One Little Pill

I posted a little while back about Claudia Christian’s Book, Babylon Confidential (you can check out the post here). And as you know (if you’re a regular reader), it brought to my attention a method for treating alcohol addiction called, The Sinclair Method. And also Claudia’s C Three Foundation.  Research has brought me to the documentary that Claudia has filmed, called One Little Pill. It shows what this Naltrexone treatment can do.

Intrigued? I know I was after reading Babylon Confidential. One little pill, that is FDA approved in the US can make the difference between life and death and yet it’s rarely used or talked about.  Why am I bringing it up?  Two reasons.

1)      Dependency is an issue in my family, although it’s one that isn’t really talked about.

2)      Claudia and the team are trying to get the documentary taken up in various countries, so that it will be aired and therefore hopefully reach the medical community and those living with alcohol dependency and their families.  As of yet One Little Pill hasn’t been taken up in the UK. Which I have to say is disappointing to say the least.

According to Alcohol Concern in the UK, the following statistics are true:

• Alcohol is 45% more affordable than it was in 1980
• Alcohol misuse costs England approximately £21bn per year in healthcare, crime and lost productivity costs
• Alcohol is a causal factor in more than 60 medical conditions, including: mouth, throat, stomach, liver and breast cancers; high blood pressure, cirrhosis of the liver; and depression
• In 2011 there were 8748 deaths directly related to alcohol in UK
• The alcohol-related mortality rate of men in the most disadvantaged socio-economic class is 3.5 times higher than for men in the least disadvantaged class, while for women the figure is 5.7 times
• There were 1.2 million alcohol-related hospital admissions in England in the year 2011/12, a 135% increase since 2002/03
• Hospital admissions for people under 30 with alcohol-related liver disease has increased in England by 117%. In the North East of England the increase is 400%
• In England in 2011/12 there were 49,456 hospital admissions for alcohol-related liver disease
• Liver disease is the only major cause of mortality and morbidity which is on the increase in England whilst decreasing in other European countries
• Deaths from liver disease in England have reached record levels, rising by 20% in a decade, with alcoholic liver disease accounting for over a third (37%) of all liver disease deaths
• There are an estimated 1.6 million people dependent on alcohol in England
• Only 6.4% of dependent drinkers access treatment
• For every £1 invested in specialist alcohol treatment, £5 is saved on health, welfare and crime costs

Now let’s take a look at that. More specifically let’s take a look at this point:

Alcohol misuse costs England approximately £21bn per year in healthcare, crime and lost productivity costs.

The net price for a pack of 28 Naltrexone Hydrochloride tablets (according to NICE) is £22.34. That’s less than £1 per tablet.  Now look at how much that would save on healthcare, crime and lost productivity in the long run.

Now a look at these points:

• There are an estimated 1.6 million people dependent on alcohol in England
• Only 6.4% of dependent drinkers access treatment
• For every £1 invested in specialist alcohol treatment, £5 is saved on health, welfare and crime costs

So if 6.4% of dependent drinkers were to use The Sinclair Method, 102,400 of them, having £28.34 a month spent on them by the NHS would save £14,510,080 in a month. That works out to £174,120,960 in a year.

Naltrexone used following The Sinclair Method, doesn’t work for everyone (as with all medical treatments, it depends on the individual taking it), but according to the C3 Foundation website, it has a 78% long term success rate compared to most other treatments which claim a 5-15% success rate. I’m sure I don’t need to spell that out to you.  But just in case, here goes:

The Sinclair Method works.

Surely on that basis alone, it is common sense to at least let those who want off the downward spiral of alcohol dependency know that there is another treatment out there.

The problem is that not many people know it’s available. One Little Pill can help spread awareness, but in order to give the documentary the chance to spread awareness, awareness about the documentary needs spreading. Interesting little quandary, no?

So how do we go about persuading TV stations to pick it up? That’s where I’m asking you, my loyal readers, to help spread the word about One Little Pill. I’m looking for ideas and suggestions. Claudia suggested on her Facebook page in a comment to me, that a write-in could be a good idea. Well, if we’re writing in, who are we writing to? Any suggestions? I’ll post them here on my blog and link to them on my twitter.

Claudia has suggested WatchTV and I’m waiting to find out where One Little Pill has been submitted to so we can look at writing into those stations. Anyone know who was part of the FreeBabylon project and can tell me who was written to for that? If so, leave me a comment, I’ll add the details here or in a later blog post.

EDIT: I have been told that Watch, the BBC, and Channel 5 have all turned down One Little Pill. These are the stations we should probably be focusing on. If you have any ideas on who we should write to, please drop it in the comments, with email/postal addresses too. Before I head to LFCC on Friday I’ll try and get a letter template posted.

SECOND EDIT: You can contact Watch by filling out this form
You can contact the BBC by using this form
You can contact Channel 5 by emailing them. The address can be found here

THIRD EDIT: I have two copies of the email template. One in .doc and one in .docx please feel free to use one of them. If you need it in another format, please let me know in the comments.

FOURTH EDIT: I am aware that some people have received emails from one of the stations telling them they haven’t been approached. This is not correct so please keep the emails coming.

The B5 Fandom already helped raise the money to make the documentary, so let’s help raise awareness of the documentary in order to get it shown to those who really need it and their families.