Professor Charles Fox is right to expose the myth that ”treatment is available if only (people) would use it” (”Facing the facts on drug addiction,” May 4). Treatment on demand is not available, as the thousands of men, women and teens waiting to enter Illinois treatment programs know.
However, perhaps Mr. Fox is unfamiliar with ”Drug Abuse Treatment, A National Study of Effectiveness,” written by an investigative team at the Research Triangle Institute well over a year ago (University of North Carolina Press). The investigation verifies that treatment does help individuals recover from abuse of alcohol and other drugs. It also confirms that treatment is cost-effective-particularly noteworthy as proposed budget cuts threaten Illinois` treatment system.
Those in the substance abuse field do not speak of individuals as
”cured,” as one might when discussing strep throat. More appropriate terms are ”recovery” and ”recovering,” since it is a lifelong process threatened by relapses.
