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?" - --- MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman