Family Matters

SUBSTANCE ABUSE ISSUES HIGHLIGHTED

Substance abuse is prevalent in America, and it affects individuals as well
as families, friends and businesses. The 2001 National Household Survey on
Drug Abuse, estimates that 16 million Americans (7.1 percent of the
population 12 and older) were current users of illicit drugs in 2001.
Seventy-six percent of these drug users are employed either full-or
part-time. Illicit drug use among youth was highest for those between the
ages of 18 and 25. Illicit drugs include marijuana, cocaine/crack,
hallucinogens (like LSD), heroin, methamphetamine, and club drugs (like
Ecstasy). Other misused and potentially addictive legal substances include
inhalants, steroids, prescription drugs, and alcohol and tobacco.

Fourteen years ago, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Division of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration began a national campaign to educate
and inform Americans about the importance and effectiveness of substance
abuse treatment. Since then, September has been annually heralded as
"Recovery Month."

Recovery month often goes unobserved due to a factor (unique to the
substance abuse field) that contributes greatly to the diminished awareness
of treatment success - anonymity. The substance abuse field has a long
tradition of protecting the identity of people in recovery. In no other
field do millions of success stories go untold. The vast majority of men,
women and youth in recovery are leading healthy, active and productive
lives but few outside their families and close friends are aware of their
extraordinary accomplishments.

Treatment is invaluable in Kentucky. Some of its worth simply cannot be
measured and demonstrated, such as the exact number of lives saved, or the
percentage of increased self esteem, or the number of happier and healthier
families, But monetarily speaking, statewide data suggests that for every
$1.00 we spend on treatment, there is a $5.34 cost savings from reduced
crime and increased employment.

Karen Garrity, clinical director of Substance Abuse Services for
LifeSkills, speaks very highly of recovery in our area.

"We have a strong and active recovery community," Garrity said. "Attendance
at 12-step meetings such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and
Al-Anon is excellent. Our local AA is very involved and dynamic. Each May
the area AA groups host a three-day conference called the 'Sponsorship
Rally,' which boasts speakers from all over the United States and is well
attended by people from all over the state."

Perhaps one of the reasons why Bowling Green is so vested in recovery is a
result of the wide array of professional substance abuse services available
from prevention, to education, to outpatient treatment, to intensive
outpatient treatment to residential treatment, right here in our community.

- - For local meeting information, contact Alcoholics Anonymous for AA and
Al-Anon at 782-5267, and Narcotics Anonymous at 782-4029.

Maureen Mahaney coordinates public information for LifeSkills Inc., a
non-profit, behavioral health care corporation that plans for and serves
the people of southcentral Kentucky in three main areas: mental health,
substance abuse, and developmental disabilities. Her column appears monthly.