Call for Reports of Discrimination against
people with Substance use Disorders
July 15, 2002
National Policy Panel Seeks Testimony on Discrimination Against People With
Substance Use Disorders
BOSTON, July 15 (AScribe Newswire) -- A national policy panel announces a call
for written testimony that will be used to develop recommendations to address
legal and social discrimination against people with substance use disorders.
Discriminatory actions discourage people from seeking treatment by restricting
access to education, housing, employment opportunities, and appropriate health
care. The American Bar Association and Join Together, a project of Boston
University School of Public Health, formed a national policy panel, representing
a cross section of the legal and judicial communities, the scientific community,
and policy leaders, to develop recommendations that will address these issues.
The panel will focus on laws, policies, rules, and practices in the workplace,
by insurers, by local, state, or federal government, or in the use of methadone
and other medications that present obstacles to people pursuing recovery and
treatment. Examples include:
- a Fifth Circuit ruling that people in recovery from alcohol addiction are not
protected by the ADA unless their illness is so extreme that they have
permanent, debilitating conditions that would render them unable to perform the
essential duties of employment;
- insurance policies that deny or restrict coverage for substance abuse
treatment;
- the Uniform Individual Accident and Sickness Policy Provision, which permits
insurance carriers to reject claims for the care of any injury sustained by an
insured patient who was intoxicated or under the influence of drugs at the time
of the injury;
- the "Drug Free Student Aid" provision of the U.S. Higher Education Act, which
denies financial aid only to students with a history of an illegal drug offense;
- the 1996 welfare reform provision imposing a lifetime ban on welfare benefits
for people convicted of possessing or selling drugs;
- zoning regulations that ban treatment centers or sober housing;
- a federal code that allows evictions of tenants from public housing if the
tenant, any member of the tenant's household, or any guest engages in
drug-related criminal activity on or off the premises
- a widely-accepted Department of Justice policy to refuse methadone to inmates
addicted to heroin;
- treatment programs that require total abstinence from all substances, even
those required for disabling medical conditions;
- drug courts that will not accept defendants who are in methadone treatment.
The panelists invite people to submit testimony for their consideration. Someone
who has experienced discrimination first hand can submit testimony, as can
treatment providers, other health care professionals, employee assistance
professionals, or others who have witnessed discrimination. Testimony should
focus on policies that need to be changed, and should offer recommendations or
specific actions for the panel to consider.
Please limit statements to no more than five (5) pages, double spaced, or no
more than 1,250 words. All documents should include the name of the person
submitting the testimony, his or her role or title (for example: treatment
provider, physician, teacher, parent, person in recovery, person seeking
treatment), state of residence, and email address or other contact information.
Those who would like to remain anonymous are welcome to do so. In those cases,
panelists will be informed of only the submitter's role and state. Any testimony
that is reprinted by Join Together or the American Bar Association will be in
the same format as that given to the panel.
Submissions can be sent to: Speak Up!, Join Together, One Appleton Street,
Fourth Floor, Boston, MA 02116. Documents can also be emailed to
speakup@jointogether.org.
Testimony must be received by September 1, 2002. Join Together also hosts an
online forum where anyone can read or post accounts of delays, discrimination,
financial obstacles or other barriers to addiction treatment. To use the forum,
please visit:
http://www.jointogether.org/speakup
For more information about the discrimination policy panel, please visit:
www.jointogether.org/discrimination
