Stigma, a shortage of funding and lack of political prioritization have all stood in the way of helping people with addiction.
Where is the moonshot to cure addiction? Where is the trillion-dollar commitment toward evidence-based research and solutions to end a scourge that kills more Americans than car crashes or gun violence? Where is the urgency? |
Long before the coronavirus, the United States already had an epidemic ravaging it: According to the latest figures, more than 100,000 people die from drug overdoses each year. That's a football stadium and a half full of dead mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. |
The persistence of addiction is so familiar, and remains so after years and years of inaction to solve this national crisis, as to render many Americans numb to even that shocking death rate. Rare — and fortunate — are the few Americans who don't know or love someone who struggles with alcoholism or drug addiction. |
But there's been no race for a cure. Stigma, a shortage of funding, a lack of political prioritization have all stood in the way. In fact, as the Covid pandemic progressed, Americans' abuse of drugs or alcohol has only increased, worsened by the isolation, stress and mental health challenges of the past two years. |
How does the United States finally focus its attention and resources on addressing this problem, especially when doing so could also help with so many other challenges, such as homelessness, poverty, mental illness and child neglect? Most important, how do we prevent other parents from having to say to their child, as President Biden once did, "I don't know what else to do. I'm so scared. Tell me what to do." |
Every American lawmaker and government official should feel compelled to answer these urgent questions. I've asked my Times Opinion colleagues to help find solutions, as one of our priorities in 2022. Earlier this year, we brought aboard Maia Szalavitz, a brilliant mind on the neuroscience of addiction, to be a contributing Opinion writer. Today, we published a forceful essay by Jeneen Interlandi, an editorial writer who focuses on health and science, on the continuing policy obstacles to getting addiction treatment to those who need it. Jeneen spent months talking to dozens of experts, families, providers and officials to get to the heart of why this problem has been intractable. And this is just the start of our enhanced coverage. |
The consequences of the continued failure to address our addiction crisis in this country are clear, as Jeneen writes: "Lives that might otherwise be saved are instead being laid to waste." Unfortunately, far too many Americans already know these stakes firsthand. |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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