Peer Advocacy for Impaired Nurses, LLC © 2008-
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings, only 8 percent of the approximately 22 million Americans age 12 and older who need addiction care receive treatment for their disorder.
A study on the practices of 171 community-
A report in the New England Journal of Medicine notes that among all American primary care centers, 89 percent do not offer addiction treatment services.
Dis·ease:
1. A disordered or incorrectly functioning
organ, part, structure, or system of the
body resulting from the effect of genetic
or developmental errors, infection, poisons,
nutritional deficiency or imbalance, toxicity,
or unfavorable environmental factors; illness;
sickness; ailment.
2. A pathological condition of a part, organ,
or system of an organism resulting from
various causes, such as infection, genetic
defect, or environmental stress, and
characterized by an identifiable group of
signs or symptoms.
3. A condition or tendency, as of society,
regarded as abnormal and harmful.
"They chose to start drinking and using
drugs! Now they need to choose to stop!
They just don't want to!"
That's probably the most common comment
I hear from those uneducated about this
disease. I've heard this from licensed
professional health care providers, politicians,
hairdressers, university professors, school teachers, ministers, police officers, and even the occasional "rocket scientist".
Is this REALLY a disease someone has chosen?
I'll give you the first sentence above. They DID choose to "try" drugs or alcohol. But did they choose to become addicted? I certainly didn’t. The development of addiction(s)
Follow the links to the left under “Further Readings” for more information regarding the disease process.
One of every eight Americans has a significant problem with alcohol or drugs, with 40 percent of the group having a "dual diagnosis," or concurrent mental/nervous disorder;
Approximately 27 million Americans either use illicit drugs regularly or are "heavy drinkers." Of these almost 16 million are estimated to need immediate treatment; less than 10% get treatment
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