Recovery month highlights Tri-Cities need | Guest Opinion

September was established as National Recovery Month by the federal government in 1989, to raise public awareness about the disease of addiction and the reality of recovery. This year, the Benton Franklin Recovery Coalition is posting signs, reader boards, media spots, local Recovery Stories, and special presentations highlighting the possibilities and benefits of recovery from addiction (Substance Use Disorder) in our communities.

The Coalition is working with partners to spread knowledge, feature people who have recovered and become productive, tax-paying members of society, and advocate for a comprehensive Recovery Center for our communities. The Tri-Cities is the only major metropolitan area in the state without detoxification and inpatient treatment facilities, yet Tri-Citians are on waiting lists for these services throughout the Northwest.

Having a local Recovery Center will reduce repeat visits to hospital emergency departments, help reduce crime and lower the strain on jails. By providing timely treatment to addicted persons, it will allow families to participate in treatment, keep treatment dollars in the Tri-Cities, and provide a key asset for employers in the region.

Science has shown conclusively that addiction is a brain disease, with susceptibility caused mostly by genetic and biochemical factors. It’s an equal opportunity disease affecting all races, sexes, and socio-economic groups. Contrary to popular beliefs, most addicted people come from middle-class homes and were not raised in dysfunction.

Addiction is an especially cruel disease, because it changes people into almost unrecognizable versions of themselves. In active addiction, people do not behave well! They often don’t listen well or follow through, don’t make logical choices or exercise good judgment, and they live according to priorities that don’t make sense to the rest of us. For them, the priority is drug-seeking, as a physical imperative, and they pursue that priority at the expense of all else.

People in this phase of the disease cannot be “scared straight,” and can’t be threatened or punished into not having the disease of addiction. They need treatment!! As long as treatment is not provided, they are more likely than not to continue to commit petty crimes, and be disruptive and a burden to society.

In 2019, the number of deaths directly attributed to addiction rose to 70,980, or 194 people per day! Now, due to the isolation and despair of the corona virus, 2020 numbers are on track to rise 12 percent higher. If true, that will mean 217 Americans dead per day this year - a number equal to the death toll from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks happening every 13 days!

The good news is that addiction can be treated successfully, people do recover, and we need to reclaim those people in our community. Today, an estimated 22 million Americans are living in recovery from addiction – nearly 30 percent more than the number of people living in recovery from cancer. Not everyone will recover from addiction. However, for those who do, the joy and renewal to families and individuals, and the restoration of effective members to communities, can buckle our knees with pride.

Let’s unite to establish a comprehensive Bi-County Recovery Center in the Tri-Cities. Contact our elected representatives at every level and insist that they dedicate public funds to this incredibly important cause. The costs of treatment far outweigh the costs of doing nothing.

This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 8:17 AM with the headline "Recovery month highlights Tri-Cities need | Guest Opinion."