By ANDY MARSO

Los Angeles-based actor David Dastmalchian returned to Kansas with a message he said should transcend politics: We can’t give up on people who struggle with substance abuse and mental illness.

Dastmalchian is now a budding Hollywood star, with roles in blockbusters like 2008’s “The Dark Knight” and 2015’s “Ant-Man.” But 15 years ago he was a self-proclaimed “full-time heroin addict” living out of a car near Shawnee Mission Parkway.

Dastmalchian headlined the Kansas Recovery Rally on Friday outside the Statehouse, speaking about his experience getting clean and turning his life around.

“You never give up on the men and women who are suffering from addiction and mental health (problems),” he said. “Within each of them is a human being just like me.”

The rally was sponsored by the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services and various mental health and addiction treatment service providers.

‘More people in need’

Kansas has had one of the lowest rates of drug overdose deaths in the nation in recent years, but abuse of prescription painkillers and methamphetamines are on the rise in the state.

Dulcinea Rakestraw, former president of the Kansas Association of Addiction Professionals, said there are a variety of substance abuse treatment programs in Kansas, funded through a mix of local, state, federal and charitable dollars.

State-funded treatment programs have been largely unable to take on more patients lately, she said.

“The funds for all of those have been very stagnant over the years,” Rakestraw said. “We’ve been very lucky to not be a part of recent budgetary cuts, but certainly rates as well as services have not increased.”

When lawmakers approved state-run casinos in 2007, they also established a Problem Gaming and Addiction Fund that funnels millions of dollars from the casinos to treatment programs every year.

Programs to treat addictions other than gambling were made eligible for money from the fund because research showed that problems like substance abuse increased in areas that added gaming.

But Rakestraw said the casino money — instead of being used to supplement state general fund treatment dollars — has been used as a substitute for those funds, leaving the overall amount available for treating substance abuse largely unchanged.

“There continue to be more people in need of treatment than we’re able to treat,” she said.

The result, she said, is that Kansans who struggle with substance abuse ultimately are costing taxpayers more because of preventable stays in hospitals and prisons. A legislative post audit cost-benefit analysis on drug treatment programs is expected to be released soon.

The rally is important, Rakestraw said, because it renews the commitment to helping more Kansans emulate Dastmalchian’s successful turnaround.

“The important message is that recovery is possible, that treatment works,” she said. “People are able to recover and are able to be contributing members of society that are able to make a big difference. When we put dollars into treatment, then we’re able to have individuals on the other side that are able to contribute to society instead of needing services.”

Quieting the voice

Dastmalchian made that journey over the course of years.

He grew up in Johnson County, in what he described as a loving, solidly middle-class family that kept a history of depression and substance abuse well-hidden.

By his early teens he was experimenting with alcohol and found that getting drunk could quiet a persistent voice in his head telling him “You are alone” — a voice he later recognized as a symptom of depression. By high school he was regularly abusing alcohol and marijuana but still managed to be a good student, a skilled athlete and a promising member of local theater productions.

He credited his teachers and coaches with helping him excel and encouraging him to pursue a career in acting that seemed out of reach for a kid from Kansas.

Dastmalchian earned a scholarship to a prestigious theater school at DePaul University in Chicago. He excelled there as well, even as the voice in his head kept “tapping” at him and he turned to a new drug to quiet it: heroin.

“For certain people, one taste is all it takes,” he said of opiates. “And that’s all it took for me.”

Dastmalchian graduated from DePaul and had opportunities to audition for television roles. But within six months he was living in his car back in Kansas, scamming relatives for money to get his next fix, his life revolving around heroin.

After his family cut him off financially, he spent years shuttling between Kansas City and Chicago, strung out and not working. He walked into a church looking for things to steal and wound up swiping wedding gifts from a couple getting married. He contemplated using a dirty needle to mug a young mother in the park.

All the while, the voice in his head got louder and more persistent.

So one day he took all the heroin he had and tried to overdose. When that didn’t kill him, he went into the bathtub and cut himself.

At that point Dastmalchian had what he calls “a spiritual awakening” in which he saw all of the country “in the palm of God’s hand.”

The vision led him to seek help, starting a years-long recovery process that included stays in a state hospital in Illinois and a treatment facility in Atchison and several relapses.

“My family never gave up on me,” Dastmalchian said. “Nor did all these strangers in the public health hospital I was at. Nor the law enforcement officers who had to transfer me to all these places. All these people didn’t give up on me.”

After he spent five years clean — working as a telemarketer and sweeping out movie theaters — Dastmalchian got back into acting when a friend offered him a part in a theater production.

His resurrected career took off from there.

Dastmalchian’s recovery included writing a screenplay for a movie called “Animals” that mirrored his experience with drug abuse. It was released last year. While doing media interviews for the movie, he went public for the first time about his addiction and recovery.

Before going into the crowd Friday to offer hugs for others going through similar journeys, Dastmalchian talked about the triumphant feeling of getting his life back, which was crystallized in a single moment last year.

His son was newly born. He had just accepted the award for Courage in Storytelling at the 2014 SXSW Film Festival for writing “Animals.” And then he got the call offering him a substantial role in “Ant-Man.”

“This is an extreme example,” Dastmalchian said. “This is an extreme, incredible life moment. But I really feel it’s that incredible for everyone who can get to that place.”

Andy Marso is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback says if Kansas ever faces a zombie apocalypse, he might use a farm combine to mow them down.

Brownback had a short Statehouse ceremony Wednesday to sign a proclamation designating October as “Zombie Preparedness Month.” He told reporters that he and youngest son Mark, a high school student, have discussed how best to dispatch the walking dead.

The governor’s proclamation has the serious purpose of encouraging Kansas residents to prepare themselves for natural disasters and other emergencies.

His event with emergency preparedness officials included an appearance by 15-year-old Valley Falls student Faith Tucking portraying a zombie.

As for destroying zombies, Brownback said he and his son have discussed going to his parents’ farm in Linn County and firing up a combine, assuming they had enough fuel.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An oral history archive of Republican and Democratic legislative leaders is in the works in Kansas.

The Topeka Capital-Journal  reports that former Kansas Sen. Robert Storey is among 10 former Kansas legislators to participate in a pilot project. Storey, now a Topeka attorney, shared his thoughts about the current batch of lawmakers Tuesday at the Capitol. He says they appear to lack the dedication to dig deeply into issues.

Also participating is Rochelle Chronister, the first woman to chair the House budget committee and who was assistant majority leader for three years. She says compromise “is not a dirty word” and “is the way you accomplish things for people.”

The Kansas Humanities Council and Shawnee County Historical Society are sponsoring the project. Interviews are recorded, transcribed and archived.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tim Huelskamp (KS-01) spent many days enjoying the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson. His staff oversaw a Congressional booth throughout the entire Fair. As part of the outreach, constituents were surveyed on four questions. The results closely match the sentiment among the American people that culminated in Speaker John Boehner announcing his resignation,

Huelskamp issued the following statement:

“These survey results match what dozens and dozens of Kansans told me at the Fair: they are frustrated with Washington insiders, whether it be Republican leaders, President Obama or his bureaucrats. Rest assured, I will continue to represent the will of Kansans over the desires of the Washington political elites.”

Survey Results
Should John Boehner be replaced as Speaker of the House?
Total Responses – 328
· Yes – 285 (86.9%)
· No – 43 (13.1)

Should Tim continue to vote to repeal Obamacare?
Total Responses – 341
· Yes – 299 (87.7%)
· No – 42 (12.3%)

Do you think Tim should vote to reduce the EPA budget?
Total Responses – 332
· Yes – 288 (86.7%)
· No – 44 (13.3%)

Should Planned Parenthood receive taxpayer dollars?
Total Responses – 338
· Yes – 49 (14.5%)
· No – 289 (85.5%)

NEOSHO COUNTY – A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just after 3p.m. on Wednesday in Neosho County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Hyundai Elantra driven by Janie Noel, 68, Coffeyville, was eastbound on Kansas 47 Just west of U.S. 59.

The vehicle crossed the centerline and struck axels 4 and 5 on a semi, entered the ditch and rolled on its top.

Noel was transported to Labette Health in Parsons. The semi driver from Chanute was not injured.

They were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

MANHATTAN – Law enforcement authorities in Riley County are investigating a reported aggravated kidnapping.

Police say it took place in the 300 block of North Sunset Avenue in Manhattan on just before 3 p.m. on Tuesday.

Police say they were informed of an incident in the 300 Block of North Sunset Avenue in Manhattan just before 3p.m. on Tuesday involving a 16-year-old male victim.

He was taken in a vehicle and later dropped off near the Sunset Zoo by several unknown males.

The suspects also took the victim’s backpack containing cologne and various binders, according to police.

No additional details have been released.

GREAT BEND -The trial of a central Kansas man charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter after his trailer detached on 10th Street in Great Bend and killed a Reno County couple has been continued for a later date.

The trial for William Baker, Great Bend, on Wednesday morning at the Barton County Courthouse was postponed.

Baker is charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and four traffic infractions.

Prosecutors say 27-year-old Reno County Jail Deputy Shawn Schellenger and his 33-year-old wife, Danielle, died last August when a trailer came loose from a truck Baker was driving.

The trailer, hauling a lawn mower, hit a motorcycle the Schellengers were riding just outside Great Bend. They later died at a Wichita hospital.

By ANDY MARSO

Most Kansans who work for the state are facing increases in their insurance premiums next year, especially if they have their spouse and children on the state employee health plan. As the open enrollment period for 2016 nears, information about employee options published online this week showed hikes of 23 percent and 19 percent for families in the state’s two low-deductible plans and 166 percent and 152 percent for families in the two high-deductible plans.

Laura Calhoun, who works in corrections, said the premium increases will be especially hard to absorb for state workers who haven’t seen many pay raises in the last decade.

Calhoun said she has cut her cable television and carpools to work to save money, but the cost of necessities like water and electricity continues to rise, along with the health care premiums.

“That’s a large increase for a lot of us,” Calhoun said. “How are we going to fit that into (personal) budgets that don’t increase? The numbers don’t lie: I’m basically taking a pay cut to stay working for the state.” The State Employee Health Plan covers workers at public colleges and universities as well as those in state government.

Eligible employees may choose between plans from Aetna and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas.

Both companies offer a “Plan A” with a lower deductible and a “Plan C” that combines a higher deductible with a health savings account. All state employee plans are administered under the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

According to a KDHE presentation posted online, in past years the state employee health plan had used reserve funds to reduce cost increases for members.

But the reserves are approaching their target floor of approximately $59 million, so increased expenses now must be paid through new plan revenue.

Sara Belfry, a spokesperson for KDHE, said in an email that the premium increases were the result of higher premiums to the state and projected growth rates in health care costs.

“The Health Care Commission and its actuary believe reserve funding now is at an appropriate level to maintain the financial stability of the health plan,” Belfry said.

“But the excess funds that had been used to protect state employees from growing costs associated with health are no longer available, resulting in the premium rate increases in the current plan year.”

Expenses rose more than expected last year, due to more demand for health care and higher costs. The major cost drivers included increased use of emergency rooms, inpatient care and physician services, and higher prescription drug costs. Sky-high price tags for new prescription drugs, especially those that treat hepatitis C, are contributing to premium increases across the health insurance industry.

Premium costs for state employees who enroll only themselves, themselves and their children or themselves and their spouse are all increasing some or staying the same in 2016. But the largest increases will be for family plans that cover the state employee, his or her spouse and their children.

Aetna’s low-deductible family plan will go from $212.93 per pay period (every two weeks) to $261.56. The low-deductible plan from BCBS of Kansas will go from $192.15 per pay period to $229.50. The increases are even more dramatic in the high-deductible family plans, with Aetna’s plan going from $49.67 to $132.25 and the BCBS of Kansas plan going from $45.73 to $115.25.

Calhoun said she understands health care costs may be rising but doesn’t think it justifies the increased burden on state workers. She said she does her best to keep her medical costs low, but she and others who work in 24-hour residential facilities like state prisons and hospitals are exposed to a lot of germs and have shifts that sometimes mean they must seek care in emergency rooms because nothing else is open.

 Andy Marso is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.