Posted on: Thursday, July 26, 2001

Island Voices
We are in denial on addiction problems

By M.P. "Andy" Anderson

Irv Rubin, in his July 11 letter ("Seniors aren't alone in need of treatment") communicates some excellent points. Especially noteworthy is the survey by the Department of Health's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division that estimates some 90,000 adults and 14,000 adolescents in Hawai'i meet the clinical diagnosis criteria for needing addiction treatment.

Rubin's point about the insidious nature of addiction is also well-taken. What do you suppose prevents 104,00 people from getting treatment for what the medical field defines as a disease? How many people with drinking or drug problems get up in the morning and voluntarily say: "I think I'll check into an addiction-treatment center today?"

It rarely happens that way.

Addiction is a disease masked by the attitude of denial. And it's not just the alcohol or drug addict who's in denial. Family, friends, employers and even communities can be in denial.

Through this tragic downward spiral, we hear the compensating excuses: "He has a rough life" or "She has family problems" or "It's because of job stress," etc.

The denial continues until the problem becomes overwhelming — that is, until the stress of dramatic change is less than the stress of the addiction problem.

Most people, maybe not all, but so many people come in to treatment facing DUI mandates, threat of incarceration, job terminations, employer mandates, divorce or separation, the threat of the loss of children or even homelessness.

The stigma of an alcohol or substance-abuse problem continues to influence society's attitudes despite the medical community's diagnosis that addiction is a disease, not a lack of will power or weakness of character.

So what's the prevalent approach to deal with this disease? Incarceration. The overcrowding of our prisons attests to the often-quoted realization: "We now know that we can no longer arrest ourselves out of this problem."

Treatment is effective and costs less, so where's the real issue as to why people don't just check into an addiction-treatment center?

It's time for each of us to ask ourselves: Am I contributing to the attitude of denial or am I recognizing a disease that is already in epidemic proportions?

M.P. "Andy" Anderson is the chief executive officer of Hina Mauka, an alcohol and substance-abuse recovery center that provides services at 18 satellite sites in the Islands.