Click on Image to Watch Video of this Facing Addiction Summit

I’m still in awe of what happened November 17, 2016, at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles – a National Summit: Facing Addiction in America. It was at this summit that U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek H. Murthy, unveiled his office’s long-awaited, groundbreaking report addressing the country’s leading public health crisis.

And why is this such a groundbreaking report / event?

One in three households in America are impacted by addiction.

“Addressing the addiction crisis in America will require seeing addiction as a chronic illness – not as a moral failing. Addiction has been a challenge for a long time, but we finally have the tools to address it. By bringing together researchers, treatment providers, policy makers and key influencers, this summit will help our country see that a united front is necessary to address a public health challenge of this magnitude,” says Dr. Murthy.

The profound importance of this report and its impact can be compared to the 1964 Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health. At the time that report was issued, 42% of American’s smoked cigarettes. That figure dropped to 15% in 2015. Quoting from p. ES-4 of the Executive Summary,

While prior Surgeon General’s reports have discussed substance use disorders in certain contexts, The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health is the first Surgeon General’s Report to address substance use disorders and the wider range of health problems and consequences related to alcohol and drug misuse in the United States.iv Its aim is to galvanize the public, policymakers, and health care systems to make the most of these new opportunities so that the individual and public health consequences associated with alcohol and drug misuse can be addressed effectively. Only by doing so can individuals, their loved ones, and their communities be restored to full health and well-being. 

Highlights of the Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol and Other Drug Substance Use Disorders

Over 20 million people have substance use disorders. That is about the number of people who have diabetes. It is 1.5 times the number of people who are living with all forms of cancer, yet only 10 percent of those struggling with a substance use disorder are getting the treatment they need. This is clearly a public health crisis. Helping the public to understand the following can go a long way to increasing the numbers of people who seek treatment and succeed in longterm recovery for we now have the science that proves and explains:

• Addiction to alcohol or drugs is a chronic but treatable brain disease that requires medical intervention, not moral judgment.
• Addiction causes changes in the function of brain circuits involved in pleasure (the reward system), learning, stress, decision-making, and self-control.
• Repeated use of a substance “trains” the brain to associate the rewarding high with other cues in the person’s life.
• As with other chronic diseases, there are key risk factors that raise a person’s risk for substance misuse.
• There are many treatments that can work and what works depends on the individual. These treatments can include: medications, behavioral therapies, peer support groups, residential treatment, step-down services following residential treatment, or outpatient services, to name a few.

Link to full report, The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health

Facing Addiction

Click on Image Above to Watch a short video of the UNITE to Face Addiction Rally in D.C.

I was honored to be invited to this summit as a member of Facing Addiction‘s Action Committee. Their founders started as UNITE to Face Addiction intent on holding a rally on The Mall in Washington, D.C., and on October 4, 2016, 25,000 people gathered from across the country for “the day the silence ended.” It was during that event that Surgeon General Murthy announced his office would issue a report on the country’s leading health crisis – substance misuse and substance use disorders (more commonly known as substance abuse and addiction).

13 months and 14 days after the UNITE to Face Addiction rally, the Surgeon General released this groundbreaking report. Imagine that!

UNITE to Face Addiction then launched Facing Addiction in 2016: “a national non-profit demanding solutions to the addiction crisis.” They were selected as the outreach partner for the Surgeon General’s report and host of this national summit.

To Wrap This Up

These are incredible times for all of us working to face addiction. As you can imagine, I’m especially thrilled about what this report and the existing movements to put a face on addiction, treatment, and recovery will mean for the families and friends of those who struggle with a substance use disorder. For when we help the family members and friends affected by secondhand drinking | secondhand drugging understand the science of this disease, treatment, and recovery (like that presented in the Surgeon General’s report), we help those who are affected by a substance use disorder and visa versa. This is a family disease and both sides of this disease have been given a powerful weapon in the fight against addiction.

Thank you U.S. Surgeon General Murthy!

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Lisa Frederiksen

Author | Speaker | Consultant | Founder at BreakingTheCycles.com

Lisa Frederiksen is the author of hundreds of articles and 12 books, including her latest, "10th Anniversary Edition If You Loved Me, You'd Stop! What you really need to know when your loved one drinks too much,” and "Loved One In Treatment? Now What!” She is a national keynote speaker with over 30 years speaking experience, consultant and founder of BreakingTheCycles.com. Lisa has spent the last 19+ years studying and simplifying breakthrough research on the brain, substance use and other mental health disorders, secondhand drinking, toxic stress, trauma/ACEs and related topics.

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