ADDICTION NOT HELPED BY SHAMING

A subcommittee of the city's Alcohol License Review Committee recently
recommended photographing residents at admission to the Dane County
Detoxification Center in an effort to "shame" them into sobriety. The full
ALRC is expected to consider the proposal Thursday, April 25. While it is
commendable of ALRC to consider what else could be done to address public
inebriation, this recommendation is illegal (federal confidentiality laws),
unethical and would be ineffective as a response to a medical emergency,
which a Detoxification Center admission is.

The Detox Center and other high-quality alcohol and other drug abuse
service providers in our community do address issues of shame. Shame
already exists to a high degree in people struggling with alcohol and other
drug problems in their lives. Family members and treatment professionals
are aware that intentionally attempting to cause shame is not an effective
way to help a person with an addiction to achieve and/or maintain sobriety,
but may in fact exacerbate the addiction.

However, what has been demonstrated to be effective is a treatment
continuum including one or more of the following intervention methods:
individual, family and group outpatient therapy; intensive day treatment;
residential treatment and support; community supervision; case management;
and self-help groups. The Dane County Department of Human Services provides
over $5 million annually in funding for substance abuse treatment services
for Dane County citizens who might not otherwise access those services.

The Dane County Detoxification Center, operated by Tellurian UCAN Inc., is
a 30-bed locked facility that provides detoxification from alcohol and
other drugs - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Wisconsin Law, Chapter 51.45,
requires counties to provide alcohol detoxification services to eliminate
deaths resulting from the incarceration of public inebriates. The
Detoxification Center provides the public inebriate with appropriate
medical care and seeks to intervene in the destructive abuse of alcohol and
other drugs in people's lives. The center provides over 3,600 admissions
per year, with the length of stay averaging 2.5 days. All residents of the
center have a detoxification and discharge plan as required by Wisconsin
Law HFS, Chapter 75. The center is primarily funded by Dane County.

April is Alcohol and Other Drug Awareness Month. Consider the information
you have heard recently and this opinion column as an opportunity to learn
more about this critically important matter which affects us all in many
ways. For further information on countywide locations for alcohol and other
drug screenings and related matters, contact Doug McLain, Centers for
Prevention and Intervention, at 246-7606, Ext. 138, or Tellurian UCAN at
226-4201.

John Borquist is substance abuse services manager for the Dane County
Department of Human Services. The department is responsible for the Detox
Center.