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These discoveries have long-term implications for treatment. Already, treatment options are improving. We are identifying more effective ways to help people break their addictions. We are expanding coverage for treatment within the medical care system, though too slowly. We also are beginning to put in place alternatives to prison for drug abusers so that drug abuse is not a one-way ticket to incarceration. Some of these offenders will instead be rehabilitated. Of course, the new developments in psychopharmacology can cut both ways, and we must be wary of new generations of designer drugs with the potential for abuse.
    The challenge now will be to continue to tear at the barriers by building leadership, the knowledge base, and public and political will. Whether the initial impulse to abuse substances comes from loneliness, despair, peer pressure, curiosity, or the understandable desire to expand feelings and consciousness, too many people end up trapped in a place they never contemplated. The staggering personal and social costs must be addressed.
    This is such an important cause. Substance abuse has a tragic public cost and even small gains translate into huge benefits, not only for affected individuals but also for their families and our society. I salute those of you who have been in this field over the long haul and welcome those of you who have recently joined this challenging effort. Together we can make a difference. And we will!


Steven A. Schroeder, MD
President and CEO

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