| Alcohol or drug abuse affects 25 million
| |
| | should go back and cancel 10 years of
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| Americans; only four million get
| |
| | brilliant and insightful decisions and
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| treatment
| |
| | opinions - the ones that later got
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| The need in this country for increased
| |
| | Rhenquist appointed Chief Justice -
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| insurance coverage for alcohol and drug
| |
| | because he was "mentally ill."
|
| addiction treatment is indisputable. Drug
| |
| | Or what about one of America's most
|
| rehab and drug detox have little or no
| |
| | famous, prolific and successful writers
|
| recognition among health insurers, yet
| |
| | who for decades was either drunk or wired
|
| drug addiction is a major cause of ruined
| |
| | on cocaine, Xanax, Valium, NyQuil, cough
|
| lives, family violence, emergency room
| |
| | medicines, or marijuana? Was Stephen King
|
| visits, and death. According to the U.S.
| |
| | "mentally ill" when he wrote several
|
| Bureau of Labor, alcohol and drug
| |
| | intricately plotted, best-seller
|
| addiction also cost America $77 billion
| |
| | blockbuster novels? We never heard
|
| each year in lost productivity. Clearly
| |
| | anything about "mental illness" when King
|
| something needs to be done to make it
| |
| | went into drug rehab in the 1980s. And
|
| easier for addicts to get alcohol and
| |
| | he's been sober ever since.
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| drug rehab.
| |
| | And let's not forget that Sigmund Freud,
|
| But the question that leaps out when one
| |
| | the father of psychoanalysis, was a
|
| reads the Paul Wellstone Mental Health
| |
| | habitual cocaine abuser who sang the
|
| Equitable Treatment Act, H.R. 1402, is
| |
| | drug's praises for years to anyone who
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| this: is substance abuse and addiction
| |
| | would listen. After a friend died of an
|
| "mental illness"?
| |
| | overdose, he abruptly gave it up and quit
|
| The proposed "Wellstone bill", H.R. 1402,
| |
| | promoting it - not the action one expects
|
| would require insurance companies to
| |
| | from someone who is "mentally ill".
|
| treat "addiction and other mental health
| |
| | The so-called "mental health parity"
|
| disorders" on an equal basis with other
| |
| | bills such as the Wellstone bill have
|
| chronic diseases, such as diabetes or
| |
| | always failed to pass - and there's been
|
| hypertension.
| |
| | a lot of attempts over the decades. Aside
|
| The Wellstone bill is being sponsored by
| |
| | from the huge lobbying efforts against it
|
| U.S. Reps. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Jim
| |
| | by the insurance industry, perhaps people
|
| Ramstad (R-Minn). Kennedy has said that
| |
| | also feel deep down that substance abuse
|
| we should ". . . end the discrimination
| |
| | and mental illness are not the same thing
|
| against those with mental health and
| |
| | at all and do not belong together in a
|
| substance abuse disorders." And Ramstad
| |
| | such a bill.
|
| said Congress should ". . . end the
| |
| | The "mental health industry", as it's
|
| discrimination against people with mental
| |
| | known today, receives billions of tax
|
| illness and chemical dependency."
| |
| | dollars every year in grants and other
|
| Where is this idea coming from that
| |
| | forms of support. In comparison,
|
| people with schizophrenia or bipolar
| |
| | appropriations for alcohol and drug rehab
|
| disorder are in the same category as
| |
| | are a drop in the bucket. Yet untreated
|
| alcohol or drug abuse, including those
| |
| | dependency and addiction are costing us
|
| inadvertently got hooked on addictive
| |
| | $77billion in lost productivity - more
|
| prescription drugs. Is it possible that
| |
| | than heart disease, diabetes and cancer
|
| they are not mentally ill - that they
| |
| | combined, and far more than "mental
|
| simply need drug detox and drug rehab?
| |
| | illness."
|
| For example, was Justice William H.
| |
| | According to the Substance Abuse and
|
| Rhenquist of the Supreme Court "mentally
| |
| | Mental Health Services Administration,
|
| ill" because he was hooked on powerful
| |
| | nearly 25 million Americans suffer from a
|
| painkillers for a decade before he
| |
| | substance abuse problem. And less than
|
| entered drug rehab? You'd have a tough
| |
| | four million of these victims receive the
|
| time convincing college law professors or
| |
| | drug rehab they need.
|
| anyone on the Supreme Court that we
| |
| |
|
