and the news. 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, treatment, and behavioral health? i

u.s. department of health and human services. [music] how i pay it forward is every day i have a recovering family. my wife is in long-term recovery. we have two children, 19 and 17, that we have to role model today, not tell them how to live but show 'em how we lead our lives. they've never seen us pick up a drink or a drug in our life. they think recovery is an asset rather than a liability. i sponsor 17 men in recovery and try to role model who i am to them and now i'm involved with intherooms.com and we have over 80,000 members that i'm grateful to for being on our site and we're growing every day by hundreds of people. and it's not only getting people together, keeping them connected, but we're saving lives every day. so sandra, how can information about addiction, treatment, and recovery be portrayed in the media? well, there's so many different ways. when we talk with writers at the writers guild of america, west, they tell us that their agenda is to tell compelling stories. so we need to inspire them with real stories of r

u.s. department of health and human services. people who suffer from drug or alcohol addiction sometimes say hurtful things. they drive the people who love them most away. if you know someone who suffers from drug or alcohol addiction, listen. try to hear what they are really saying. know that there is hope and help them find their voice again. for drug or alcohol treatment referral for you or someone you know, call 1-800-662-help. brought to you by the u.s. department of health and human services. music what i can tell you about the power of recovery is that recovery means being released from those things that have had you bound for such a long time. so recovery means being released. uh, i want to talk to you about the power of recovery also, for me the purpose of recovery. being that i'm in long, person in long-term recovery, over 23 years of recovery, through the lord, jesus christ, and i feel for me it's a release of bondage, it's also a release to give back. to me the power of recovery is all about coming to terms with life.

of the road to recovery. today we're talking about medication-assisted therapy 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 bup

director, center for substance abuse prevention, substance abuse and mental health services administration, u.s. department of health and humanle, 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.

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 with, some relationship of some type, that doesn't h

u.s. department of health and human services. how was school today? how was school today? your session go alright? you have a good session? want to go to a game with me? i got tickets to the game. talk with the kids in your life about drugs and alcohol and if they're in treatment or recovery, support them, even if you have to practice. i am so proud of you. for drugs and alcohol information and treatment referral, call 1-800-622-help. [music] working as a documentary film-maker with youth, you know, has taught me a lot and i've learned a lot, you know, just in the process of giving back and educating myself to other pathways to recovery. you know, i had my experience, my personal experience and my recovery but, you know, videotaping and capturing other stories has opened my mind to multiple pathways and different ways people recover from drugs and alcohol. fran, let's talk about some of those protective factors that parents can utilize in order to speak to their children and counsel them. well, some of them have already been mentioned about having the parent participate in

of the hunger issue. what we have proposed in the 2011 budget is a program called the healthy financing initiatives. it is a partnership between the u.s. treasury, but the department of health and human servicesthe department of agriculture. it provides the resources to try to address the issue of food deficits. that is one issue. because of the difficult economy, we have seen an increase in the participation in supplemental nutritional assistance program. some states do a phenomenal job of making sure that snap beneficiaries are aware of the program and participate fully. in other states, roughly 50% of the people who would qualify participate. obviously, that leaves people having to go without a maleal. young people in those families are not getting in the nourishment they need. this is a health care issue and a national security issue. i really appreciate you putting the spotlight on these issues, because it helps elevate it been the minds of people across the country, -- elevate it into the minds of people across the country, and hopefully, it will get congress to take action. the usda has a challenge of trying to collect 1 million pounds of food to give to local food banks. these banks a