美国国家公共电台 NPR Surgeon General Murthy Wants America To Face Up To Addiction

Surgeon General Murthy Wants America To Face Up To Addiction¹

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0003:50repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser² to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: 

More people take prescription³ painkillers⁴ in the United States than smoke tobacco. In some states, prescriptions⁵ for opioids exceed the number of people. Think about that for a moment. You've got a state. It's got, say, a million people, with more than a million prescriptions for opioids. Now, the surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, is tackling alcohol, drugs and health, looking at the crisis of addiction. And he says attitudes toward addiction need to change drastically.

VIVEK MURTHY: My hope is that this first-ever report on alcohol, drugs and health will help us shift how we think about addiction and how we address substance-use disorders⁷ in America. What may surprise people is to know that 20.8 million people in our country are living with a substance-use disorder⁶. This is actually similar to the number of people who have diabetes⁸, and it's one-and-a-half times the total number of people who have all cancers combined. That's pretty extraordinary in terms of the burden of disease that we have with substance-use disorders.

INSKEEP: Do you mean, Surgeon General, 20.8 million people have a substance-abuse disorder now? There may be other people who had it three years ago or will have it next year.

MURTHY: Yeah, so 20.8 million people currently have a substance-use disorder. And the impact that this is having on the health and the well-being⁹ of our country as well as on our economy is quite staggering. These substance-use disorders cost us over $420 billion a year. That's billion with a B. But despite how serious this is and how prevalent these disorders are, only 1 in 10 people actually get treatment.

The problem that we have right now is that we're not implementing¹⁰ many of these evidence-based interventions¹¹. On the prevention side, for example, we know that we have prevention programs that can return up to $64 for every dollar that's invested in them. Despite that, we're not implementing those programs, and that's part of what I want to change with this report.

INSKEEP: What's an example of a prevention program that you could be using more?

MURTHY: We have a series of these programs, particularly the school-based programs, which involve teaching children about how to manage stress in a healthy way, teaching them about substances, of misuse¹² and also teaching them how to refuse tobacco, alcohol and other illicit¹³ substances when they're offered to them. We know, in fact, that if you are exposed to alcohol before the age of 15 that you have a four-times greater risk of developing addiction to alcohol compared to if you take your first drink at the age of 21 or later.

INSKEEP: Why is managing stress part of the program here?

MURTHY: One thing that we - that we know is that, for some people, stress is one of the reasons that they actually turn to substances like alcohol, illicit drugs and prescription painkillers. This is not true for everyone, but it is certainly true for a sizable number of people. And what we need to do is to help people, especially kids at a young age, develop healthy habits for how to manage stress and how to deal with stress.

INSKEEP: I guess if we're talking about tens of millions of Americans with this problem, we're talking about people in every community, whether it's red or blue.

MURTHY: That's absolutely right. You know, substance-use disorders don't discriminate¹⁴. They affect the rich and the poor. They affect all socioeconomic groups, all ethnic¹⁵ groups. And this is something I saw practicing medicine in Boston for years, where I recognized clearly that people were coming in with substance-use disorders.

Even if that wasn't their primary issue, it was often there behind the scenes. And that's why we are issuing this report - to tell people that this is a public health crisis, but that we do have solutions. And now it's up to us to marshal our resources and our will to ensure that those solutions are implemented¹⁶ for the benefit of our kids and our adults.

INSKEEP: Vivek Murthy is surgeon general of the United States. Thanks very much.

MURTHY: Thanks, Steve. It was good to be with you.

1 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

2 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

3 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

4 painkillers   

n.止痛药( painkiller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The doctor gave him some painkillers to ease the pain. 医生给了他一些止疼片以减缓疼痛。 来自辞典例句
• The primary painkillers - opiates, like OxyContin - are widely feared, misunderstood and underused. 人们对主要的镇痛药——如鸦片剂奥施康定——存在广泛的恐惧、误解，因此没有充分利用。 来自时文部分

5 prescriptions   

药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划

参考例句：

• The hospital of traditional Chinese medicine installed a computer to fill prescriptions. 中医医院装上了电子计算机来抓药。
• Her main job was filling the doctor's prescriptions. 她的主要工作就是给大夫开的药方配药。

6 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

7 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

9 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

10 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

11 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

12 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

13 illicit   

adj.非法的，禁止的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He had an illicit association with Jane.他和简曾有过不正当关系。
• Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year.今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。

14 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。

15 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

16 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句