ADA Health and Well-Being Newsletter

Summer/Fall 2010 Volume I, Issue 3

September is National Alcohol

and Drug Addiction Recovery
Month
Recovery Month is an annual observance that takes
place during the month of September.
The Recovery Month observance highlights the societal
benefits of substance abuse treatment, lauds the
contributions of treatment providers and promotes the
message that recovery from substance abuse in all its
forms is possible. The observance also encourages
“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone citizens to take action to help expand and improve the
can start today and make a new ending.”– Maria Robinson availability of effective substance abuse treatment for
those in need. Each year a new theme, or emphasis, is
selected for the observance.
Recovery Month provides a platform to celebrate people
in recovery and those who serve them. Each September,
In This Issue... thousands of treatment programs around the country
celebrate their successes and share them with their
Page 1: Recovery Month neighbors, friends, and colleagues in an effort to educate
the public about treatment, how it works, for whom, and
Page 2: On the Horizon… why. Substance abuse treatment providers have made
Page 2: In the Spotlight significant accomplishments, having transformed the lives
Page 3: Voices for Recovery of untold thousands of Americans. These successes often
Page 3: National Survey go unnoticed by the broader population; therefore,
Recovery Month provides a vehicle to celebrate these
successes.
Have articles, studies and/or information
you‟d like to include in future issues? Send Recovery Month also serves to educate the public on
them our way! Contact Mary Gilliam at substance abuse as a national health crisis, that addiction
is a treatable disease, and that recovery is possible.
GilliamM@ada.org with your additions!
Recovery Month highlights the benefits of treatment for
not only the affected individual, but for their family, friends,
workplace, and society as a whole. Educating the public
reduces the stigma associated with addiction and
treatment. Accurate knowledge of the disease helps
people to understand the importance of supporting
treatment programs, those who work within the treatment
field, and those in need of treatment.
To learn more about the 2010 National Alcohol and Drug
Addiction Recovery Month please visit:
ADA Health and Wellness Program http://www.recoverymonth.gov/
211 E. Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
http://www.ada.org/prof/prac/wellness/index.asp

E: siweka@ada.org
M: 312-440-2622
F: 312-440-2924
 ADA Health and Well-Being Newsletter
Summer/Fall 2010
On the Horizon…
2010 ADA Annual Session – Orlando,
Florida
Friends of Bill W. Sessions - The ADA is looking
forward to providing the Friends of Bill W. sessions at
the 2010 Annual Session in Orlando, FL. Sessions will
occur at 7:00 AM on October 9-12, 2010. Information
on location for these important sessions will be
forthcoming. Be sure to check your annual session
materials for additional information.
ADA Annual Session Pavilion – Stop by the ADA
Annual Session Pavilion and visit the health and
wellness kiosk! To promote the benefits of physical
activity, the Council on Dental Practice will introduce
its Healthy Miles Program by distributing pedometers
to the first 1,000 ADA members who visit the Health
and Wellness kiosk in the ADA Pavilion during the
2010 ADA Annual Session in Orlando. Instructions for
how to record and track your progress (number of
steps taken), will be included with each pedometer.
Additional health and wellness information and
materials to assist in implementing and maintaining
healthy behaviors in the dental practice will also be
available.
2011 ADA Conference on Dentist Health and
Wellness – We ask that you save the date to join us
for two days of focused education about enriching the
health and wellness of the dental team! Experts will
cover topics including addiction, depression, stress
reduction, fitness, work/life balance and injury
prevention in the dental practice. Additional features
include health, ergonomic and hearing screening,
physical activity night and movie night. Mark those
calendars for August 18-19, 2011 and look for more
information to come on ADA.org
Volume I, Issue 3
South Carolina Dental
Association in the
Spotlight:
The South Carolina Dental Assistance and Advocacy
Committee (DAAC) is a resource that the South Carolina
Dental Association has made available to its members.
Members of DAAC are trained to work with people
suffering an addiction and are available 24 hours a day to
provide help.
The goal of the DAAC is to advocate and assist an
individual who has seemingly lost his/her way and, with
understanding and compassion, help him get back on
track to a wholesome, productive and happy life in spite of
their disease.
When someone calls DAAC about a dentist, an
investigation is necessary before any action is taken.
Interventions are conducted when necessary. When it is
necessary for a dentist to be away from his practice,
DAAC works with the staff and family in managing his
absence.
If legal problems exist, DAAC works with the individual‟s
attorney and will act as his advocate as long as he is
compliant with the terms of his contract.
The DAAC can refer dentists to the Recovering
Professional Program (RPP), an alternative to the board
disciplinary process, which operates independently. RPP
provides accountable, consistent and confidential
monitoring for both voluntary and board-referred
participants to ensure safe practice of health professionals
in South Carolina. For information on the RPP, please
visit: www.scrpp.org or http://scda.org/.
 ADA Health and Well-Being Newsletter
Summer/Fall 2010
adline Here
Voices for Recovery…
For the thousands who came out to the Roger Williams
National Memorial on North Main Street for a rally in
support of recovering drug and alcohol addicts,
Saturday afternoon signified a number of different
things.
For Jim Gillen, a recovering addict and a lead
organizer of the event, it was a chance to celebrate,
with friends and family, another year of living clean and
sober.
“It‟s like our Mardi Gras or our New Year‟s Eve, where
we can show that we‟re not defeated by this illness,”
said Gillen, who was there with his two sons and a For
Carrie Blake, also a recovering addict and a
substance-abuse treatment advocate, it was about
trying to erase the social stigma that comes with
having battled drugs or alcohol.
“We need to show that it‟s normal people that are
struggling with this. The more that we put an accurate
face on addiction and show that recovery is real and
sustainable, the more it gives people going through it
hope and helps others understand us better,” she said.
For Nick Zaller, project leader for the Closing the
Addiction Treatment Gap Coalition, an effort to boost
addiction treatment resources in the state, it was a day
to remind elected officials that such treatments must
ultimately carry greater weight in policy circles.
According to Zaller‟s organization, approximately
100,000 Rhode Islanders suffer from addiction, but
only one in eight is getting the treatment needed.
“True health-care reform must include robust benefits
for substance-abuse treatment,” he said. “For too long,
behavioral health has been separate from mainstream
medicine.”
Saturday‟s event was the eighth annual Rally for
Recovery, the largest in a number of local events timed
with September‟s National Alcohol and Drug Addiction
Recovery month.
It brought out more than 50 local organizations that
work in substance-abuse, mental-illness, and
developmental-disability fields, as well as an
assortment of local politicians, from Providence Mayor
David N. Cicilline, who is running to replace U.S. Rep.
Patrick Kennedy, to independent candidate for
governor Lincoln Chafee. (Continued on page 4)
Volume I, Issue 3
National Survey Reveals Increases
in Substance Use from 2008 to 2009
The use of illicit drugs among Americans increased
between 2008 and 2009 according to a national survey
conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA). The National Survey
on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) shows the overall rate
of current illicit drug use in the United States rose from
8.0 percent of the population aged 12 and older in 2008
to 8.7 percent in 2009. This rise in overall drug use was
driven in large part by increases in marijuana use.
The annual NSDUH survey, released by SAMHSA at the
kickoff of the 21st annual National Alcohol and Drug
Addiction Recovery Month, also shows that the
nonmedical use of prescription drugs rose from 2.5
percent of the population in 2008 to 2.8 percent in 2009.
Additionally, the estimated number of past-month ecstasy
users rose from 555,000 in 2008 to 760,000 in 2009, and
the number of methamphetamine users rose from
314,000 to 502,000 during that period.
Flat or increasing trends of substance use were reported
among youth (12 to 17-year-olds). Although the rate of
overall illicit drug use among young people in 2009
remained below 2002 levels, youth use was higher in
2009 compared to 2008 (10.0 percent of youth in 2009,
versus 9.3 percent in 2008, versus 11.6 percent in
2002). The rate of marijuana use in this age group
followed a similar pattern, declining from 8.2 percent of
young people in 2002, to 6.7 percent in 2006, remaining
level until 2008, and then increasing to 7.3 percent in
2009. Additionally, the level of youth perceiving great risk
of harm associated with smoking marijuana once or twice
a week dropped from 54.7 percent in 2007 to 49.3
percent in 2009, marking the first time since 2002 that
less than half of young people perceived great harm in
frequent marijuana use. The rate of current tobacco use
or underage drinking among this group remained stable
between 2008 and 2009.
Overall past-month illicit drug use among young adults
aged 18-25 increased from 19.6 percent of young adults
in 2008, to 21.2 percent in 2009. This rise in use was
also driven in large part by the use of marijuana.
“These results are a wake-up call to the nation,” said
SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde, J.D. “Our
strategies of the past appear to have stalled out with
generation „next.‟ Parents and caregivers, teachers,
coaches, faith and community leaders, must find credible
new ways to communicate with our youth about the
dangers of substance abuse.” (Continued on page 4)
 ADA Health and Well-Being Newsletter
Summer/Fall 2010 Volume I, Issue 3
re
National Survey (continued from page 3)
“Today‟s findings are disappointing, but not surprising, because eroding attitudes and perceptions of harm about drug use over
the past two years have served as warning signs for exactly what we see today.” said Director of National Drug Control Policy,
Gil Kerlikowske. “Fortunately, this Administration‟s National Drug Control Strategy, with its focus on prevention, treatment,
smart law enforcement, and support for those in recovery, highlights the right tools to reduce drug use and its consequences.
But our efforts must be reinforced and supported by the messages kids get from their parents. Past month marijuana use was
much less prevalent among youths who perceived strong parental disapproval for trying marijuana or hashish once or twice
than among those who did not -- 4.8 percent versus 31.3 percent, respectively.”

Despite some troubling trends, the 2009 NSDUH shows continued progress in lowering levels of tobacco consumption among
people aged 12 years and older. Current cigarette use among this population has reached a historic low level at 23.3 percent.
However, even in this case, the pace of improvement is stagnating. The use of cocaine among those aged 12 or older has
also declined 30 percent from 2006.

As in previous years, the 2009 NSDUH shows a vast disparity between the number of people needing specialized treatment
for a substance abuse problem and the number who actually receive it. According to the survey, 23.5 million Americans aged
12 or older (9.3 percent of this population) need specialized treatment for a substance abuse problem, but only 2.6 million (or
roughly 11.2 percent of them) receive it.

NSDUH is a scientifically conducted annual survey of approximately 67,500 people throughout the country, aged 12 and
older. Because of its statistical power, it is the nation‟s premier source of statistical information on the scope and nature of
many substance abuse behavioral health issues affecting the nation.

The complete survey findings are available on the SAMHSA Web site at: http://oas.samhsa.gov/nsduhLatest.htm.

Voices for Recovery (continued from page 3)

It also brought out Gil Kerlikowske, White House director of national drug-control policy, who spoke briefly at the start of the rally. Kerlikowske
has been President Obama‟s point person in shifting national drug policy away from the “war on drugs” mentality –– a decades-long approach
to treating the nation‟s drug epidemic as a crime to be combated with police enforcement and stiff prison sentences –– in favor of strategies that
tackle drug addiction as an illness best handled through stepped-up prevention and treatment efforts.

Blake and other advocates said that the presence of many local politicians and Kerlikowske showed that the idea of investing in substance-
abuse treatment, while still far from a top priority, is starting to gain traction. “There‟s still a long way to go, but I think the idea is starting to sink
in,” said Zaller.

Earlier in the day, Kerlikowske joined Police Chief Dean Esserman, police district commanders and patrolmen on a tour of what had been two of
the city‟s most troubled housing projects –– Chad Brown on Smith Hill and Lockwood Plaza in South Providence –– and are now the focus of
the department‟s unique efforts at curbing the outdoor drug trade. Kerlikowske, a former Seattle police chief, said after the tour that Mr.
Obama‟s national drug strategy focuses on the same kinds of local partnerships between the police and community groups that worked in those
Providence projects.

“We need to apply the same ideas that we‟ve seen here to the drug problem,” he said. “We need to make partnerships and collaborations with
prevention and treatment programs and make the same sort of progress with the drug program as we have done with the crime problem.”

Modeled after a program started in High Point, N.C., the Providence effort has the police and the Urban League of Rhode Island working closely
with residents to discourage drug dealing.

“What we have shown here is that it works,” Esserman said. “What started as an experiment in Lockwood has grown to a national program that
brought the director from the White House to walk the streets to see that it is a different neighborhood and a different relationship than when we
started.”
Article from The Providence Journal at http://www.projo.com/news/content/RECOVERY_09-12-10_2BJSB6S_v24.22acc80.html