and the whole person approach to treatment. joining us in our panel today are: dr. h. westley clark, u.s. department of health and human services, substance abuse and mental health services administration, center for substance abuse treatment. dr. jane maxwell, senior research professor, university of texas at austin, golf coast addiction technology transfer center; lisa mojer-torres, esquire, consumer advocate, faces & voices of recovery; mark parrino, founder and president, american association for the treatment of opiod dependence (aatod). dr. clark, let's talk a little bit about medication-assisted therapies and how they're used. well there are a number of medications that are used to help facilitate recovery from substance use disorders. the most popular and most prominent would be buprenorphine and methadone. but there are also medications used for the treatment of alcohol. examples of that would be naltrexone and the camprosate or disulfiram. what they're used to do is to either facilitate the recovery of persons through maintenance, as with methadone or buprenorphine, to facilitate detoxification. both methadone and buprenorphine can be used for that, as anti-craving agents, su

our panel today are frances harding, director, center for substance abuse prevention, substance abuse and mental health services administrationof health and human services, rockville, maryland; monique bourgeois, executive director, association of recovery schools, fort washington, pennsylvania; greg williams, co-director, connecticut turning to youth and families, danbury, connecticut; dr. mark godley, director, research and development, chestnut health systems, bloomington, illinois. fran, what is the extent of the problem with youth in america? our most recent survey from samhsa is that around 10 million, a little over 10 million of our young people, are using alcohol and substances. that actually breaks down to 26 percent of them are drinking and another 17 percent of them are binge drinking, which is having more than five drinks in a row at one setting. so it's a concern of ours that our young people are really starting to accelerate drinking and drugging than they have in the past.

joining us in our panel today are mark weber, director of communications, substance abuse and mental health services administration, u.s. department of health and human services, rockville, maryland; ron tannenbaum, president and co-founder, intherooms.com, fort lauderdale, florida; dr. w. douglas evans, professor and director, public health communication and marketing program, george washington university, washington, dc; sandra de castro buffington, director, hollywood health & society, usc annenberg norman lear center, beverly hills, california. the media obviously influences how people create their opinions, particularly about addiction and treatment issues in behavior health. and doug, why don't we review what we mean about media today. some time ago, marshall mcluhan said that the medium is the message and that is more true today than ever. media have proliferated and they now permeate our society. we're surrounded by it constantly 24/7 and users increasingly are defining what the media are and what those media mean to the rest of us. and mark, why is it important for the media to really understand addiction

and how policymakers can have a positive impact in their community. joining us in our panel today are: dr. terry l. cline, administrator, substance abuse and mental health services administration, u.s. department of health and human services; congressman danny k. davis, 7th district of illinois; paul samuels, president, legal action center; pat george, kansas state representative, district 119. dr. cline, we're spending an estimated $484 billion in health care costs due to addiction. how many people are affected by this problem in our nation? this is a huge issue that permeates every sector of society. we know that there are approximately 22 million people across the united states who are struggling with substance abuse and dependence. that's about 9.1 percent of the population. it's huge. so the problem, one would say, is really widespread around the country, pat. well, as dr. cline pointed out, approximately 10 percent of the population has an abuse problem but it actually affects about 75 percent of our population. and so there is seldom a person that i meet that doesn't have some connection, whether with an immediate family person or somebody that they work

entertainment industries council incorporated in collaboration with the substance abuse and mental health services administration. the entertainment industries council has really been very fortunate in our ability to partner with samhsa on a number of different projects. the prism awards is probably the most high profile project that we do at samhsa. it's a good collaboration because our goals are very compatible, getting sound information to the general public in the areas of treatment, addiction, recovery, and also in the area of mental health. i've never struggled with anything myself. i do know from delving into this man, orrin hunt, who is dealing with his, you know, disorder, there is a lot of hope. it's not a thing you're stuck with; it's a thing that is a journey. it's part of a journey and it might be hard sometimes, but it's definitely, if you take the right steps, and everything is surmountable, i think. as we all were working on "crazy heart," we knew men and women who had struggled with addiction, we can't really know what that's like, how hard it is, but we used inspiration from friends and family

entertainment industries council incorporated in collaboration with the substance abuse and mental health services administration. the entertainment industries council has really been very fortunate in our ability

great to be here as we look at a way to deal with, clearly in the report, substance abuse and mental health services administration is releasing this morning what quite clearly is a significant problem in the united states. a problem to our young people. a problem in our hospitals. a problem to our families. when you look at what is out there, i think you will be as concerned as we all are. getting up individually, we will face time by me not having to introduce each one. the governor is here not only to help us on these national issues, but he has been gracious enough to invite us to go to delaware, where he will sign in a prescription drug monitoring plan legislation for that state to protect the people he is responsible for. our office of national drug control policy national director, tom mcclellan, will be speaking. he is a researcher par excellence in the world of drug treatment. he brings a very unique perspective. we think we are a great team, by the way, here at ondcp. a police officer that talks about the importance of teaming up with the criminal justice system. the active administrator, michele lenhart

and in terms of public health education. one of the components of our departme department, the substance abuse mental health services administration is on their website a lot of tip sheets for population behavioral health issues and stress issues of the population. a lot of that work outreach and intervention will be done through the gulf coast institutions and by working with local health departments and state health departments. and a lot of those folks will be the type of folks you are describing. host: bill it key largo. hi. caller: i run a snorkeling company that snorkels from key largo down to key west. and generally when you are new yorkling you -- when you are snorkeling you just wear a bathing suit. i was wondering if the water quality has been checked for dispersants and oil down in that area. host: bill, have you seen any evidence yet down in the keys? caller: i have not seen any things except small, real mall pieces of -- real small pieces of oil floating in the water. host: let's get an answer from the doctor. guest: what i would do first of all, bill, is go on the e.p.a. website which is epa.gov, and they have oil sp

and in terms of public health education. one of the components of our departme department, the substance abuse mental health services administration is on their website a lot of tip sheets for population behavioral health issuesnd stress issues of the population. a lot of that work outreach and intervention will be done through the gulf coast institutions and by working with local health departments and state health departments. and a lot of those folks will be the type of folks you are describing. host: bill it key largo. hi. caller: i run a snorkeling company that snorkels from key largo down to key west. and generally when you are new yorkling you -- when you are snorkeling you just wear a bathing suit. i was wondering if the water quality has been checked for dispersants and oil down in that area. host: bill, have you seen any evidence yet down in the keys? caller: i have not seen any things except small, real mall pieces of -- real small pieces of oil floating in the water. host: let's get an answer from the doctor. guest: what i would do first of all, bill, is go on the e.p.a. website which is epa.gov, and they have oil spil

joining us in our panel today are mark weber, director of communications, substance abuse and mental health services administration,