045: Recovery is Moving in the Right Direction | A Recap of the 60 Minute Segment on Drug and Alcohol Addiction

Micheal Hilton, with over 10 years of sobriety, discusses his recovery portfolio.  Micheal Hilton is a leader in the recovery community and does personal coaching with his company Breakthrough Coaching.

 

60 minutes recently did a segment on addiction.  Micheal Botticelli, the "Drug Czar” is someone who from first hand experience knows the intricacies of alcoholism and addiction. Here are some key points of what I took from this segment.

40 years and a trillion dollars, nation has little to show of the war on drugs. 21 million americans are addicted to drugs and alcohol and nearly 1/2 of federal incarcerations are in for drug crimes. “can’t arrest addiction out of people.” “We have learned that addiction is a brain disease.” “ We can’t expect cancers patients to just stop having cancer.” Addicts should be patients and not prisoners. Michael Botticelli has created a high school for teens in recovery in Massachusetts. Convicts can choose rehab over jail and this actually reduces crime. in 1998 crashed his car and woke up hand cuffed to a gurney. Alcohol free for 27 years. Oversees 26 billion dollar budget across 16 government agencies. Over 1/2 of the money goes to drug enforcement. Says the heroin crisis was created at home. Pain scripts have risen from 76 million in  1991 to 207 million in 2015. More than 120 americans die of drug overdoses each day. Tried an experiment in 2010 with the quincy police department. Officers are armed with Naloxone. A nasal spray for an overdose. Also changed laws called the good samaritan law. Today, 32 states have adopted similar laws and more than 800 police departments carry Naloxone. In Massachussets, Botticelli has made treating addiction routine health care. The affordable care act requires the most of insurance companies to cover addiction treatment. Substance abuse is one of the only disease where we let people reach their most acute point of the disease or “bottom” before we intervene. Botticelli prefers the word disorder instead of addict. Sees a model in the attitude towards the stigma with the gay rights movement. He was more comfortable being a gay man, before saying he was an alcoholic. “We have more work to do.” over 1/2 a million a year are killed by legal drugs. Alcohol and nicotine. Botticelli is not in favor of legalizing marijuana. Grew up as in insecure kid. A very wise judge said you can either get care for your drinking problem or you continue the path of this criminal behavior. You Might be an Alcoholic if...

Claire

You keep a note pad by the phone so you can take notes about your drunk dialings, but then you can't read your handwriting

You're now sober but want to wear a sign on your shirt that says you are enjoying a piece of gum to merely blow bubbles, not to cover up the vodka smell

 

Caleb

You buy canned beer so you can hide it in your bag without anybody hearing the glass clinks

 

Simone

If you log into MyFitnessPal as soon as you wake up...to log in the calories of the 8 double whiskeys you'll be drinking later...to know how much not to eat today.

 

Shane

If after a night of drinking an entire 26er of scotch, the only thing you can think of is "what am I going to drink today?"

 

Brian in KC, MO

You might be an alcoholic if it's your turn to be the DD, so before the baseball game you pound beers at the tailgate before the game hoping it carries you through to the end of the game....but then the game gets rained out in the 5th inning and you are still too drunk to drive home.

 

This episode was brought to you by Sober Nation.