Pubdate: Sat, 12 Feb 2005
Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY)
Copyright: 2005 The Courier-Journal
Contact:  http://www.courier-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97
Author: Mark Pitsch
Note: Only publishes local LTEs
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

DEMOCRAT WILL OVERSEE STATE FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS

Franklin Woman Supported Fletcher

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Gov. Ernie Fletcher has named the head of Democrats
for Fletcher during the 2003 election to direct his drug-control campaign.

Teresa Barton, Franklin County's judge-executive, said yesterday that,
while she has little background in drug policy, her experiences
qualify her to run the Office of Drug Control Policy.

She cited her administrative experience as judge-executive and said
she is interested in the job as the sister of an alcoholic and
recreational drug user who died in 1989.

"It has really been difficult on my family," a tearful Barton said of
her brother's addictions. "When I think about what it did to our
family the 15 years we had to live with it, someone had to step forward."

She said later it's inconclusive whether substance abuse contributed
to her brother's death.

"You wonder if there's something more you could have done to help them
during their time of need," Barton said. "You beat yourself up for
years thinking if I had been there to help would he still be with us
today."

Barton will start Feb. 16. Fletcher said yesterday he has not decided
who will replace Barton as judge-executive.

Fletcher created the drug-control office in September, following the
recommendation of a 50-member task force that undertook a 20-week
assessment.

Other recommendations included expanding the state's drug courts,
improving treatment programs inside and outside prisons, and raising
Kentucky's 3-cents-a-pack cigarette tax to pay for those and other
measures.

Fletcher said Barton's appointment to the drug-control job wasn't a
political payback for her support during his run for governor. He
noted that she turned down a job in the administration soon after he
took office.

Barton said she has no plans to leave the Democratic Party, and she
said her new job fits in well with core party values "of helping those
who can't help themselves." $1.5 million budget

Since the office was created, officials have begun hiring a staff,
worked behind the scenes to generate support for Senate Bill 63 to
combat methamphetamines, held a drug workshop for the media and met
with commonwealth's attorneys to discuss meth and other drugs, said
Chris Gilligan, a spokesman for the Justice Cabinet, which houses the
drug-control office.

It has a $1.5 million budget for the 2004-06 biennium, he said.

Fletcher has proposed in his budget that the office administer $3.5
million in new spending during the biennium, with $2 million for new
drug courts, $1 million for new drug treatment programs in jails, and
$500,000 for a new drug prevention program in Eastern Kentucky
schools. Coordination needed

Barton said yesterday she sees the drug-control office as coordinating
drug-control strategies in law enforcement, substance abuse treatment
and drug prevention education.

She said the task force made clear that current state and local
efforts, while sometimes successful, lack coordination. Often agencies
don't share resources or successful strategies with others, she said.

She also said one of her jobs will be to evaluate treatment programs
for effectiveness.

Connie Payne, drug court director for the Administrative Office of the
Courts, said that coordination is needed, based on comments from
citizens during the task force's meetings around the state.

"Time after time what we did hear from the people, just regular
citizens, is we need more drug courts, we need more communication and
coordination between people to know who does what," Payne said.

Sheila Shuster, executive director, Kentucky Mental Health Coalition,
said she liked the idea of the drug-control office. She said it needs
to pay attention to substance abusers outside the penal system and to
abusers who have mental health problems.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin