Doctor Sponaugle, Medical Director of Florida Detox®, was recently invited to the White House as a guest speaker to address one of America’s most ignored and rising perils; untreated substance abuse and addiction. Approximately 23.2 million Americans aged 12 or older needed treatment for substance (alcohol or illicit drug) abuse and addiction in 2005. Of these 23.2 million (9.5% of the entire population aged 12 or older), only 2.3 million (10%) actually received the treatment they needed. (National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 2005)

White House representative Ruben Barrales, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, met Dr. Sponaugle with an open ear to possible strategies and solutions for resolution of both abysmal relapse rates and the deficit between those needing and receiving treatment within America. Dr. Sponaugle, certified in addiction medicine through ASAM (American Society of Addiction Medicine), has developed a proprietary detoxification technique which absolutely can prevent the surge of norepinephrine (adrenaline). During withdrawal, unchecked surges of norepinephrine will squeeze the coronary and peripheral blood vessels and can produce a dangerously elevated heart rate. “Some young, healthy patients have died in jails while going through withdrawal and these unnecessary deaths were probably caused by cardiac arrhythmia from uncontrolled adrenaline surge”, Dr. Sponaugle says.

While efficacy of the actual detox technique is no doubt one of the most important factors in the process to sobriety, Dr. Sponaugle, blames misdiagnosis of patients (by physicians who lack knowledge within recent advances in the brain chemistry of addiction treatment) for unnecessarily high relapse rates and high number of untreated substance abuse and addiction patients in America. “At Florida detox®, we believe that addiction is the symptom, not the cause”, said Dr. Sponaugle. “Patients didn’t choose to become addicted to drugs or alcohol. They may be self-medicating depression, anxiety, insomnia or attention deficit disorder (ADD). Our clinical research demonstrates that over 50 percent of our opioid dependent patients suffer from undiagnosed/untreated Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).”

Untreated substance abuse and addiction patients force considerable costs to the United States. A study prepared by The Lewin Group for the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism estimated the total economic cost of alcohol and drug abuse to be $245.7 billion for 1992. Of this cost, $97.7 billion was due to drug abuse. This estimate includes substance abuse treatment and prevention costs as well as other healthcare costs, costs associated with reduced job productivity or lost earnings, and other costs to society such as crime and social welfare. (NIDA InfoFacts: Costs to Society)

The latest estimate for the costs to society of illicit drug abuse alone is $181 billion (2002). When combined with alcohol and tobacco costs, they exceed $500 billion including healthcare, criminal justice, and lost productivity. Successful drug abuse treatment can help reduce this cost; crime; and the spread of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and other infectious diseases. It is estimated that for every dollar spent on addiction treatment programs, there is a $4 to $7 reduction in the cost of drug-related crimes. With some outpatient programs, total savings can exceed costs by a ratio of 12:1. (NIDA InfoFacts: Treatment Approaches for Drug Addiction)

As a virtuoso in his field and a forerunner within addiction treatment, Dr. Sponaugle believes much of the preventable costs to society associated with illicit drug abuse can be avoided by mending the source of the problem; untreated and or misdiagnosed substance abuse patients which perpetually relapse. Validation for the amount of money that could be circumvented is evident from the research of The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). This program states the amount of money spent on illegal drugs that otherwise would support legitimate spending or savings by the user in the overall economy between 1988 and 1995 was $57.3 billion; $38 billion on cocaine, $9.6 billion on heroin, $7 billion on marijuana, and $2.7 billion on other illegal drugs and on the misuse of legal drugs. “Many substance abuse patients, “feel more normal", when using OxyContin, Vicodin, alcohol or cocaine”, Dr. Sponaugle explains. “These drugs produce a temporary increase of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex (ADD area) of the brain, effectually allowing the patient to self-medicate their genetic dopamine deficiency. Relapse rates are much lower, when ADD and ADHD are accurately diagnosed and adequately treated.”