Pubdate: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 Source: New York Post (NY) Copyright: 2003 N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc. Contact: http://www.nypost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/296 Author: Jean Somers Miller LESSONS RIGHT & LEFT BEHIND the political chatter over Rush Limbaugh's all-too-human admission of drug addiction is a more important question: Why would someone of his stature risk everything for a drug? Scientific research has begun to give us the answer, showing that repeated exposure to drugs and/or alcohol changes brain functions in fundamental, long-lasting ways - and revealing genetic and environmental vulnerabilities to addiction as well. Ongoing research will provide more insights in the future. As commissioner of the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS), I learned not to be surprised when famous, highly successful, people found themselves in the grip of some chemical addiction. Indeed, for well over 125 years medical authorities (if not always the public at large) have recognized chemical dependence as a social, public-health and criminal-justice threat - and labored to mitigate the damage, or stop it altogether. The first public concern about drug addiction came right after the Civil War: Many veterans had become dependent on the blessedly potent new opiate painkillers they were given. Ever since, we have vacillated between seeing addiction as a moral lapse and seeing it as a sickness. Even now, liberals will use Limbaugh's admission to argue for expanded drug treatment. Conservatives will contend that anyone who uses illegal substances must pay the consequences. But these views are not mutually exclusive. Drug addiction is a brain disease with serious social implications; its treatment does deserve expanded financial commitment at the local, state and federal levels. But those who suffer from it do need to accept responsibility for their actions. Limbaugh, who has accepted responsibility, could play a critical role in helping large numbers of hitherto uninformed people understand drug dependency and how to get on the road to recovery. As Limbaugh himself has already learned through two failed efforts, detoxification in and of itself is not a cure for addiction. It's an important initial phase of treatment, to control potential serious withdrawal symptoms. But without further treatment, more drug abuse is almost certain. But there are many highly successful and proven courses of treatment available, both with or without medication, in-patient, out-patient, individual and group counseling, and therapeutic communities. In all of them, participants must face both their failings and their responsibilities, no matter how great their past achievements have been. They must repair damaged relationships and get on with their lives in a positive and productive manner - a new beginning which can take considerable time and may, as is often the case, include relapse. But it can work. It does work. And it will work for Rush Limbaugh. My agency, OASAS, built an extensive data system and followed the status of patients who had been in treatment for six months. The outcomes were extraordinary. In one review of more than 18,000 patients, 68 percent to 83 percent (depending on their type of treatment) of those involved discontinued use. Other studies prove beyond doubt that treatment is effective and lasting. One, of clients a year after leaving treatment, found that abstinence and other positive behavioral changes had been dramatic. As OASAS commissioner, I visited dozens of drug-treatment programs. Over and over, like a refrain, I heard this simple but powerful sentence from those receiving care: "Now I have my life back." Coddled? Punished? No, just getting their lives back. We can all hope that when Limbaugh returns to his show, he too will have his life back - and that, using the candor and verbal skill on which he justifiably prides himself, he'll share with others the genuine success that drug treatment can achieve. In the meantime, let us not, shall we say . . . rush to judgment. Jean Somers Miller, an attorney, was commissioner of the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services 1995-2002. She now does consulting work at the federal and state level. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens