Stop Discriminating, And We'll All Be Better Off

IT'S TIME TO RETHINK HOW WE TREAT PEOPLE WITH ADDICTIONS

MOST AMERICANS agree it is wrong to have rules and laws that single out a
person or group and treat them differently from the rest of the population
simply because they have a disease.

But that is exactly what happens every day to people with alcohol and drug
problems. Public and private laws and policies make getting appropriate
medical care, housing or jobs difficult - frequently impossible - even
years after they have entered recovery.

For the past year, we have been part of a national panel reviewing these
policies. Our group included a judge, prosecutors and defense attorneys,
physicians, labor and business executives and advocates. We heard from
people throughout the United States about their experiences with
discrimination. We took testimony from experts in effective alcohol and
drug treatment. We weighed the safety concerns of employers, schools and
communities with the needs of people in recovery to live full, productive
lives.

As individuals, we represent the broad ideological divisions present
throughout the country. Despite our differences, we were able to reach
consensus on ways to change public and private policies that discriminate
against people with alcohol or other drug disease.

First, policy should be based on the growing understanding that addiction
is a disease.

In her testimony to the panel, former first lady Betty Ford told us, "Still
today I sometimes get the reaction of how could a nice person like me be an
alcoholic. It is hard not to take it personally when I read public opinion
polls of both professionals and the general public who believe addiction to
be [more] a moral weakness than a disease. How could people still believe
this?"

We should change the unfair differences in health insurance coverage and
access to care for people seeking treatment for alcohol or drug disease.
Many health insurance policies provide little or no coverage for alcohol or
drug treatment.

If people do have coverage, they often face higher co-payments, deductibles
and limits on the number of visits they can make to their doctors. Research
shows that the longer people spend in treatment, the more likely they are
to recover. But the limits placed by most health insurance coverage do not
allow that recovery to happen, so people stay ill. Punishing them with
inadequate treatment will not make them better. Second, laws and policies
targeted to people with alcohol or drug problems are often
counterproductive. For example, the drug-free student-aid provision of the
Higher Education Act denies federal financial aid to people with
convictions for drug possession - and not to people with any other
conviction, including drunken driving and violent crimes such as rape and
murder.

Women with drug convictions are not eligible to receive welfare benefits
after they leave jail, so they are unable to continue treatment or attend
job training because they have no way to support themselves. Neither a
youthful indiscretion nor a past criminal conviction should play a role in
denying a person opportunities that will enable him or her to get a job and
earn an honest living.

Our panel believes that the nation can change the policies that
discriminate against people with alcohol or other drug problems without
condoning illicit drug use or lowering safety standards in our communities,
workplaces and schools. In fact, we are convinced that if we stop
discriminating, and help people reclaim their lives, we will all be better off.

KURT L. SCHMOKE, a former mayor of Baltimore, is dean of Howard University
School of Law. RICHARD K. WILLARD is senior vice president, legal and
general counsel of the Gillette Co. They wrote this essay for The Baltimore Sun.