DRUG TREATMENT: ESSENTIAL, EFFECTIVE, UNDERFUNDED

In her Aug. 19 op-ed, "Treat the Addict, Cut the Crime Rate," Nora D.
Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, states
indisputable facts about the economic and social implications of the
lack of treatment of the brain disease of addiction. As a physician
who treats patients with addiction, I have made this observation: No
patient says, "When I grow up, I want to be an addict and go to jail."
Most addicts feel, incorrectly, that addiction is a moral failing
rather than a disease.

In fact, with chronic illicit drug use, the addict can get only so
much dopamine (a pleasure neurotransmitter) from a neuron (nerve cell)
to produce euphoria (the high). So addicts' highs get lower and their
lows get lower, and they continue to use drugs in an attempt just to
feel normal and prevent the uncomfortable symptoms of withdrawal.

In her op-ed, Ms. Volkow said that addiction affects 9 percent of the
general population. So why is the nature of addiction not part of the
core curriculum of basic training for all health-care professionals?
Education of all stakeholders (doctors, patients, law enforcement
officials, insurance agents, politicians and citizens) added to
appropriate individual treatment plans based on mutual trust and
respect would save society billions of dollars, not to mention the
unlimited savings in personal anguish.

Howard A. Heit

McLean