The Silent Election Issue: The Cost and Damage of Alcoholism and Addiction

As the Democrats and Republicans convene their national conventions, the nonpartisan issue of the rising cost of and the extensive damage caused by alcoholism and addiction is being ignored. Major issues have risen since the last election, but have yet to be addressed by either party.

First, the hidden addiction to prescription medication is rising across the country. In term of the deadliness of prescription drugs, over five times as many people overdose from prescription drugs as do from the illegal drugs of cocaine and heroin. According to the DEA, the abuse of prescription drugs represents close to 30% of the overall drug problem in America.

Second, production of and addiction to Crystal Methamphetamine is spiraling out of control in the rural parts of the Midwest and the West. Small towns and communities are plagued by meth labs where the production of the drug results in toxic waste. In order to clean up a lab, these towns are forced to purchase Hazmat suits and expensive equipment beyond their budgets. Moreover, family courts are overflowing with the abandoned children from Meth addicted families.

The third problem of how to respond is the key issue that needs to be addressed in this election. Social conservatives on both sides of the aisle simply call for more prisons and harsher legal penalties. But our prisons are overflowing with alcoholics and addicts, and the cost of their imprisonment is enormous. Moreover, prison today is like criminal college for the non-violent alcoholic and addict. They enter with a substance abuse problem, and they leave with criminal expertise. Both the Republican and the Democratic parties need to realize that the future of our country will be affected by this issue.

Unless we make the shift from imprisonment to education and treatment, this open wound will never heal. What remains so mind boggling is that in the long run, it has been shown that the alternatives of treatment and education are much cheaper and more effective than imprisonment. Education of the dire consequences and wide range of prescription drug addiction would help to address the first problem. The second problem of crystal meth addiction and production could be helped by a combination of education and federal support of small towns under siege.

But the ugly stigma placed on the diseases of alcoholism and addiction remains a powerful force in American society. Rather than treat the disease of alcoholism and addiction and stem the rising tide of damage and cost, both parties would rather brandish the whip against an easy and politically insignificant scapegoat.

Barack Obama and John McCain both claim to be mavericks. We are now calling on them to openly address this issue and embrace the cost-saving remedies of treatment and education. America has enough prisons but needs more recovery.