Questions on opiate addiction came in faster than they could be answered during a online video chat Monday.

The chat was the final part of CentralOhio.com's special report, "Prescription to Addiction: Painkillers Fuel Ohio's New Drug Epidemic," which now is available on our Web site along with a replay of the chat.

Orman Hall, executive director of the Fairfield County Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health board, and Dr. Richard Whitney, director of addiction services at Shepherd Hill in Newark, were in the studio to answer reader questions.

The hour-long discussion touched on a number of topics from how to get a loved one into treatment to how Ohio and the nation should prioritize drug-addiction related spending.

Stigma was a recurring topic during the chat. The prevailing public perceptions of prescription drugs as relatively harmless and of addicts as people of weak moral fiber are beliefs that belie the truth, they said.

Whitney said substance abusers have an abnormally exaggerated pleasure response to certain drugs that can hijack the decision-making part of the brain.

"These are not bad, stupid, dumb, weak-willed, immoral individuals," he said. "These are sick people."

Unfortunately, addicts themselves believe their character is somehow flawed, which can hinder the recovery process, Hall added.

The same outpouring of community support you see for diseases such as breast cancer is absent for addiction, Whitney said.

As a society, we also need to reform how we look at recovery, Hall said.

For long-term success, we need to focus more on expanding periods of sobriety and shortening relapses instead of having an absolute standard of abstinence, according to both experts.

"If someone perceives themselves as being a failure because they had a small relapse, than they are going to continue to spiral down," Hall said.

Stigma also affects the political capital elected leaders are willing to expend on funding for treatment vs. halting supply despite what both men said was an obvious savings potential.

Hall pointed to the millions of dollars spent on opiate addicts at the Fairfield County Jail. The U.S. outlays billions in foreign countries trying to stop heroin from reaching the states, Whitney noted.

If more money were spent domestically, addicts not only would be less of a burden on the criminal justice system, but they also would have a greater chance of being productive members of society.

"All of these precious tax dollars would ultimately come back in spades," Whitney said.

Both men urged family and friends of addicts not to give up, but not to give in either. Whitney said the power of "tough love" can be an effective tool of persuasion.

"Before the worst thing can happen ... sometimes a few days living on the street will open somebody's eyes," he said.

Treatment methods and technology are improving as well, the experts said.

Buprenorphine-naloxone, which carries the trade name Suboxone, represents one of the medications currently available to help opiate addicts transition off of heroin or opioid analgesics, such as Vicodin or OxyContin.

Whitney and Hall both advocate the use of Suboxone as part of the recovery process.

Because it is practically impossible to overdose on, Whitney said it's safer than either heroin or prescription opiates.

Hall said because it blocks the opiate receptors in the brain, Suboxone makes using other opiates pointless because there is only a minimal, if any, high.

Whitney said patients have told him repeatedly that "it makes me feel normal, not 'it makes me feel high.'"

Russ Zimmer can be reached at (740) 328-8830 or razimmer@nncogannett.com