Pubdate: Wed, 25 May 2005
Source: Capital Times, The  (WI)
Copyright: 2005 The Capital Times
Contact:  http://www.captimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/73
Author: Rob Zaleski
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

REHAB CHIEF SAYS DRUG USE NOT A SURPRISE

If the e-mails I've been receiving are any gauge, a lot of people in this 
town were shocked by the news that a heroin overdose may have caused the 
death of Sarah Stellner, a 20-year-old Madison woman whose body was found 
in her Langdon Street apartment the morning of April 26.

Stellner's 17-year-old roommate confessed to injecting Stellner with heroin 
earlier that morning. But police are still awaiting toxicology tests to 
determine if heroin was, in fact, the cause.

However, the people who pay close attention to these things aren't 
surprised that young people are turning to more potent drugs, says Michael 
Miller, medical director of Meriter Hospital's NewStart drug and alcohol 
rehabilitation program.

"Wisconsin has always been an alcohol state, and alcohol has been the main 
reason people come in for treatment - and still is," says Miller, 
responding to a recent column I did on Stellner's death.

"But opiates have become a much bigger thing over the last five years," he 
says - partly because they're widely available now and partly because the 
cost of all drugs has plummeted.

Notes Miller, "You can get a very nice buzz from an illicit substance that 
in some cases is the same price as a cocktail at a decent bar."

Miller, who's lived here 16 years, is a man of strong opinions - especially 
on issues close to his heart. For instance, he is among those who were 
outraged upon learning that the new county courthouse partially blocks the 
million-dollar view of the Capitol from John Nolen Drive.

But his biggest frustration is that society - and the media - continues to 
perceive drug use as a "crime and punishment issue." Whereas, in his view, 
it is first and foremost a huge national health problem.

That's not to suggest that incarceration and controlling the supply of 
drugs aren't important, Miller says. But the United States, he argues, 
"doesn't have an adequate balance. And, quite honestly, increased 
availability and increased rates of addiction wouldn't be a problem if 
there was treatment on demand.

"It should be just as easy to walk into a doctor's office and get help for 
an alcohol or heroin or marijuana problem as it is for a problem with 
pneumonia or a bad back."

The big question for many parents, of course, is how do you know if your 
son or daughter has a drug problem - or, scarier yet, if they've been 
experimenting with things like heroin or methamphetamine.

Miller agrees it's a tough question to answer. But he says if a parent 
knows their child is drinking too much or smoking too much pot, "they 
should assume there's a possibility the child is using every euphoriant 
available, in every drug class."

That's not to say they are, he emphasizes. "But nobody should be surprised 
by that."

And once you've accepted that possibility, he says, you need to "quit 
tiptoeing around the elephant in the living room" and start talking about it.

"Breaking the so-called no talk rule is the first step of people saying, 
'Look, I've noticed this, I care about you,' he says.

"And the messages have to be from the heart. They can't be scolding 
messages - 'You're messing up,' or 'You're going to kill yourself.' It has 
to be, 'I am really concerned about you and I'm scared by what I see.' "

If you approach it in that manner, oftentimes a son or daughter - or any 
family member, for that matter - will admit to having a problem, Miller says.

And that's when you take the next step - treatment.

But now we've gotten to Miller's second big frustration.

While treatment is available, the number of treatment providers in the 
state has declined over the years, he notes. Meriter, he says, "deserves a 
lot of credit for being a Madison area hospital that has never walked away 
from this population."

Compounding the problem, he says, is that "virtually nobody's health 
insurance covers addiction on a par with other illnesses."

So, like a lot of things today, treatment is available for people who can 
afford it, Miller says. But the average working guy? He or she is out of 
luck, he says - unless they're willing to pay out of pocket.

Miller points out that several bills have been introduced in the 
Legislature in recent years that would address the problem, but have gone 
nowhere.

Business opposes the legislation because it insists - wrongly, Miller says 
- - that it will be too costly. And the public hasn't shown much interest, he 
says, because people naively assume that "addiction is something that 
happens to someone else's family."

And that's not just frustrating, it's disappointing, Miller says.

"Because this isn't a mystery. It's not witchcraft. We know the prevalence 
in the population. We know that roughly 10 percent of the public isn't 
going to be able to consistently control their use of alcohol and drugs.

"That's 30 million Americans. And we know the ripple effect in families is 
tens of millions beyond that."

In other words, we all face 1 in 10 odds of becoming addicted to chemical 
substances, Miller says - including our kids.

"Do you call that a big bet or a small bet?"
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman