 million people were addicted to legal or illegal substances. But only 20 percent got treatment, either because they didn't ask for help or could not get it due to a lack of public and private resources. That's a lot of hurting people, families and communities.

But many others did get help, giving them a chance to start the journey of recovery. Their stories are all about hope. And I predict that in 2008 they will help others find that hope, too.

William C. Moyers is the vice president of external affairs for the Hazelden Foundation and the author of "Broken," a best-selling memoir. The paperback edition was released in August 2007. Please send your questions to William Moyers at William@williammoyers.com. To find out more about William Moyers and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2007 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.