We need to shift to new front in War on Drugs

We have spent decades fighting the War on Drugs. The enemies have been heroin, cocaine and marijuana. We have associated drugs with the dark alleys and dimly lit corners of abandoned neighborhoods.

That focus may have been needed when the War on Drugs began, but it is far too narrow now. The most fatally abused drugs in the U.S. today are not illicit. They are legal and sitting in the medicine cabinet. In 2012, U.S. doctors wrote 259 million prescriptions for opioid painkillers - enough to give a bottle to every man, woman and child in America, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Opioid prescription painkillers are responsible for 42 percent of all fatal poisonings - now the leading cause of unintentional death for American adults. What's worse, opioid painkillers are gateway drugs to heroin, and Chicago is a heroin hotbed. Despite the statistics, opioid painkillers have become so conventional that many people ask for them by name. It is almost automatic: You get an ache, you expect Vicodin.

And therein lies the problem. Most people who take these medicines never consider that their use could lead to addiction. Why? Because they are getting the pills from a doctor, someone they trust. M.D.'s aren't dealers and addicts don't get drugs from the neighborhood pharmacy. Or do they?

Heroin is universally accepted as addictive and, you may remember, Public Enemy No. 1 in the initial War on Drugs. But not so with opioid painkillers. If we're honest, opioid painkillers are essentially legal heroin. They are made of the same chemical compounds and have the same addictive properties. And they are even more deadly - prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin account for more drug overdoses than heroin and cocaine combined.

Yet sadly, most Americans do not see the correlation, or they choose to ignore it. A National Safety Council poll found nine in 10 Americans who take opioid painkillers do not think about addiction, despite 60 percent reporting at least one addiction risk factor in their personal or family history.

To make matters worse, for those who do become addicted, effective treatment is difficult to find, particularly in Illinois. Breaking this cycle will require two key actions. First, we must improve education, for consumers as well as doctors, about how dangerous opioid painkillers actually are. Second, we must provide help to those struggling with addiction.

A bright spot for Chicago is Illinois' Prescription Drug Monitoring Program which has helped limit the number of prescriptions written throughout the state, but what happens to the people already addicted to these drugs? Illinois does not have an adequate answer.

Successful treatment and rehabilitation depends on access to cost-effective programs that include long-term intervention, support and management. The most effective option is medication-assisted therapy (MAT), which is a proven three-step system that gradually weans people off opioids while emphasizing counseling and support from friends and family.

Only 35 of Illinois's 102 counties have at least one MAT provider. The remaining 67 counties do not have a treatment provider offering MAT at all.

If you believe the supply is linked to the demand, think again. In 2013, nearly 10,000 Illinoisans were admitted to treatment facilities for opioid addiction, according to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. At least 200,000 Illinoisans admit they needed to be, according to Narconon International.

If hundreds of thousands were exposed to a disease that had a vaccine, we would demand effective treatment. Opioid painkiller addiction is an epidemic. Rather than hide the source of so much suffering, our standard of care must adjust accordingly.

On Monday, Illinois families affected by drug overdoses will make their voices heard in observance of International Overdose Awareness Day. This is today's battle, and by heeding their words we can gain ground on the War on Drugs and save thousands of lives.

Deborah A.P. Hersman is president and CEO of the National Safety Council.