Addiction is a Public Health Issue
by TChris
As TalkLeft noted here, Patrick Kennedy is taking responsibility for his addiction:
Kennedy said he's been trying for months to kick a narcotic painkiller which he declined to name. He also told the newspaper he has "never gotten over" the chronic back pain and painkiller abuse that stemmed from surgery to remove a growth near his spine during college.
Rush Limbaugh's recent brush with the criminal justice system proves that drug abuse doesn't depend on political philosophy. The Boston Herald reports that 2 million Americans abuse prescription narcotics.
"It's a major problem in this country, the abuse of prescription medication, and we are not recognizing it," said Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health.
Rush was once an advocate for a punitive approach to drug abuse. He's probably come around to the reality-based understanding that drug addiction is a public health problem that isn't well addressed by the criminal justice system.
"This is the way society will slowly open its eyes to discuss drug addiction as a disease instead of hiding it because that just continues the stigmatization," Volkow said.
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