i think more dominant in the media. you know, alcohol abuse, abuse of marijuana. there's a lot of abusive substances beyond just the ones that are probably more likely in the news. >> you were talking before we got started about the marijuana being a larger problem than it had been in the past. >> sure, particularly with adolescents, we're seeing very, very heavy use of marijuana and some resulting pretty serious consequences a

certainly, the heroin epidemic has been just devastating, and we continue to see, that is a constant and that tends to be, not always, but we see a lot of young adults coming in with that, 18-30-year-olds. alcohol, we still have a consistent problem. methamphetamine, we're seeing more of that recently. that seems to be on the uptick. you know, designer drugs, synthetic drugs and also particularly as adolescents and young adults, the benzodiazepines. it goes through patterns, where one substance is, you know, sort of makes a surge and backs up on something else. unfortunately, i don't see, the heroin epidemic doesn't seem to be slowing down, and that gets a lot of attention, and it should. because the overdose rate is

more addicted than there have been in the past, and more dangerous synthetic-type drugs. mark, you're an alumni. >> i am. i went to karen kicking and screaming almost 15 years ago, and it was the biggest blessing i've ever had in my life. i was as psychologically and spiritually and physically devastated as you can be. and i went there as the result of a family intervention. and went there, and the big barrier for me to getting treatment was that i was going to be labeled an alcoholic, and, you know, i would be labeled as having gone to rehab. those were, for me, big barriers, but once i got there, things started to clear up for me. and, you know, one moment of clarity that i, a hge

was when my counselor said to me, mark, you're not a bad person trying to become good, you're a sick person who needs to become well, and for me, that was kind of the break through moment in my treatment, and i'm lucky enough and i have the honor to volunteer for karen on a local and national basis, and that's been a big part of my recovery process. >> i want to talk more -- we're going to take a break, but i want to talk more about how, i think people this morning are wondering how to help somebody they care about who may need help, so let's talk about that when we come back. stay tuned.

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welcome back to viewpoint. this morning we're talking about addiction and specifically how to help someone you care about who you think needs some help with addiction.

receiving end of it, what's your, what's your advice to people watching? >> so, for me, i realized that i needed treatment. but i wanted to do something that was, you know, crafted by myself. and that's not the best idea when someone has an addiction to try to come up with their own game plan, so, you know, i think, you know, getting somebody like kara or jane on the phone with the family, with the affected addicted person can be a great help. i mean, just, you know, knowing the resources and knowing that there are many resources here in the d.c. area that are available for many people. >> i've heard it said that people, addicts, people with substance abuse issues have to hit rock bottom before they'll participate in

>> i do not. i think that you can raise rock bottom, and it is true that oftentimes it's a consequence, because drugs feel good, even if you don't feel bad, drugs and alcohol feel good, so it's not usually somebody wakes up one day and says oh, i think i don't want to do this anymore because it doesn't feel good. that does happen down the line. but it's usually because something stops working or there's some crisis that precipitates that, but that can be, with the right intervention and the right people helping you figure that out, you can really raise that awareness for a person before they get to rock bottom. and i think earlier intervention and recognizing the signs and knowing how to get someone into treatment earlier can absolutely help. >> bottom is so subjective. it's different for eved

where, i mean, it took years and years, and it wasn't until i let his cardiologist know that he was having a problem. and then he went, you know, to the cardiologist for drugs that finally someone got in his path and said, like, you absolutely have a problem. you know, so then we see young people getting sober. it's amazing. 16, 17 years old. so, you know, it took whatever it took for the 17-year-old versus the 30-year-old, 40, 50, 75. i mean, it's just, i think it's for the, whoever that person is, and like jane said, having those surrounding circumstances that it's sort of this magic timing of you're finally willing to get some help. >> we've, some of the reporting that we've done, we've focussed on some changing attitudes that law enforcement people have. it's clear that we c

our way out of the crisis that we find ourselves in. they're bringing, in some cases, bringing social workers along when, getting them involved, when somebody's at their low point of being arrested, family members are there, maybe they're at the hospital or something like that. what do you think about that? >> i minean i think it's great. i think for some people, as opposed to going to jail, to have that option to harness that willingness when you can is really important. there are people, and i've met people in recovery who say i had to go to jail. for them, it took that kind of consequence to finally stop drinking. and wonderful thing now, there are a lot of jails bringing in aa meetings, na meetings, recovery literature, so people can actually bin

want to or need to. >> does this treatment need to be more accessible than it is now? >> i think absolutely. there are a lot of good options in our area, and i am noture s it's true in a lot of areas. w one of the important areas, striking when the window is hot. and those of us in this area try to be very responsive when someone picks up the phone and calls. it's a hard call to make, when somebody is on the other end and can help. one of the barriers we see is with the insurance environment there is, there's not a, there's sort of processes they have set up are not consistent with that immediacy, so there's the long authorization process. that's one of the barriers that needs to be addressed going forth. >> you don't want to give them time to change their mind. >> exactly. exactly. >> we will continue this conveation. we'll be back with more about addictan

welcome back to viewpoint. we're talking about addiction. we've been talking about how to, how to help people get into treatment. what about after treatment? that's a difficult piece of this too, isn't it? there's a high rate of relapse. what do you, what do people need to know about the process, how to support somebody after treatment? >> interesting. i was just looking at a report hat showed that the rate of relapse for substance abuse disorders is really no higher and in some cases lower than other chronic diseases, diabetes, asthma, heart disease. so we need to look at it in that framework, of chronic disease

for someone to get into sustained recovery. and three to four treatment episodes. so though is a chronic issue you're dealing with. so when i think of aftercare, i think of it astined care. this is continued chronic disease management. people think of treatment as a 28-day or 30-day. they get treatment or get well over a course of months. >> you are leaving your environment and you've gone up to this amazing place in pennsylvania where you can totally focus on your recovery for 30, 60, 90, four months, and you have to come back. and from any treatment program, eventually, you have to reintegrate. so we do things like we connect people who are coming back to the area with 12-step contacts. so people who are in aa or na, we connect our phones coming back with other amn

parents, for siblings, for alumni. we coordinate with place like phoenix house to say okay, we have people coming back, and they need continuing care, so they'll go to xy and z place for outpatient. we were talking about the cost a little bit, because we're a non-profit as well, and, you know, we, we try to give scholarships. we give a lot of scholarship care to hope -- >> that's wonderful. >> and that helps with extending treatment. because sometime people do 30 days >> and mark, i want to get your take. we are near the end of this, but your take on the value of addiction treatment and what it's meant for you. >> well, it's saved my life. i've got a daughter, post-treatment. and but, you know, it's

treatment. the hard stuff is when you come back, okay. and there are many meetings, many support groups you can go to. now i think from karen's perspective, being involved and being with people who have had a shared experience has been important to me, and that want to help other people. that's been, as i said earlier, a big part of my recovery. so certainly, meetings, support groups, but just trying to give b back and help other people try to get better. >> okay, we are badly out of time on a subject we could talk about certainly for hours. i want to thank all of you for joining us. well, we're not quite done yet. we'll be right back.

welcome back to viewpoint. we're talking about addiction today, and in the break we're talking about something you alluded to earlier. and really, it's about changing attitudes about addiction and substance abuse. it's being looked at more as a disease, as an illness than as a weakness. but we still have a long way to go in that regard, don't we? >> absolutely. i was very encouraged by the surgeon general recently. you know, talking about it as this is a health care issue. this is not anything else but that. i think that stigma is one of the big

don't, don't seek care, you know. if you're having heart issues, people are less resistant to seeking care. >> you talked about that as well, mark. >> i thought there was something wrong with me. i didn't understand why i didn't drink like normal people. and the attitude out there was there's the lack of willpower. and that's what i thought. i believed that. hook, line and sinker. and, as i said earlier, until my eyes were opened and was told that, you know, i was a sick person, i needed to become well or get well, that, that's just, that was going down the wrong path until then. >> a lot of people want to believe that they can solve this crisis all by themselves. what are some of the warning signs that people should be on the lookout for? family members? >> what's interesting you should say people wanting to do it on their own. it is a disease that manifests itself in a lot of different ways, but one way is that

family, pulling away from friends. there are more obvious signs of coming to, like work and smelling like alcohol or appearing to be on a substance of some kind of >> families and co-workers get angry about those things, and it's hard to help somebody when they're not showing up for work on time or they're not participating in family activities. >> and that's, why, too, it's so important that families are educated, that employers, this is an illness that impacts so many people that come into contact with the person who is the active alcoholic or addict. we see with all of our family programming, families are transformed when the people get better. because you are suddenly not focussed on this person who is doing all these things to hurt

themselves. >> family members need help, too. addiction is a very frustrating thing to deal with, and it makes everyone in the family feel crazy, because there's just chaos. it's just chaos, and you get used to the chaos. but similar to a family member who has alzheimer's, which is a brain issue as addiction is a brain disease. there are behaviors that happen that are awful. this person is not the person that you knew and loved. you see that a lot in addiction. where did my child go? where did my husband go? but i think the changes in behavior, the hiding, you know, a change in functioning and sometimes you have someone who's very, very high functioning, so those changes may be more subtle. but in my experiences, if you think it might be an issue you're probably right. and the extent of the issue, who knows. but what i would souggest is go to someone who

have it evaluated like you would if your sight was impaired or your sugar or diabetes. go and have it evaluated. >> and evaluation is an important thing. and we'll be there at the health and fitness expo. and we hope that a lot of people will join us at the d.c. convention center, 9:00 to 4:00. and this is day two. admission is free. lot of helpful information about addiction and mental health issues and a whole lot of other opportunities for people, so we hope you'll come and join us, and we thank you all for joining us here today for viewpoint. we'll see you at the expo. have a good day.

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first came the snow. if you step outside this morning, slap in your face. now the cold. right now on news 4 today, get ready to bundle up. storm team 4 tracking temperatures that feel like the single digits. walloped with snow, blizzards, and whiteouts send cars sliding from virginia to across the east coast. today millions start digging out. and planned attack. the new answers following a deadly airport shooting that could lead to a death sentence for the accused gunman. first, 6:00 on the dot on this sunday morning. hope you're having a good one so far. i'm adam tuss. >> and i'm