NEW YORK, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- When it comes to drug and alcohol abuse, the allocation of federal and state health care dollars is just plain backward, asserts Howard Meitiner, President and CEO of Phoenix House, the nation's leading non-profit alcohol and drug abuse treatment and prevention agency. In a thought-provoking opinion piece on the Phoenix House blog, Rising Above Addiction, Mr. Meitiner insists that re-appropriating funds toward treating addiction -- rather than treating the expensive symptoms and consequences of addiction -- would save not only lives, but vast amounts of money.

"The national debate on health care reform has overlooked an area of vast potential savings -- the treatment of substance abuse," says Mr. Meitiner. "Untreated or under-treated substance abusers are world-class consumers of health care dollars; they are repeat customers, who crowd emergency rooms and overwhelm clinics."

"A recent study by CASA, Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, found federal and state spending on health care for drug, alcohol, and tobacco abusers totaled more than $200 billion a year. A fraction of this money goes to treating addiction and promoting recovery, while the lion's share is swallowed up by treatment of the many acute and life-threatening conditions caused by the disease. A federal study found 1 out of 14 hospital stays each year -- which account for 2.3 million admissions -- are directly related to drug or alcohol abuse alone.

"Suppose we addressed the cause rather than the effect and invested in appropriate addiction treatment for the estimated 23.3 million substance abusers who need treatment but don't receive it?

"With substance abusers making up about one eighth of the nation's Medicaid population, it seems logical to increase what we spend treating the disease, and, in so doing, reduce the enormous economic burden of treating the symptoms."

For the full piece, which includes the results of several studies supporting Mr. Meitiner's argument, visit the Phoenix House blog at http://phoenixhouse.wordpress.com.

Howard Meitiner was appointed President and CEO of Phoenix House in February 2007, succeeding Mitchell S. Rosenthal, M.D., the organization's founder. A member of the Phoenix House Board of Directors since 2004, he worked with Dr. Rosenthal in 2006 to help restructure and strengthen the organization's New York programs. As a leading international marketing and retail executive with expertise in managing growth, Mr. Meitiner was involved in turnaround projects in the private sector and served as president and CEO of several companies within retail giant LVMH. A native of England, Mr. Meitiner has lived in various cities around the world and has made New York City his home since 2001.

Phoenix House is the nation's leading non-profit substance abuse prevention and treatment service organization, serving close to 7,500 men, women (including women with children), and teens each day at more than 150 drug and alcohol treatment and prevention programs in 10 states - California, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Texas, and Vermont. For information, visit www.phoenixhouse.org.

For more information about Phoenix House or to schedule an interview with CEO Howard Meitiner, please contact Davia Temin, Allison Bennett, or Lauren Balog of Temin and Company at 212-588-8788 or news@teminandco.com. You may also contact Karen Sodomick, Vice President and Director, Marketing and Communications of Phoenix House at 646-505-2093 or KSodomick@phoenixhouse.org.

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Howard Meitiner

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SOURCE Phoenix House

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