brought to you by the us department of health and human services. [music] well my passion is really advocacy around treatment and recovery issues. i've had the, the wonderful career over the past 16, 17 years, of being a direct service provider, being a treatment and recovery advocate, to heading up a large advocacy organization to actually working inside right now. and my primary purpose is to make sure that to make sure that the next person, that person that's still out there using now, when they do have this aha moment, that the system is ready to welcome them and to embrace them and support them as they begin their journey on recovery. what recovery has brought to me is an ability to take it to the next level. and, and be vocal about it, not be ashamed, you know, not hide behind a wall because you're afraid that oh well, god they're going to know but i'm a recovering addict. well i like to say that i'm in long-term recovery as opposed to an addict or an alcoholic because there's more positive sounding because people still run with, well addict, o

use of anti-psychotic drugs when they're not necessary is a form of restraint. it's a form of chemical restraint. >> reporter: the department of health and human services also says's very concerned that there are financial incentives for unnecessary drug use. in the past, those incentives have led to charges of kickbacks between nursing homes, pharmacies, and a drug company. dr. kenneth brubaker represents nursing home medical directors and agrees anti-psychotics are being used too often. he says the problem is staff turnover and training. >> often times lack of training, lack of adequate work force, whatever else it might be we tend to short cut it by going to drugs. >> i wish i would have said "what are you giving him? how much are you giving him?" >> reporter: instead, burchard sued and settled, using some of the money to create a nursing scholarship in memory of her dad. armen keteyian, cbs news, new york. >> couric: turning to the u.s. economy now, it looks like gas prices may have peaked. the energy department reported today they rose just a penny in the past week to $3.975 gallon and home prices fell another 3% in the first quarter of this year. since the

and recovery field. joining us in our panel today are dr. h. westley clark, director, center for substance abuse treatment, substance abuse and mental health services administration, u.s. department of health and human services, rockville, maryland. marco e. jacome, chief executive officer, healthcare alternative systems incorporated, chicago, illinois. john de miranda, president and ceo, stepping stone, san diego, california. william lossiah-bratt, board of directors, southeastern regional representative, faces and voices of recovery, cherokee, north carolina. dr. clark, why should we be concerned about ethnic and racial differences within the addiction and recovery field, as well as other differences? well, one of the things that we want to make sure is that people who have substance use problems are able to recover and that materials that we use can assist them in that process. and so, you know, there are differences associated with cultural values and beliefs, starting from how one physiologically responds to a particular substance misuse to how certain substances are used in a cultural context. so if we're going to facilitate recovery, we need to understand the language, the beliefs, the social

department of health and human services. [music] our program is multifaceted. it incorporates both group treatment and individual treatment for asian and pacific islanders who are struggling with chemical dependency. we use incentives to keep people motivated in treatment and we use both sort of informal and formal interventions. i like the diversity of the clientele that we get here at team 360. regardless of ethnicity, each of their stories is so different from the next. but for some reason, when they come into group, they support each other and they know how to- there's just this warmth and this support, even though they are so different. it's just a very comfortable place to be at and i think there's a lot of open-minded individuals. so like if i come in, they are not going to be like look at that drug addict. just like the opposite, they are like out here willing to help you out. the challenge and the rewards of what i do in recovery is that i get to see individuals really improve their lives, not only in their recovery, but focus on their everyday stressors, and they are able to cope with it in a much better improved way. our program is based on the matrix model intervention, which uses cognitive b

department of health and human services. [music] hi, i'm michele monroe with the road to recovery and we're here today in maryland getting some opinions on what people think about different languages used in the substance abuse and mental health arena. if i said that somebody had a drug and alcohol addiction what would you think that that means? i think the person has a... a certainly health issue problem that needs to be, needs to be attended to. i would think of people struggling in difficult circumstances... with certain underlying issues that, that lead them to feel that they need to use those things as an outlet. i think of a illness, i think of a sickness that's hard to overcome. and i think that the person needs support, as much support as possible. i think about people who needs help and they need to find help as soon as possible. so what if i said alcohol and drug problem? what do you feel about that? it's a problem that needs to be fixed, that's what i start thinking, you know, and you need to fix it, you need to find a way to fix it. if there needs to be out there more programs for these people, more resources where they can get to as soon as possible, you know, where they c

and gave them the scenario of the anthrax attack. this was in 2007. we started to talk about what would be required using fema's current operations. we are not there yet. the department of health and human serviceshas regional experts in preparing its response that are located in each of these 10 regions. they work with fema. host: first call for you comes from steve in florida on the line for democrats. go ahead. caller: yes, i was wondering if you could answer this question. do you think the justification of all the money we spend on homeland security saves more lives than the poverty we are creating in our own country by devaluing the dollar by spending it on things that we cannot stop? guest: that is a great question and that is a question that congress deals with all the time. how much investment do we want to make in events that may not occur? that is easy when it is not occurring. i came to the department just after katrina. in hindsight, what should we have spent on levees and the mississippi river system? anticipate the wave coming up the canal? all the impressions -- why didn't we spend money to prevent of a balance.or i mentioned a minute ago that there are four pillars upon which the

and federal government. last year, we were able to protect a lot of services by using about $120 million of federal revenue have our health department, the human services agency. those funds have gone away this year, so that leaves us with a gap that we need to make up. again, our cost growth -- we have among our wages, pension costs and health care -- we have over $100 million worth of growth in those expenses alone. and the other costs of doing business for the city are increasing at the same time. the mayor, under the city charter, is required to balance that gap by june 1 and submit a proposed balanced budget to the board of supervisors, who will then take up the budget and make adjustments to the mayor of's proposal -- the mayor's proposal, said that is the task before us over the next couple of weeks. one of the things i hear from folks often is that san francisco has a $6.5 billion budget. why is a $305 million deficit such a problem? the main reason for that is that there are different categories within the city budget. the biggest division in the city budget is the distinction between what is in the general fund and what is outside th

of whether or not it covers a doctor you use or like. the secretary, not the governor, not the governor's chief of staff. not someone in the state legislature, the secretary of the department of health and human services who has that now unprecedented power and is only limited by her own imagination. the secretary would impose price controls on health coverage. the secretary would pick who gets a waiver from the annual limit requirements. the secretary would establish cost shared requirements regardless of their effect on premiums. not a gubernatorial directive, not something established by the state commissioner of insurance, not something contributed to by the governor's chief of staff. not something decided by any state legislature, but by the secretary of the department of health and human services. again, chairman upton in his opening remarks said, this -- the spending would only be limited by the imagination, limits of the imagination of the secretary of the department of health and human services. we know who that is this year. we don't know who that is next year. we certainly do not know who that is in two year's time. it is the responsibility of this congress to exercise the due oversight ove

, the department of health and human services has not had the authority to approve new efforts by states to test better ways of helping children at the risk of abuse or neglect. the bill before us today would simply allow h.h.s. to approve new waivers once again so states can test new ways of betting serving children and families -- better serving children and families. mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. the house will be in order. the house will be in order. the gentleman may proceed. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. the current chairman of the ways and means committee which has jurisdiction over child welfare programs i'm pleased to co-sponsor this legislation with my friend, mr. mcdermott, a current member of the subcommittee as well as its prior chairman. the human resources subcommittee held a hearing on child welfare waivers last year which showed the value of states' flexibility in this area. since 1994, 23 states have run waiver programs that helped inform the child welfare policy debate and more importantly improve the lives of children and families. seven states have been granted extensions and have continued t