We Can’t Give Up on Addiction

For the Valley News

On Monday, the Valley New published an Associated Press article that highlighted the continuing scourge of heroin addiction throughout the nation. Heroin addiction has hit New England particularly hard, and most of us have been affected by this one way or another, whether personally, through family and friends that we care about, or through the effects that drug addiction can have on our communities.

At the White River Junction VA and associated clinics throughout Vermont and New Hampshire, we provide care and the opportunity for recovery to many veterans suffering from addiction, including addiction to heroin and other forms of opioids. In our health care system, we are able to offer veterans same-day access to mental health and addiction care when it is needed, and we provide a full spectrum of care, including inpatient mental health care, residential substance abuse care, intensive outpatient care, homeless services, case management to interface with the criminal justice system, and transitional employment services. We have a commitment to provide care for the whole veteran, and that is a commitment we take very seriously.

In its article, the Associated Press indicates that there is a growing sentiment in our country that we “should just say no to using so many resources on drug abusers.” Having devoted much of my own career to working with veterans who are struggling with addictions, I understand fully the frustration that comes from watching someone who you care about lose themselves to their addiction. However, it is essential that we as a community do not let feelings of helplessness convince us that there is nothing more we should do.

While medical professionals across the country have started to engage in the hard work of scaling back prescribing of opioid pain medications with the intent of stopping the growth of new addiction, rates of use of heroin continue to increase. Narcan, a medication that can stop an overdose before it is too late, is an important tool given to first responders and victims of opiate addiction and literally saves lives. The assertion that we should stop spending money on it is startling in its lack of compassion. Recently, we were appropriately outraged when EpiPens were made unaffordable to people at risk from potentially deadly allergic reactions such as bee stings or peanut allergies. It was never part of that conversation that we would “just say no” to using resources to provide life-saving tools for our children and loved ones. Likewise, we don’t tell people with diabetes that if they can’t change somehow, that we will stop providing them insulin.

It is too easy to cast a shadow of blame on people suffering from addictions, when the science clearly tells us that addiction is a medical condition just as is allergy or diabetes. The vast majority of such people are not “bad guys,” which is to say sociopathic drug dealers or predators. They are people like you and me who ended up getting sick and need good care. Stigma carries a very real human price.

I am reminded of a young veteran I worked with last year, a very good young man less than one year removed from active duty, absolutely crushed by his inability to provide for his young family. He was so ashamed of his opiate addiction, so fearful to tell his family about it, that he chose to try and take his life instead. When he survived, he came to the VA and was able to get the help he and his family needed to be able to move forward with their lives. Imagine, however, how demoralizing it would be for someone like him to read in his local newspaper that people think we “should just say no to using so many resources on drug abusers.”

As a moral and compassionate community, we have the ability to be part of the solution to ending this scourge of opiate addiction. Treatment is available, and it works. If you are reading this, and are a veteran suffering from drug or alcohol addiction, or if you are friend or family member of a veteran who is, I want you to know that we are here to help. Simply call 802- 295-9363, ext. 6172 to get started. Or, if you are a veteran, simply come to our facility in White River Junction any time — Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., or Saturday 8:30 a.m. to noon. We have a walk-in clinic where you will be seen in person to get started with recovery. If the matter is urgent, a veteran can come to our emergency room where we have a mental health professional on call and available 24 hours a day.

We are all part of this community. If we can stick together, we can achieve great things.

Brett Rusch, M.D., is acting chief of staff at the White River Junction VA Medical Center and assistant professor of psychiatry at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.