Parity at Last for Alcohol and Drug Addictions

Americans across the country now have parity for alcohol and drug addictions and mental health problems.The Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, advocated throughout the country for the past decade, passed both houses of Congress today. Stigma is still strong against people with addiction problems.

I just completed an alcohol and drug educational session and one of the most important concerns of people in the early part of their addiction recovery is how to explain why they have been out of work for the past couple of months, why they are not in school this semester, why they don't have a car, or why their children aren't living with them at this time.

The brain disease of addiction acts like a thief, a taker. Addiction takes people's self respect, jobs, driver's licenses, money, kids, education and health, damages their relationships with themselves and others. Alcohol and drug recovery helps these men and women restore their self esteem and recognize that yes, they are responsible for putting back the pieces of the wreckage created by them when they were not really themselves. Hopefully this legislation will begin to remove the stigma of addiction and allow addiction to be an 'acceptable' disease.

Judy Saalinger