Ondcp

Ondcp

  • Submitted By: ecojel
  • Date Submitted: 04/15/2010 7:17 PM
  • Category: Social Issues
  • Words: 588
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 271

Another goal of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) described in the 2009 National Drug Control Strategy is reducing drug abuse and addiction. This portion of the strategy is guided by two principles: 1) addiction is a disease and 2) addiction is treatable (Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2008a, p. 15). It is about time that we reassess how we view drug addiction, which is as a health problem and not a criminal justice problem. Mosher and Atkins (2007, p. 41) state that the disease or “medical” model of addiction argues that for some people, “use will inevitably result in abuse and addiction”. The ONDCP claims that in 2007, nearly 7 million people age 12 or older were estimated to be dependent on or abusing an illicit drug in the past year with 3.9 million users receiving treatment for alcohol or illicit drug use in the year prior to the survey (Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2008a, p. 15). Outside evidence from the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) was found to support this claim Thus, with these statistics in mind, we must think of drug abuse as an illness or disease that requires treatment. Drug abuse should be treated like a disease in the sort of the same way as alcoholism or cancer is. Drugs have negative physiological and psychological effects on the body just as alcohol, cancer or any other chronic disorder does. Alcoholics and cancer patients have support groups to help them cope with their disease. Drug abusers should be afforded the same luxury with treatment and education programs to help them fully recover from their addiction/dependency.
The ONDCP states that in 2007 nearly 6.9 million people in the past month age 12 or older were current non-medical psychotherapeutic drug users and in response to the increased abuse of prescribed medications, Federally funded researchers have focused on developing effective methods of treating prescription drug addiction (Office of National Drug Control Policy,...