I admit it. I have
Obamacare fatigue.
I’m tired of endless stories about website glitches and the small
numbers of people who rushed to buy health insurance three months before it
would even go into effect. But I am most
fatigued by the newest invented controversy about the so-called “health-insurance-you-like”
policies that have been outlawed because they do not meet even the bare minimum
standards established by the law. That’s
right – the American people just love lousy health insurance!
 |
| Source: NSDUH, 2013 |
So I thought I would write about something less
controversial – drugs. Because some new facts
suggest that if we really want to change a useless federal policy, we will end –
as quickly as we can – our failed War on Drugs.
President
Richard M. Nixon declared “War on Drugs” in June of 1971. We have been fighting this war for forty-two
years now, long enough to determine if it has made any difference in our
lives. It has.
The War on Drugs has
loaded up our jails and prisons, but has resulted in no discernible impact on
illicit drug use among children or adults – except, maybe, to increase it.
Please don’t take my word for this. Just take a look at the data.
According to the
2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, released a little over a month
ago, only 19 percent of people over the age of 65 have ever used illicit drugs
during their lifetime. This was the last
group that entered adulthood before the War on Drugs was declared.
But 47 percent of those born between 1948 and 1952 say they have
used illicit drugs. This was the group entering
adulthood when the War on Drugs was declared.
And for everyone entering adulthood after the declaration of
war, lifetime illicit drug use is now greater than 50 percent.
So drug use may be up
a little over the last forty years. Is
that enough to declare that the war is a failure?
Maybe not, but here are some facts that are. According to the NSDUH:
- An 18 year old (for whom drinking is illegal) is 10 percent more likely to drink than a 65 year old;
- A 16 year old (for whom smoking is illegal) is 36 percent more likely to smoke than a 65 year old;
- A 12 year old is three times more likely to use illicit drugs than a 65 year old.
So we’re losing our
children to this war. And not just compared
to that older, pre-drug war generation.
In fact:
- A 15 year old is more likely to use illicit drugs than someone over the age of 40.
- An 18 year old is more likely to drive under the influence of alcohol than someone over the age of 45.
- And more than half of those who start to smoke still do so by age 18 – even though the number of people who first started to smoke after the age of 18 nearly doubled between 2002 and 2012.
When drug use leads
to drug problems, it leads to jail and prison, but not to comprehensive drug
treatment.
Thank goodness for peer support services, about which I
have just written for Health Affairs.
Among the 4 million persons who received treatment for alcohol
or illicit drug use last year, more than half – or 2.1 million – received that
treatment from a self-help group.
And despite the fact that prison populations have more
than quadrupled since 1978 and that up to 75 percent of prisoners
have been found to be dependent on alcohol or drugs at some point in their
lives, year only 388,000 – a number equal to just 18 percent of the combined
prison and jail population – received alcohol or drug treatment while in
prison.
As pitiful as that
percentage is, it is still better than what we offer in communities.
Inadequate funding for drug treatment has meant that for the
1 million youths between the ages of 12 and 17 who needed treated for illicit
drug use in 2012, only 121,000 – or 11.6 percent – received treatment in a treatment
facility. And of the almost 900,000 more
who needed treatment for alcohol dependency, only 76,000 – or 8.9 percent – were
treated in a facility.
And for everyone over the age of 12, 65 percent of those who
needed treatment did not get it either because they had no coverage for it or
no access to it.
So you tell me - is this a war we won?
Paul Gionfriddo via email: gionfriddopaul@gmail.com. Twitter: @pgionfriddo. Facebook: www.facebook.com/paul.gionfriddo. LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/paulgionfriddo/
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