Foundations Must Finance Programs to Help Drug Addicts

To the Editor:

Thanks to Steven A. Schroeder for his opinion piece regarding alcoholism and drug addiction (“Grant Makers Must Attack Substance Abuse,” July 26.). This disease has been considered a moral issue for too long, and Dr. Schroeder’s article succeeds in putting the issue into perspective.

Recently the public perception has started changing. When California voters passed the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000, a large majority acknowledged that incarcerating drug addicts was not effective and that addiction is a treatable condition. In Los Angeles County, alcohol- and drug-related health conditions are the leading causes of death and disability. Clearly this is a public health issue.

For too long, those in recovery and those who fund public health issues have suffered under the age-old stigma attached to alcoholism and substance abuse. Some of the high-profile celebrities reported in the media recently for their substance-abuse problems would be judged much differently if they had a heart condition and continued to practice bad dietary and exercise regimens. Yet their notoriety increases because of substance abuse. Until the moral stigma is removed, as the mental-health field did so successfully, funding organizations are not going to view this as a public health issue of far-reaching consequence.

Those organizations that do provide funding for addiction tend to treat the disease as a medical problem. As a substance-abuse service provider in Los Angeles, we find it very difficult to locate organizations that will fund treatment for alcoholism and addiction. Over 75 percent of the organizations we have researched either do not provide funding or, if they do, treat it solely as a medical problem.

It is my hope that more foundations will take note of the public health consequences of this disease.

Nicholas Vrataric
Executive Director
Clare Foundation
Santa Monica, Calif.