• The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence fights the stigma and the disease of alcoholism and other drug addictions.

NCADD News Update

For More Information, Contact: Ames Sweet, Director of Communications 212/269-7797, ext. 16

November 1, 2005

NCADD Plans Review of Newly Released IOM Report on Mental Health and Addictive Disorders Devastation of Addiction Demands Greater Awareness Today, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) announced support for the release of the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) new report, Crossing the Quality Chasm: Adaptation to Mental Health and Addictive Disorders. "Like other organizations, NCADD has not yet had the opportunity to review the report, but we believe that analyzing the state of health care for Americans who struggle with addiction will lead to more lives saved," stated David C. Lewis, MD, Chairman of the NCADD Board of Directors and Founder of the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. "The devastation of this disease demands both increased public awareness and improved quality of care. Alcohol and drug dependence is a leading public health problem in the United States that impacts the lives of millions of Americans - regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, or income." Although the IOM report contents have been closely guarded, NCADD anticipates that it will both confirm that addiction is a brain disease and focus on opportunities to significantly improve treatment. The current report is a follow-up to a previous IOM report, released in 2000, which concluded that the current health care system in the United States is in need of fundamental change. Lewis stated that the Medical/Scientific Committee of NCADD is looking forward to conducting a thorough review of the IOM report this week at their annual affiliate meeting in Long Beach, California before offering a public response. NCADD is also currently developing a national public education campaign with a coalition of leading experts and organizations in the addiction field to educate Americans on the serious human, health, social and financial impact of addiction with the goal of measurably reducing these costs to society. "NCADD plans to utilize the report's findings as a cornerstone of our campaign to educate the medical community that addiction is a treatable brain disease," Lewis concluded. ### As the oldest advocacy organization in the United States addressing alcoholism and drug dependence, NCADD works at the national level on policy issues related to barriers in education, prevention and treatment for alcoholics and other drug dependent persons and their families. With a nationwide network of Affiliates, NCADD provides education, information, help and hope to the public. For more information, visit: www.ncadd.org.

National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc.

244 East 58th Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10022 phone: 212/269-7797   fax: 212/269-7510 email: national@ncadd.org   http://www.ncadd.org HOPE LINE: 800/NCA-CALL (24-hour Affiliate referral)