We Restore Hope -

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. ~Rachel Carson

Substance abuse, addiction and its consequences cost the U.S. government nearly $500 billion in 2005 with only a fraction of federal and state dollars spent on prevention and treatment, according to a report released last week.

Of the $373.9 billion spent by federal and state government agencies, some 95.6 percent was spent to “shovel up the consequences and human wreckage of substance abuse and addiction,” while only 1.9 percent was spent on prevention and treatment, said the report from Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

For every dollar spent to prevent and treat substance abuse, federal and state government spent more than $50 on public programs aimed at addressing its effects. “Despite a significant and growing body of knowledge documenting that addiction is a preventable, treatable, and manageable disease, and despite the proven efficacy of prevention and treatment techniques, our nation still looks the other way while substance abuse and addiction causes illness, injury, death and crime, savages our children, overwhelms social service systems, impedes eduction – a slaps and heavy and growing tax on our citizens,” said Susan Foster, the addiction center’s vice president and director of policy research and analysis.

The center found that federal, state and local governments spent some $467.7 billion on substance abuse-related costs, including health care, justice systems, family court, child welfare and homelessness. The figures are for 2005, the most recent year for which data was available.

The center found that if substance abuse and addiction were its own category within the federal budget, it would rank sixth in size behind Social Security, national defense, Medicare, and consume 9.6 percent of the total budget. The report concludes that states spend more on substance abuse and addiction than they spent on Medicaid, higher education, transportation or justice.

The report advocates that more funding and efforts be directed toward prevention and treatment, rather than cleaning up the wreckage that substance abuse leaves in its wake.

But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads? ~Albert Camus

Xanax is a central nervous system depressant known as benzodiazepine which is commonly prescribed by physicians to treat panic attacks, nervousness and tension. Xanax, also known alprazolam, is a Schedule IV controlled substance. Xanax has been used as a tranquilizer since the 1960s. In the 1970s there was strong opposition to the use of benzodiazepines, but today, there are approximately 3 million Americans who have used benzodiazepines on a daily basis for at least a year. Benzodiazepines are the most controversial of all psychotropic medications.

According to the United States Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), all controlled substances are rated on a five schedule system. Schedule V, the lowest, for the potential for abuse and dependency, and 1, the highest. Xanax is a Schedule IV and all Schedule IV controlled substances have the following characteristics: a low potential for abuse, a currently accepted medical use in treatment, and if abused, may lead to limited physical or psychological dependence. Other drugs in Schedule IV are Darvon, Talwin, Equanil and Valium.

Xanax and other benzodiazepines can be addictive drugs that are hard to quit cold turkey, however, they are also drugs of great benefit to patients suffering from anxiety, depression, fear of open spaces, premenstrual syndrome and panic attacks. The patient and their physician should work together to regulate long-term usage, monitoring side effects and any signs of abuse.