INEFFECTIVE ABUSE STRATEGY

I have watched in dismay as the General Assembly plays games with
funding for the neediest of our citizens. Now comes a plan from the
Department of Health and Human Services that will essentially
eliminate efforts at prevention and early intervention for alcohol
and drug abuse. As it is, Joe Sixpack has few available
state-supported treatment options until he gets multiple DUI arrests.
Other than AA, there are few private programs he can turn to or
afford. Part of the problem stems from what the federal government
will pay for: alcohol or drug abusers with AIDS or TB, pregnant women
or women with young children, and parents with Division of Social
Services involvement. All highly need such attention. The state's
plan is to abandon most of the other populations of alcohol and drug
abusers, which are the vast majority.

If the state ignores primary intervention, then we are going to have
an ever-increasing alcohol and drug burden imposed on the citizens.
Primary intervention requires that DARE programs, which are
ineffective alone, be integrated into a program that continues
through middle and high school. Secondary intervention requires more
programs like DrinkWise ( http://www.med.ecu.edu/pharm/frwise.htm )
or Recovery2000 ( http://www.recovery2000.com/ ) and others that
target Joe Sixpack. An effective integrated system of primary and
secondary interventions should alleviate the demand for expensive
tertiary interventions.

Both the legislature and the DHHS plan forgo the ounces of prevention
and favor pounds of treatment. In the long-term, the cost in personal
misery and taxpayer dollars will be very high.

BRIAN A. MCMILLEN, Ph.D.

Greenville

The writer is professor of pharmacology and acting director of the
Center for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Studies, Brody School of Medicine,
at East Carolina University.