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  • Home
    • REAL LIFE
  • ABOUT
    • RESOURCES AND VOLUNTEERISM
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    • NEWS YOU CAN USE
  • Mitchell's Hope Blog and Sharing Page
  • Store
  • EVENTS
  • DISCLAIMER
  • How Many More Is A Project Of Mitchell's Hope
  • Code names for street drugs
Mitchell's Hope

SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER~PARITY; NOT SO EQUAL

2/11/2015

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Posted by Michael Botticelli on February 09, 2015 at 05:46 PM EST

Many great movements to change public perception and policy around a public health issue have been fueled by people with a disease speaking out publicly.  What is seen as someone else's problem—someone else’s disease – takes on a new dimension when people speak up about it.  

Such was the case when Betty Ford revealed her breast cancer diagnosis and her substance use disorder. Such was the case when Magic Johnson revealed that he was HIV positive, spurring action to stem the AIDS epidemic.

Yet, despite the fact that nearly every family and community in America is affected by a substance use disorder, those fighting to overcome this disease are too often hidden in the shadows of shame and denial.  It is whispered about. It is met with derision and scorn. 

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, only 1 in 9 people with a diagnosable substance use disorder gets treatment.  Compare this to the treatment rate for diabetes, for which 72% of people with the disease receive care.

When treatment is provided for substance use disorders, it too often comes at the most acute stages of the disease when effective treatment is far more challenging and costly than in the early stages. Because substance use disorders have historically gone unidentified for far too long, and timely access to treatment has been far too difficult to come by, a person is expected to hit “rock bottom” before seeking help for a substance use disorder.

Standard medical care does not allow a diabetic to enter kidney failure before offering insulin.  Yet untreated substance use disorders routinely proceed unchecked until they have reached such levels of emergency.  In addition to the unnecessary suffering for patients and their families, our current approach costs the United States hundreds of billions a year in increased health care costs, crime and lost productivity-- over $223 billion related to alcohol and $193 billion related to illicit drugs.

Decades of scientific research have proven that substance use disorders are a health issue:  chronic medical conditions with genetic, biological and environmental risk factors.  Effective substance use disorders requires a comprehensive, public health approach involving evidence-based prevention, early intervention, treatment and recovery support services.  The National Drug Control Strategy, the Obama Administration’s template for drug policy, outlines more than 100 action items across federal government to prevent drug use and its consequences.

Earlier this month, President Obama in his 2016 Budget requested historic levels of funding --including $133 million in new funds-- to address the opioid misuse epidemic in the U.S. Using a public health framework as its foundation, our strategy also acknowledges the vital role that federal state and local law enforcement play in reducing the availability of drugs—another risk factor for drug use.  It underscores the vital importance of primary prevention in stopping drug use before it ever begins by funding prevention efforts across the country. It sets forth an agenda aimed at stripping away the systemic challenges that have accumulated like plaque over the decades: over-criminalization, lack of integration with mainstream medical care, insurance coverage and the legal barriers that make it difficult for people once involved with the criminal justice system to rebuild their lives.

The implementation of the Affordable Care Act will dramatically increase coverage for treatment and ensures that services are comparable to other chronic conditions for more than 60 million Americans. This is the biggest expansion of substance use disorder treatment in a generation, and it will transform millions of lives.

All of these advancements, however, are not enough unless we fundamentally change the way we think about people with addiction.  There are millions of people in recovery in the United States leading meaningful, productive lives full of joy and love and laughter – and I am one of them.

Tonight, the United States Senate voted to confirm my nomination as Director of National Drug Control Policy. This is an honor I never dreamed of 26 years ago, when my substance use disorder had become so acute that I was handcuffed to a hospital bed. I accept this challenge with the humility and tenacity of someone in long term recovery.

I am open about my recovery not to be self-congratulatory, I am open about my recovery to change public policy. I have dedicated my life to treating drug use as a public health issue, and that’s how I approach this new role, as well.  I hope that many more of the millions of Americans in recovery like me will also choose to “come out” and to fight to be treated like anyone else with a chronic disease. By putting faces and voices to the disease of addiction and the promise of recovery, we can lift the curtain of conventional wisdom that continues to keep too many of us hidden and without access to lifesaving treatment.

It is time to make a simple, yet courageous decision to be counted, to be seen and to be heard.

Share your story with us today. 

Michael Botticelli serves as Acting Director of National Drug Control Policy. Today, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm him as Director of National Drug Control Policy. 


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THE BEGINNING AFTER THE END

2/5/2015

5 Comments

 
EULOGY
HI, I AM MICHELE, MITCHELL’S MOTHER. LAST NIGHT I PROMISED MY SON I WOULD TRY TO FIND THE STRENGTH TO DELIVER THIS EULOGY SO YOU COULD ALL GET TO KNOW MY SON A LITTLE BETTER. 

......THIS IS THE HARDEST DAY OF MY LIFE AND I WANT TO THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING.

I HAVE BEEN TOLD BY MANY PEOPLE HOW STRONG AND COURAGEOUS I AM AND MANY PEOPLE HAVE THANKED ME FOR GIVING THEM EXTRA YEARS WITH MY BELOVED SON MITCHELL

FIRST OF ALL, HE WAS STRONG AND COURAGEOUS AND I WANT TO THANK GOD FOR LOANING AND ENTRUSTING ME WITH HIS ANGEL FOR 23 YEARS...I WAS BLESSED TO BE CALLED MOM BY HIM. 

MITCHELL ALSO THANKED GOD THAT GOD CHOSE ME FOR HIM....ISNT GOD SMART?

I READ ONCE THAT GOD CHOOSES HIS BEST WARRIORS FOR THE TOUGHEST BATTLES......MITCHELL AND I ARE WARRIORS, AND I AM SO PROUD OF HIM. WE ARE BOTH WOUNDED, BUT MY BRAVE WARRIOR HAS GONE HOME TO BE WITH HIS HEAVENLY FATHER.....THE ONE THAT CREATED HIM SO PERFECTLY FOR ME.

IF YOU TAKE A LOOK AROUND, I BELIEVE THE SHEER NUMBER OF PEOPLE HERE TODAY AND YESTERDAY SHOW TESTAMENT TO THE YOUNG MAN WE CALLED SON, BROTHER, GRANDSON, COUSIN, NEPHEW, BOYFRIEND, FRIEND OR ANYTHING ELSE.
 
HE WAS BEAUTIFUL NOT ONLY ON THE OUTSIDE BUT ON THE INSIDE AS WELL.  HE WAS GENTLE AND KIND SPIRITED; HAD A DEEP RESPECT FOR WOMEN........JUST ASK HIS GRANDMOTHERS....... AND HE PROFOUNDLY TOUCHED SO MANY LIVES.

MITCHELL WANTED TO PLEASE PEOPLE AND LOVED TEASING AND MAKING PEOPLE LAUGH. HE ALSO TRIED TO PROTECT HIS MANY LOVED ONES FROM THE DEAMONS HE FOUGHT.............HE FOUGHT SO HARD…HE FOUGHT SOOO HARD.

I AM THANKFUL I WAS THERE FOR HIS LAST MINUTES ON EARTH AND MITCHELL NOW KNOWS JUST HOW MANY PEOPLE LOVED AND ACCEPTED HIM............EVEN WITH HIS FLAWS. I AM GLAD I AM THE PERSON WHO FOUND HIM AND HE WAS NOT ALONE.

I ALWAYS LOOKED AT HIM THE WAY GOD LOOKS AT HIM, NOT THE WAY OUR CRUEL SOCIETY LOOKS AT OTHERS. HE WAS PERFECT........GOD DOES NOT HAND CREATE JUNK.

I WANT PEOPLE TO START TALKING ABOUT THIS EVIL, CRUEL, LYING, CHEATING AND LIFE-ROBBING PLAGUE THAT IS TAKING OUR CHILDREN AWAY FROM US! 

GET INVOLVED!!!!!!!  GET ANGRY!!!!!!!!!


 DONT THINK IT CANNOT HAPPEN TO YOU OR YOUR FAMILY BECAUSE IT CAN. OUR COMMUNITY NEEDS TO HELP OUR KIDS, NOT CRIMINALIZE THEM AND… STOP IGNORING, BLAMING AND BEING TOO TERRIFIED TO TALK ABOUT IT!

I WANT TO SEND A MESSAGE TO ANYONE STRUGGLING WITH ADDICTION; YOU ARE NOT INVINCIBLE. YOU ARE NOT ALONE AND YOU ARE LOVED. JESSE, Mitchell’s dad WAS TALKING TO ME THIS MORNING ABOUT A CONVERSATION HE HAD WITH A PARENT WHOSE CHILD STRUGGLES WITH ADDICTION AND HOW IT NEGATIVELY AFFECTS THEIR RELATIONSHIP. YOU CAN HATE THE ADDICTION AND LOVE YOUR CHILD. TELL YOUR CHILDREN YOU LOVE THEM, IT CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. 

I WANT TO END THIS ON A LIGHTER NOTE. WHEN MITCHELL WAS YOUNG, HE USED TO PUT HIS LITTLE HANDS ON MY FACE AND TELL ME.....”MOMMY, YOU ARE PRETTIER THAN POLICE SIREN LIGHTS”. I TOOK IT AS A COMPLIMENT BECAUSE I KNOW HOW COOL LITTLE KIDS THINK POLICE SIREN LIGHTS ARE.

 I TOLD HIM RECENTLY "MAN I AM FAT".......HE SAID,” NO MOM YOU ARE NOT FAT, YOU ARE A MOM”.

 AND WHEN NOBODY ELSE WAS LISTENING HE WOULD CALL HIMSELF MY BOUNCING BABY BOY!!!! I KNOW HE ADORED ME!!!! 

I PROMISED MITCHELL THIS MORNING THAT I WOULD CONTINUE THE FIGHT WE FOUGHT FOR THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS. AND EVEN THOUGH MY WOUNDED WARRIOR HAS BEEN CALLED HOME, I WILL CONTINUE THE FIGHT UNTIL MY LAST BREATH HERE ON EARTH AND GOD CALLS ME HOME TO BE WITH MY SON.

WATCH OUT SATAN, I AM COMING FOR YOU!

5 Comments

    Michele L. Wagner

    I am the mother of Mitchell; 
    my only child. I am also a 
    warrior!!

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