How to help addicts - and society

Recently a young woman, who had just turned 21, died of a heroin overdose in Hayden. Nearly 44,000 people die every year in the U.S. from drug overdose. That is 120 every single day. So why is this one death important? Because every one of them matters.

The problem is, she went through the “normal treatment” then was sent out into the world with few tools for success. She stayed clean for a while, then went right back to her old ways and old friends. She told her family she was doing fine and everything was fine. It wasn’t fine. She was still struggling with all the pain and hurt she started with, only now she added shame, because she was failing.

The problem is getting worse and we are not doing what it takes to stop it. Sure, you hear all the great speeches about the war on drugs and just say no. There are too many slogans to count:

• Be Healthy, don’t do drugs.

• Be the best you can be — be drug free.

• Come with me and be drug free.

• Count on me to be drug free.

• Crack is Whack.

• Do a good deed and kill the weed.

• Do dope, lose Hope.

• Don’t do pot, Your brain will rot.

Do you really think fighting the drug lords in faraway lands or spewing out catchy slogans is going to make a difference? Well, they don’t. In the last few years, drug-related deaths have increased in 26 states. Most others have stayed the same.

The one thing that helps is proper treatment over a long period of time. Twenty-one days or even 90 days is not nearly long enough. Why do you think the relapse rate is 80 percent for those going through traditional rehab and many go through five or six times? Because it does little to change the habit of addiction or address why they became an addict in the first place.

Throwing an addict in jail only gets them clean for a while and teaches them how to be a better criminal. I often tell people, “The judge can get you clean and sober, but does nothing to relieve your pain.”

I have had the privilege to sit in the courtroom of our local Mental Health Court in Coeur d’Alene. It is a great program for repeat offenders.

To be eligible to participate in the MHC program, you must have the capacity to manage the structure of MHC: You must be able to read, write, and understand information given to you. You must have a current mental health diagnosis. Bipolar disorder, severe depression, and schizophrenia are eligible diagnoses. Other diagnosed conditions will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

How many people do you know who have at least one of those diagnoses? I would say most longtime addicts have several. That is why we now have co-occurring disorder treatment.

The judge has assembled a team of experts to guide him through the maze of the 45 cases he handles at one time. The team consists of a prosecuting attorney, the judge, probation officer, the jail, and mental health professionals.

The mission is: The MHC program has been developed to help you achieve stability in your life. The program is designed to promote self-sufficiency and to return you to the community as a productive and responsible citizen. The judge, probation officer, treatment provider, and community resources are present to guide and assist you, but the final responsibility is yours.

This program is for repeat offenders who have failed elsewhere and it is very expensive. What about the cost of everything they have already done during their addiction? Crime, prison, broken families, death and, when you do the math, every addict costs you the taxpayer over $20,000 per year. ($600 billion annual cost / 30 million addicts)

What if we didn’t wait until they were habitual? What if we started a program like this, augmented by technology, for their first offence? Take the $1 trillion we have spent on the war on drugs and point it in the other direction, toward treatment.

I can imagine that 30 million addict number would be reduced pretty quickly and we wouldn’t have to suffer the pain of losing people like the 21-year-old young woman in Hayden.

Ed Stevenson has been in the software industry for more than 20 years and is the cofounder of Life Recovery Solutions, a behavioral modification software company located in Coeur d’Alene. He now spends most of his time helping those struggling with addiction.