Changing the Conversation

Everybody knows somebody touched by addiction. We can no longer say it is only "those people over there."

Addiction impacts one in every three households in America. These are not bad people...these are good people to whom bad things happened.

Understanding addiction is health problem - not a crime - changes everything.

90% of people in need of treatment for addiction don't receive it - this discrimination must end.

There are more than 23 million Americans in recovery. It's time we tell their stories too.

People who are suffering - and their loved ones - need a roadmap to find help and ongoing recovery support to manage their chronic health problem.

No one has to die from addiction. Effective treatment exists and recovery is real. We simply must make it easier for the people who need help to get that help.

Everybody knows somebody touched by addiction. We can no longer say it is only "those people over there."

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UNITE to Face Addiction Launch Event in Washington, DC

October 4, 2015 was a history-making day in the effort to face addiction. Tens of thousands of people showed up and 700 partners joined together for the first-ever rally and concert on the National Mall. There were incredible performances from Joe Walsh, Steven Tyler, Sheryl Crow and many others, and the Surgeon General announced the country’s first ever report on addiction. This was the beginning of changing the conversation from problems to solutions for addiction in America.

Together we can save lives -- right now.
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Our Broad-Based Communications Effort

With mass media partnerships already secured we will launch an extensive outreach campaign that:

  1. Will open hearts and minds to the urgency of facing addiction.
  2. Encourage people to look beyond the stigma and shame and realize that addiction can, and often does, impact people they love.
  3. Educate people that addiction can be prevented, it can be treated and long-term recovery is a reality for millions.

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Together we can save lives -- right now.
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The Best and Brightest

Our current response to addiction in America is often referred to as a “cottage industry,” with thousands of organizations working independently, sometimes competitively, and most often with woefully insufficient funding. At Facing Addiction, our goal is to bring together, for the first time ever, a platform for the very best experts and organizations in the addiction field to work collaboratively on high impact and scalable solutions that will help more people, more quickly, than has previously been possible.

Together we can save lives -- right now.
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Our Vision & Mission

Bring together the best resources in the field in order to reduce the human and social costs of addiction, every year, until this public health crisis is eliminated.

• Build a grassroots constituency to give the millions affected by addiction a voice
• “Rebrand addiction” to create the understanding, empathy, outrage and demand urgently needed to advance solutions
• Increase access to effective prevention, treatment and recovery programs
• Translate scientific innovation into useful tools and services
• Advocate for governments to implement evidence-based policies and regulatory practices to end addiction

Together we can save lives -- right now.
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Our country's approach to the
addiction crisis is simply not working.

  • • 90% of the 22 million+ suffering from addiction today began using during adolescence
  • • Understanding that addiction is a health problem, not a crime, changes everything
  • • Someone – often a young person – dies from alcohol or other drugs every 4 minutes in America.
  • • Only 10% of people needing treatment for addiction receive it
  • • Roughly 45 million people have had their lives turned upside down by addiction
  • • 8.3 million children live in a household with a parent in need of treatment. None of these kids asked for that
  • • Teens are not educated about the risks of addiction
  • • Parents don't know how to talk with their kids about alcohol and other drugs.
  • • Alcohol and other drugs are becoming more available and more lethal, and our children are being exposed at younger ages every year

“It was devastating to watch someone who I loved so much fight so hard and suffer. I did the best I could to support him and love him through it all. I felt helpless and alone. In January 2011, I received the news, the news that would break my heart. My best friend had died from a drug overdose.”

“I teach 8th grade civics in northern Virginia. I know how devastating addiction can be, so I try to teach my students the importance of staying clean, being a productive citizen, and helping each other resist peer pressure."

“As a person in long term recovery, I want to be an advocate for recovery and help others bear witness to what recovery holds for them. It’s time for the recovery community to step out of the shadows and cast a bright light on this national epidemic."