Pubdate: Wed, 20 Sep 2006
Source: Longview News-Journal (TX)
Copyright: 2006sCox Interactive Media
Contact:  http://www.news-journal.com/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1048
Author: Wes Ferguson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

OFFICIAL URGES PREVENTION TREATMENT

Drug Abuse Council Holds Annual Dinner

Substance abuse prevention efforts show a great return on investment, 
and organizations such as the East Texas Council on Alcoholism and 
Drug Abuse must convince their elected officials of that benefit, a 
state health official said Tuesday in Longview.

"The single biggest driver of costs for the state of Texas is 
substance abuse. It's not prisons, highways or schools," said Dave 
Wanser, deputy commissioner for behavioral and community health 
services for the Department of State Health Services.

About 75 percent of children in foster care have a parent with a 
mental health or substance abuse problem, and 56 percent of those 
children also have a substance abuse problem, Wanser said. Nearly 
half of emergency room visits are related to substance abuse, and in 
30 percent of truancies, a child or parent has a substance abuse 
problem, cutting into school attendance revenues.

Wanser said people with substance abuse problems have four places to 
go: a treatment program, doctor's office, mental health program or jail.

"The only one with no waiting list is jail," Wanser said. 
"Undoubtedly, that's where a whole lot of folks end up."

Wanser said his office's initiatives include plans to help families 
of active-duty military personnel and returning veterans to avoid 
drugs, as well as encouraging doctors to screen for substance abuse 
during primary care. He said agencies must put a face on addiction 
and show that people with a substance abuse problem deserve treatment.

"To dismiss it as a willful decision made on one's own and that 
should be punished will never, ever get us toward a healthy 
community," he said.

Wanser spoke during ETCADA's annual dinner meeting at Pinecrest 
Country Club, where Mayor Jay Dean declared September as Alcohol and 
Drug Addiction Recovery Month. ETCADA presented its community service 
award to Carthage Independent School District and named Mary 
Lippencott with the Sabine Valley Center its volunteer of the year.
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