Tara Conner

I was 20 in 2006 when I was crowned Miss USA. Few people knew my name and my “Miss USA story." Later that year, millions knew my name because of my real story, the story I didn’t want shared. I became famous as “Mess USA” when my boss — now the president of the United States — tossed me into rehab after I tested positive for cocaine. Rather than strip me of my crown or add to the negative press with a humiliation campaign, Donald Trump surprised me, and shocked the world, when he held a news conference and declared: “Tara is going to be given a second chance.”

It was 10 years ago that I got out of treatment, and I thank him for my 10 years of recovery. I will always be profoundly grateful. He saved my life and, essentially, made me great again. As part of my journey, I have become a vocal advocate for recovery, and today I speak out for the millions who do not have a voice.

There are 22 million Americans who suffer with a substance use disorder. Only one in 10 of them has the opportunity to receive treatment for addiction. My boss set an example for employers to help folks who, like me, would not have been able to otherwise afford treatment or even know how and where to look for help.

Untreated addiction costs the U.S. economy $442 billion a year — twice what is spent on diabetes. Sadly, we lose 350 American lives each day to this domestic crisis, which now steals more youth from us than car accidents or guns. Last November, then-Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released a landmark report, Facing Addiction in America, on alcohol, drugs and health. “How we respond to this crisis is a moral test for America,” he said.

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My life was the perfect storm for addiction. My uncle molested me when I was 3. When I was 14, my parents’ rocky relationship ended in divorce and my grandfather, my protector who gave me unconditional love when no one else would, died.

That same year, on a cheerleading trip to Gatlinburg, Tenn., I was offered vodka from a gallon jug that the girls got from older boys, and I jumped at the chance to fit in. I so desperately needed to feel like I belonged somewhere! I swore off alcohol the next day, but addiction had its claws in me and by later that year, I was addicted to morphine. From that point on, my life became a series of alcohol and drug-induced incidents followed by me trying to cover my tracks and maintain appearances.

Like mine, 90% of all substance use disorders begin before age 18. Our president understands firsthand the life-long damage of addiction and how substance use at a young age creates a destructive cycle into an adulthood of suffering and isolation. He has often courageously spoken publicly about how his brother Freddy lost his battle with alcoholism and died in 1981.

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The president vowed in his speech to Congress that “we will stop the drugs from pouring into our country and poisoning our youth — and we will expand treatment for those who have become so badly addicted.” I am confident he will keep his promises. As is the case with one in every three American households, substance use disorders impacted his own family, and he now has the power to help millions.

Thousands of people have signed Facing Addiction’s letter asking Trump to address the crisis primarily as a public health issue — not to turn back the clock to the failed “drug war” policies of the 1980s. As a businessman first, the facts should guide his strategies to curb this epidemic. And the facts are that every dollar spent on treatment saves $4 in health care costs and $7 in criminal justice, and expanding evidence-based prevention programs in schools has a return on investment of $58 for every $1 spent.

As the president nominates people for vital roles in federal government agencies, including the first ever assistant secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, he should think about who is at the decision-making tables on the most urgent health crisis of our time. If the president wants to make America great again, he should hear the voices of the 23.5 million adults in long-term recovery — my brothers and sisters — and maybe even hire some of them. He should also heed the call for expanding public health services for the 22 million Americans and their families facing addiction.

The president should also know that I am committed to supporting him in any way that I can. It is the least I can do considering what he did for me.

Tara Conner, Miss USA 2006, is a recovery advocate. Follower her on Twitter @taraconner

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