good sunday morning. welcome to "viewpoint." i'm pat lawson muse. on october 4th, more than 600 organizations from around the world will gather here in washington in a show of solidarity and collective force. they are coming together to help the 23 million americans with addiction to stand up for the more than 23 million more in recovery, and to act to save some 350 lives that are lost every single day. my guests this morning are johnny allem, who is founder of the aquila recovery clinic, he also serves on the facing addiction advisory committee. janice ferebee is a social worker, she's an author and speaker, who is also on the

unite to face addiction committee. she's d.c. field organizer and african-american outreach organizer for that group. and juan callejas is success coordinator, partnership success coordinator, we should say, for d.c. prevention center for wards one and two. welcome all of you to "viewpoint." >> thank you. >> if we all watch television, enough tv, i'll say, if we watch enough tv you'll think we're all addicted to something, to drugs, to alcohol, to food, gambling, sex, shopping, whatever. are we? >> well, i think everyone is addicted to something. it depends on the level and the degree that makes it something that you're going to have to get help for. >> johnny, how about you? >> one thing we're learning is addiction is a disease of all types have stages and phases, so does recovery have stages and phases. where we have not done a very good job is letting it be easier for people in early stages of addiction to get help or people in recovery to be able to say they are in recovery and example

of recovery. >> would you say most people are addicted to something? or recovering? >> they are, but not into a disease category yet. >> juan, how would you answer that? >> i would turn the table around and say we are all in recovery of something, and it could be from drugs, but it could be from cancer, it could be from mental health and other issues, so recovery is the name of the word. >> in order to be in recovery, doesn't there have to be an acknowledgment of the addiction, janice? >> i would say so, it's awareness that you do have an issue. as johnny was saying, whether it's at the disease level or not, but yes, being in recovery means that you've decided that you want to do something different. then making a step into recovery. >> and then, johnny, you say that there needs to be a civil rights movement for those who are in recovery. what do you mean by that? >> this rally is really a culmination of 15 years at work by a lot of people who said it's

no longer right for us to be invisible when we're in recovery. that's not an example for other people, we have rights like other americans to stand up for our issues and avoid discrimination. and this is a huge outcoming of becoming no longer being invisible to the world. being an example of what happens when you face your issues and you get help, become connected, and enjoy full recovery. >> juan, there's a lot of talk today about the stigma associated with mental health issues, and there are many who realize that there needs to be a movement to address, and there is a movement to address the stigma, to do away with the stigma. is there also a stigma here that makes it difficult to treat those who are suffering from addiction? >> it is. one of the suggestions is for us to be vocal, and the other one is to be valuable. valuable because the stigma chases all in some way or another and there is anonymity

and vocal because we have been silent because we want to be anonymous. so it's time to speak up and be seen. >> does addiction affect us culturally more than some? does it affect more african-americans, more people of color, or is addiction something that everyone suffers from equally, janice? >> everyone suffers from it. every population, but minorities do suffer disproportionately. there are a lot of -- there's a need for greater funding, greater access to resources and treatment among women of color, among youth of color, and among communities of color. >> here in the washington area, we have -- and across the country, in fact, we've seen an epidemic of synthetic drug use and we're also seeing a surge in heroin addiction. which is the biggest problem here in this area, johnny? >> i think this fresh problem of opiate use is tremendously

concerning. it's concerning because the origins of it are within the health system itself. we're prescribing, making it too easy, too popular to say i have an issue, give me some pain medication. people find out that is addictive and then they turn to something much cheaper, which is street drugs. it's across all populations, so it's a wake-up call for that. but it shouldn't hide the fact that the tremendous addiction issue in america is alcohol and all other drugs. >> okay, we'll pick up on that point right after we take a quick break. our topic this morning is addiction here on "viewpoint." addiction here on "viewpoint." we'll be right back.

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you say avocado old el paso says... zesty chicken and avocado tacos in our stand 'n stuff tortillas . (record scratch) you say stand n' stuff tortillas old el paso says... start somewhere fresh welcome back to "viewpoint." we're talking this morning about addiction and johnny allem we were talking just before the break about alcohol. many people focus on the ill lis

sit drugs and not as much as about the fact that alcohol is also a very highly addictive drug. >> very costly to our society. for every person addicted to alcohol, it affects four other people. we allowed people to believe for years they don't have a problem or stigmatize this, they don't get help, so it's a very expensive disease. i'm in long-term recovery, which means i haven't had a drink or drug in 30 years and when i came in, it was advised to me to be quiet, sit down, and not tell anybody. i've been part of a fight to change that forever since, and we're coming to that period now and what's happening as a result of that is people think it's normal to get help. and it's normal to say i'm in recovery. that has an impact on young people, but not enough yet. and we need to really stress that for the young population. >> juan, you work with young people. tell us about the struggles that they are having. first of all, you have the

synthetic drug that is just decimating the youth population, and then the impact of the drugs. we don't even know what the impact will be long term. >> let me mention first that the onset of drug use in the district is 30 years old. okay, kids are 13 years old, they begin to use. the other part of the confusion is marijuana, and the fact the young people are using k2, as it's called also, but they are in a stage of development. as you know, when we are teenagers, we are evolving. and we mature until we are 24, 25 years old. we don't know the long-term impact of marijuana alone, much less of synthetic on young people. so this is lethal and very dangerous. >> because marijuana is now legal, there are a lot of young people who think it's okay to try it, or that it's not as dangerous as it could be.

>> also, the early onset means the younger a person is when they use, the chances are greater to be addicted. >> very important to point out the fact that these young people that are doing this experimenting are also very hopeless people. we've not done enough wrap around on the services. we have whole populations of young people who don't feel they'll grow up and have the same position in society as their parents have. some don't even have parents around. i think we need to address the fact we have a poverty problem and ignoring of young people's real needs problem, that contributes to the use of k2, alcohol, and anything they can get their hands on. >> janice, how would you address that? >> i would agree. that's some of the work i do outside of being the d.c. field organizer, you know, i have a program that works with girls around social and emotional development, and that is a real big problem when girls and boys don't see themselves in the landscape of the future. and a lot of that is happening

in d.c., where there's no place for them. there are no programming, there's no programming for them, and when they see that, when our young people are hopeless and feel helpless, they turn to other outlets. and some of those outlets are drugs, alcohol, and violence. >> are we seeing enough, you know, p.r. campaigns, information, awareness campaigns? i think of some of the old campaigns, "just ano," is there a 2015 version of that? >> i think there could be more information going out around alternatives. i talked about counteracting crazy. alternatives to what these young people are dealing with today, and i think we need to see many more things happening for them and opportunities for them to get involved. >> do you think the mayor's crackdown on stores and suppliers rather than the low level synthetic drug dealers is the answer here? >> it's only part of the answer.

very disappointed, there was nothing wrong with what she did and what the police chief did, but it's not the rest of the formula, which has to give these people hope, has to combine education and resources. these kids need love. they don't just need education. we fall down in both those categories. >> juan, you can stop at a texeco or exxon station, it's right there in your face. >> what we do, we involve young people, as well as the adults in the community. we have grown to gas stations, liquor stores, we have 800 liquor stores, you know, and restaurants, so the young people and the adults also become part of the solution and they go and talk and educate the managers and encourage them not to sell drugs, and second, not to sell alcohol, because it's a problem on our young people not to sell

it to young people and they get a sticker, put it on the door, put it on the wall, and when the people from the district come, the inspectors, they see they have been spoken with. so we do environmental scanning with the young people, where they go to a park and we've done this, and they see what the k2 are or bottles of beer or alcohol, and they develop also -- they encourage people and the police, for example, to have more visibility, that they are not going to sell drugs here, et cetera. that's taking the community to be involved and be proactive. >> unless there's any misunderstanding when i mention gas stations names, i'm not referring to those specific brands of gas, there are many stores, mom and pop stores, corner stores, where these paraphernalia and other items have been available. we're going to continue our discussion on addiction right

after this break. stay with us. here in vineland, home of progresso, we love all kinds of chicken soups...

but just one kind of chicken. white breast meat chicken every time. so if you're not going to make your own chicken soup tonight, do what we do...make it progresso. here in vineland, home of progresso, we figured out how to get rich ingredients like bacon into 22 light soups, so if you want 100 calories or less per serving without giving up rich flavor do what we do...make it progresso.

welcome back to "viewpoint." we're talking about addiction this morning. let's talk, we talked about synthetic drugs. let's talk about heroin, because it has made a huge resurgence in this community. heroin now, addiction now causes socioeconomic, graphic, racial lines, how big a problem, janice, is heroin in the district? >> it's huge, and as i was saying before, i'm also a person in long-term recovery. i'll have 25 years of not using a drink or drug october 1st, and 25 years ago it was huge. and it's just gone under the cover, under the radar, but it's a huge issue here in the district. it's a drug that can easily be

gotten, you know, because prescription drugs, there may be a cost for that, but you can get street drugs and heroin is one of those that you can get. it has become a resurgent issue here in the district. >> and we certainly have seen the governments in maryland and virginia grappling with this, johnny? >> i think the really driving force, janice says heroin has been around a long time. right now we have a pain management industry that's really huge and getting larger every day. the stories we face in the clinic every day is young people 25, 26, 30 years old who didn't have a real problem until they had a shoulder operation. instead of getting four vicodin, they get a prescription for 60 and lays around, somebody uses those drugs. the first thing you know, they have a problem with using them and they get another prescription. after a while it becomes very expensive and for $12 they can get the same effect out of heroin. we're just seeing that story repeat over and over and over again for people from all

populations. >> overdose deaths among women from heroin nearly quadrupled between 2002 and 2013. why are women so disproportionately affected by this? >> well, as juan mentioned a minute ago, all these chemicals, particularly heroin, are not the same heroin we saw even five or ten years ago, so the people who think they have control of their use after they've been on it for a while try and repeat that same feeling. and they'll get a supply of heroin or other drugs that may be different, and so most of the deaths from opiates are not intended. some are, but a lot are not. >> juan, are young people -- are you seeing people in your clinics in wards one and two using heroin? >> we have prevention centers, well, we do. we don't assume they don't know. we assume they know, and they

also are aware of prescription drugs in this case, and we provide information to them, to their parents, to the community, also we form networks where the community actually gets involved to identify strategies, environmental strategies, to address some of these issues, at least at the awareness level, so people can begin to be informed about what is going on in the streets and also in their homes potentially. >> you say the focus should be -- needs to be a combination of strategies here. obviously, prostitution is part of that strategy and prevention is a big part of the strategy. janice, but there is a shortage of recovery clinics. there are waiting lists. why is it difficult for some people to get treatment? >> well, i think one of the reasons is because of the low wages that workers are paid. i have a d.c. recovery community alliance recovery coach and

there is a great need for the work that we do, but there are -- there's a lower echelon as far as how much we're paid, so people are not running to those particular occupations. and i think there needs to be more, just like teachers, there needs to be more praise and acknowledgment of the work that's being done so there can be an increase in the amount of money that people can make. >> the funding is, i'm sure, an issue that needs to be addressed. >> across the board. let's remember, we serve less than 7% of the need in this country for addiction care. that's been the case all along. the good news is that's changing. this rally will help change public perception. insurance companies are now paying easier and better for outpatient care. we need to get that number up to 25% or 30%. if you said today we only treated 7% of the people that had diabetes, that would be a terrible number. but we seem to accept publicly

the 7% to 10% of the alcoholics or drug users can get treatment. >> we'll continue. i'll let you continue right after this break. we'll be right back.

here in vineland, home of progresso, we love all kinds of chicken soups... but just one kind of chicken. white breast meat chicken every time. so if you're not going to make your own chicken soup tonight, do what we do...make it progresso.

you say avocado old el paso says... zesty chicken and avocado tacos in our stand 'n stuff tortillas . (record scratch) you say stand n' stuff tortillas old el paso says... start somewhere fresh welcome back. tell us about the rally on october 4th. rally on the mall means you're talking to congress, basically, and the american people, of course, but what's the message there? >> the message is to follow up on the parity act, which our activism got passed a few years ago and asked insurance companies to pay the same thing for our disease as they do for other disease, which is a lot more that needs to be done and four senators, two republicans and two democrats, are crafting the comprehensive addiction recovery act, and it's up for consideration and this rally is going to focus on that. it's going to bring help to

people returning from incarceration, it's going to help in better pay for people entering the field, it's going to deal with some of the specialty things like the heroin epidemic and a senator from rhode island is heading it up and will be at the rally on friday. anybody who cares about this disease needs to show up on sunday evening, the 4th, and enjoy the support we're going to get as legislation. >> juan and janice, what is it that you think needs to be connected when it comes to recovery and treatment? >> well, as juan was saying, prevention, bringing it all together and that's what the rally is going to be doing. having people show up and show out and have people talk about what they are going through and what their needs are. >> health care reform made it more difficult or has it made it easier for people to get treatment? >> well, i think it's opened up

the opportunity for people to get treatment. and it's allowed more people to have access, but there needs to be greater access. >> juan, closing the loop and connecting recovery and prevention. >> recovery doesn't happen in clinics, it happens in the community, ultimately. and bringing the community to the rally is to put a face behind the disease. and that means the disease, the people would need services look like the united states. young, old, different races, different paths, different professions all coming together to be able to rally around this disease. it's chronic. >> and where do people go to get help? >> they can go to the department of behavioral health is doing an excellent job in the city and they are going to be having a lot of folks on the mall with a lot of their treatment centers and opportunities for people to find out more about them, but i think it's also important for people to know that any and

everyone who is affected by addiction is invited to this rally. it's not just people who are in recovery, not just people who are in treatment, not just people who need that, but family members, schools, civil servant individuals, anybody who's been affected by addiction needs to come to the rally. >> october 4th on the mall and how do we get more information obje about that? >> the website you've been showing is fine. i want to add people who have any suffering from this disease needs to reach out. doesn't matter how you reach out, reach out to your pastor, primary care doctor, reach out to friends, go online, go to the public sector, but reach out, touch somebody else. >> all right. johnny allem, janice ferebee, and juan callejas, thank you all so much. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> see you on october 4th. and thank you, that's "viewpoint." i'm pat lawson muse, stay with us, news 4 today begins now.

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and that breaking news in d.c. three people shot overnight. what police are telling us about who did and who did not make it out alive. and a mass for the masses. pope will cap his finally visit with a heartfelt visit and why he'll be in jail later today. >> in jail? we'll stick around for that. welcome to "news4 today" on this sunday. i'm adam tuss. >> and i'm angie goff. it looks like clouds will stick around for us today a and others might see rain. >> tom kierein has our forecast. >> here