Posts Tagged ‘andrew wainwright’

Tune in to CNN Friday, July 3rd at 7:10am EST

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

AiR’s Andrew Wainwright scheduled for American Morning on CNN

Founder and CEO, Andrew Wainwright, will be on CNN’s American Morning to talk about prescription drug abuse. AiR feels that the more exposure and information about addiction provided to the public, the more people can receive help and be saved.

Check local listings.

Tags: air, american morning, andrew wainwright, assistance in recovery, cnn, prescription drug abuse
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AiR on CNN: Debates Over Legalization of All Drugs

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

AiR’s Andrew Wainwright on CNN’s American Morning

Aired May 15, 2009 – 06:00 ET

ROBERTS: The nation’s new drug czar is raising eyebrows for promising to stop using the phrase “war on drugs” because it could be misleading. He says he favors treatment and prevention over locking up drug users.

Joining me now to talk about this and the debate over legalizing drugs is Jeff Miron. He’s an economist at Harvard University who supports legalization. And Andrew Wainwright who works to help addicts through his company, Assistance in Recovery. He’s a former addict, and he is against legalization.

So, the new drug czar, in an interview with “The Wall Street Journal” said the following, gentleman: “Regardless of how you try to explain to people that it’s a war on drugs or a war on a product, people see a war as a war on them, a war on individuals. And we’re not at war with people in this country.”

Jeff Miron, he’s not advocating legalization. In fact, he opposes it. But he wants a greater focus on treatment and prevention rather than incarceration. His own stepson suffered from addiction.

Are his ideas the right ones or the wrong ones?

JEFF MIRON, DIRECTOR OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES, HARVARD: Well, I think they’re a huge step in the right direction. I completely agree with him that the metaphor “war on drugs” is incredibly counterproductive and sends exactly the wrong signal. We shouldn’t have a policy which targets people within our own society and punishes them for something that they’re doing which may not be harming others.

I wish it would go farther and support legalization. And I think there’s another option which is both legalize and not spend money on treatments but I still think that the stance he’s taking will at least open debate and give us a better tone to the overall policy.

ROBERTS: Andrew Wainwright as we mentioned you had problems with drugs. You were in treatment. In fact, you were pushed into treatment after an intervention. If drugs were legal as Jeff Miron has advocated, would you have ever sought that treatment?

ANDREW WAINWRIGHT, PRESIDENT & CEO, ASSISTANCE IN RECOVERY, INC.: I think it’s a — I think legalization is a tough road, a tough pitch. I think when folks are that unstable and making that difficult decision, it’s hard for them to ask to advocate on their behalf.

So, I’m not a proponent of legalization. I’m a proponent of treatment. And I’m excited with the new drug czar and the road we’re taking here. I think the opportunity for more treatment and a new understanding about addiction is, I think, our best bet moving forward.

ROBERTS: Back in the 1990s, Barry McCaffrey who was the drug czar, talked, you know, very much the same sort of talk that Kerlikowske is talking about, ending the war on drugs. He said that addiction had to be treated more like a disease like cancer. He increased funding for treatment and education.

In fact, take a look at the figures here. Funding for treatment went up 35 percent. Education and prevention went up 52 percent. Yet at the same time, two million more people became drug users during that time.

Andrew, it doesn’t sound like it worked very well.

WAINWRIGHT: Well, I think we’re looking at a shorter period of time to judge long-term effects. And we have been battling, you know, what we call the “war on drugs” for 40 years. We had surge in drug use in the late ’80s and the early ’90s. And some of the studies are coming out just, you know, only five years later.

I’ve seen a real big rise in treatment availability, and the cost of treatment to make it available to larger numbers of people in the late ’90s and the beginning of this century. So, I think that the numbers in recovery are going up. I think the advocacy and the understanding of recovery is going up. I think the gamut and the opportunities we have to treat this disease, that’s our leading proponent.

ROBERTS: Jeff, Kerlikowske wants to take a look at programs, the one called High Point North California. It’s one of the — they take the most violent offenders who are dealing drugs and they put them in jail. But the other ones, they bring them together in a community meeting setting with family and friends, and they say, look, we’ve got all this evidence on you. We could put you in jail, but we won’t put you in jail if you promise to reform your ways. Apparently, in High Point it’s been very successful.

Is that something you think that could translate across the country?

MIRON: I think that there are some merits in those sorts of program. Partially, they’re not a strict criminal justice approach. Therefore, they don’t generate the sort of violence that a strict incarceration or arrest approach does.

At the same time, I think those are little bit of false hope, because part of what happens in those situations is they push the drug activity to some other part of the city or some other part of the area. More generally on treatment, I think we have to avoid assuming that that’s a cure. It’s absolutely right the treatment is very effective for lots of people.

But thinking that we can avoid having to deal with the negatives of drugs by providing treatment is a false hope. We have to accept that there will be a whole range of use patterns whether it’s legal or illegal. For example, as we’ve seen with alcohol.

ROBERTS: Why don’t you talk to us about that, Andrew? What did treatment do for you?

WAINWRIGHT: Well, I think today — I think that Jeff is right. We need a multi-tier approach. You know, societally — you know, some of that is criminal justice, some of that is prevention and some of that is treatment.

Today, treatment is the only real route. When folks are already addicted, which a generous part or portion of this population 22 million Americans are, it’s the only real answer. We’ve proven that putting them in jail and filling up for a (INAUDIBLE) folks isn’t the answer. So in lieu of another great solution, which we’re hoping are coming –

ROBERTS: Well, I mean — well, talk from personal experience. Did treatment save you?

WAINWRIGHT: It did. I was born and raised in Washington, D.C. Went to treatment from there to Minnesota in 1995, and so for 12 years as a singular product of the treatment system. Without that, I don’t know what could have happened.

ROBERTS: All right. Andrew Wainwright, Jeff Miron, it’s good to check in with you this morning. Obviously, we’ll be talking a lot more about this in the coming weeks and months.

Thanks very much.

Tags: air, andrew wainwright, assistance in recovery, cnn american morning, Legalization of Drugs
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