Bears watching: alcoholism, Glenn Gruenhagen, and the HHS Reform committee

One clear sign of the Republican wave that brought Kurt Zellers to power is the election of insurance salesman and conservative ideologue Glenn Gruenhagen (R-North Sibley Crazypants) to office by 336 votes.

Now the Morning Take has released a list of state house committee assignments, and Representative Gruenhagen has found himself a seat on the Health and Human Services. Since Gruenhagen has never been shy about his opinions, this appointment should prove interesting.

Will he prove influential about the way in which state-funded programs address problems related to alcoholism? While in the majority party in the Minnesota House, Mr. Gruenhagen holds distinctly minority opinions on alcohol abuse, as he wrote in a 2009 letter to the McLeod County Chronicle, Alcoholism is not a disease:

. . . I have extended family members who have been in treatment for alcoholism and chemical dependency and I am well aware of the pain and sorrow these problems bring to families. However, labeling alcoholism and drug addiction as a disease is not only medically inaccurate (since there is no germ or gene), it also sends a false message to the abuser that they are a victim rather than to accept some level of personal responsibility for their abuse and behavior. In addition, it sends the completely wrong message to our young people about the dangers of alcohol and illegal drug abuse.

I voluntarily participated in Gideon International jail ministry with local prisoners for over 13 years. One of the questions I routinely asked prisoners was "how many of you were on alcohol or illegal drugs when you were arrested?" The answer was almost always the same: over 90 percent said "yes." By the way, you won't get a DWI for driving with cancer.

Labeling alcoholism and drug addiction as a disease is a recent trend and is bad for both the addicted and the non-addicted. It is rooted in a false psychological medical philosophy that everyone is a victim when it comes to wrong and bad behavior.

I am sorry if this letter seems stern, but I am sick and tired of the victim mentality in our schools, prisons and culture . . .

Fortunately, Gruenhagen isn't serving on any committees with Mark Buesgens, so inner caucus tussles about the responsibility for Mr. Buesgens' DWI will not be exposed to the public eye.

Less clear: How Minnesota's world-class medical providers will respond to Gruenhagen's opinion. The Mayo Clinic's web site, for instance, begins its discussion of alcoholism with this sentence:

Alcoholism is a chronic disease in which your body becomes dependent on alcohol.

Related post: At least Gruenhagen, who has served as a school board member, isn't on the Education Reform committee. Read Gruenhagen endorsed in HD25A: Crack-pot opposes "boiling pot," mixed gender classes, and more to learn why this is a fortunate turn of appointments for the state's school children.

 

Comments

[John Curtiss]

The American Medical Association identified alcoholism as a primary, progressive, chronic and fatal disease in 1957 and all the research that has been conducted since has supported this claim. No serious professionals who work in the addiction field would dispute this.That is not to say the those who have committed crimes as the result of their addiction should not be held accountable for their actions. However, if we don't address the "problem" of addiction by providing proper, time-tested, effective treatment we will never reduce the "symptoms" that are crippling our society. Alcoholism and drug dependency is a treatable disease.

Let me share some sobering statistics on the current state of affairs in the United States as it relates to alcoholism and drug addiction:

• There are over 20 million alcoholics in this country.
• More than 15 million Americans abuse prescription opiods, depressants and stimulants each year.
• 15 million regularly smoke marijuana.
• 2.4 million Americans use cocaine and more than 600,000 use crack.
• Over 500,000 are regular users of methamphetamine.
• One million use Ecstasy and hallucinogens.
• 4.5 million teens have used controlled prescription drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin, Ritalin and Adderall to get high.

Every year we loose 240,000 Americans to the ravages of substance abuse.

Beyond this enormous human misery caused by addiction, the financial costs are staggering, as well.

The annual bill in the United States is close to $1 trillion in health care costs, low productivity, disability payments, welfare, fires, crime and punishment, legal and court costs, family breakups, child abuse, and the array of social interventions both public and private to deal with the ravages of addiction in our society.

Our hospitals are overwhelmed with victims of auto and home accidents, liver and kidney diseases, AIDS and other illnesses, and violence related to alcohol and drug abuse.

Drug and alcohol abusers and addicts crowd our prisons and clog our courts.

Some 80% of adult and juvenile inmates incarcerated for felonies are involved in drug and alcohol-related offenses or have drug and alcohol problems.

According to the Minnesota Department of Human Services only 10% of adults and 7% of adolescents who need help for alcoholism and drug dependency receive it.

A 2008 study released by SAMHSA Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that 39% of those not getting help sited the lack of insurance coverage and the inability to afford the high cost of treatment as the primary reason.

The cost of NOT treating the 90% of those in need of help is far to detrimental to the good of this country to ignore. And the current system, as it is today will not solve the problem.

We must find more cost effective ways to address addiction and promote recovery.

John Curtiss, President
The Retreat

[Eskelton]

I couldn't agree more with John Curtiss' response to Representative Gruenhagen claims that addiction is not a brain disorder. Addiction is a disease that has a significant behavioral component and that is one reason that I believe nonprofessionals such as the Representative are often confused by the disorder. John Curtiss and the Retreat are excellent resources in the community to should be called upon by HHS reform committee to help inform Minnesota policies and politics with sound research and data and not unfounded opinions likes those of Representative Gruenhagen.

[Gavan O'Duffy]

In support of Mr. Curtiss' comment, here is a nice article by Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the scientist who probably more than any, has a comprehensive understanding of the biopsychosocial nature of addiciton.
http://www.nida.nih.gov/Testimony/6-23-10Testimony.html

Gavan O'Duffy
Minneapolis, MN