this is the cbs evening news with scott pelley. dickerson: good evening. scott is off. i m john dickerson. america has an addiction problem, and today in the first report of its kind, surgeon general vivek murthy called for a major shift in the way we treat this. his report says nearly 21 million suffer from substance abuse. it affects more americans than cancer, yet 90% are not getting treatment. the economic impact is more than 440 billion dollars. cbs news dr. tara narula joins us now. tara, do we really know how to define addiction? reporter: the report does a great job of telling us this is a spectrum that ranges from substance misuse all the way to the more severe form of the disorder addiction. it s a call to action for a public health crisis that affects individual, families, society. the number of americans affected by substance abuse disorders is as many americans affected by diabetes, more than 1.5 times the americans affected by cancer, yet we accept a disea
this is the cbs evening news with scott pelley. dickerson: good evening. scott is off. i m john dickerson. america has an addiction problem, and today in the first report of its kind, surgeon general vivek murthy called for a major shift in the way we treat this. his report says nearly 21 million suffer from substance abuse. it affects more americans than cancer, yet 90% are not getting treatment. the economic impact is more than 440 billion dollars. cbs new dr. tara narula joins us now. tara, do we really know how to define addiction? reporter: the report does a great job of telling us this is a spectrum that ranges from substance misuse all the way to the more severe form of the disorder addiction. it s a call to action for a public health crisis that affects individual, families, society. the number of americans affected by substance abuse disorders is as many americans affected by diabetes, more than 1.5 times the americans affected by cancer, yet we accept a diseas
this is the cbs evening news with scott pelley. dickerson: good evening. scott is off. i m john dickerson. america has an addiction problem, and today in the first report of its kind, suron general vivek murthy called for a major shift in the way we treat this. his report says nearly 21 million suffer from substance abuse. it affects more americans than cancer, yet 90% are not getting treatment. the economic impact is more than 440 billion dollars. dr. tara narula joins us now. tara, do we really know how to define addiction? reporter: the report does a great job of telling us this is a spectrum that ranges from substance misuse all the way to the more severe form of the disorder addiction. it s a call to action for a public health crisis that affects individual, families, society. the number of americans affected by substance abuse disorders is as many americans affected by diabetes, more than 1.5 times the americans affected by cancer, yet we accept a diseases? probab
this is the cbs evening news with scott pelley. dickerson: good evening. scott is off. i m john dickerson. america has an addiction problem, and today in the first report of its kind, surgeon general vivek murthy called for a major shift in the way we treat this. his report says nearly 21 million suffer from substance abuse. it affects more americans than cancer, yet 90% are not getting treatment. the economic impact is more than 440 billion dollars. cbs news dr. tara narula joins us now. tara, do we really know how to define addiction? reporter: the report does a great job of telling us this is a spectrum that ranges from substance misuse all the way to the more severe form of the disorder addiction. it s a call to action for a public health crisis that affects individual, families, society. the number of americans affected by substance abuse disorders is as many americans affected by diabetes, more than 1.5 times the americans affected by cancer, yet we accept a disea
dickerson: good evening. scott is off. i m john dickerson. america has an addiction problem, and today in the first report of its kind, surgeon general vivek murthy called for a major shift in the way we treat this. his report says nearly 21 million suffer from substance abuse. it affects more americans than cancer, yet 90% are not getting treatment. the economic impact is more than $440 billion. ne dr. tara narula joins us now. tara, do we really know how to define addiction? reporter: the report does a great job of telling us this is a spectrum that ranges from substance misuse all the way to the more severe form of the disorder addiction. it s a call to action for a public health crisis that affects individual, families, society. the number of americans affected by substance abuse disorders is as many americans affected by diabetes, more than 1.5 times the americans affected by cancer, and yet we accept a probably not. the hope is this will catalyze change, as did the