by Marybeth Cichocki

How do we change addiction treatment from being substandard to being effective at saving lives?  First, the stigma must die.  Second, those suffering from the disease, the addiction professionals, the insurance industry and society must  rethink the concept that addiction treatment consists of a 30 day in-patient or intensive out-patient level of care.  That this chronic, treatable disease will go away and stay away after a mere thirty days of treatment.

We as a society need to understand that if we are going to overcome this horrific addiction epidemic, we need to start by looking at the model of care for addiction treatment that is being used today and admit it is a failure.  We need to examine and acknowledge the research that states addiction is a brain altering disease that requires long term intensive treatment allowing the damaged brain the necessary time to heal.  We need…