Pubdate: Fri, 18 Mar 2016
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2016 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82
Author: Leonor Vivanco

DRUG ISSUE SIZABLE FOR JUVENILE OFFENDERS

Study Drives Home Need for Substance Counseling Services

More than 90 percent of males and nearly 80 percent of females who 
went through Cook County's juvenile detention center were diagnosed 
with drug or alcohol abuse and dependency at some point in their 
lives from childhood through their 20s and 30s, according to newly 
released findings from a Northwestern Medicine study.

The study, published Thursday in the American Journal of Public 
Health, looked at 1,829 youths detained at Cook County's Juvenile 
Temporary Detention Center between 1995 and 1998 and followed up with 
them at least nine times over 12 years. According to the findings, by 
the time the group members reached their late 20s and, for the older 
participants, their early 30s, more than 9 in 10 males and more than 
3 in 4 females were diagnosed with a "substance use disorder," 
meaning they abused and were dependent on substances ranging from 
alcohol and marijuana to cocaine and opiates.

"This points to an opportunity that if we had funds and resources to 
put toward preventive intervention and services during the 
correctional phase and care after people have been released from the 
system, that can really reach a sizable portion of people in need," 
said lead author Leah Welty, associate professor in preventive 
medicine and psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern 
University's Feinberg School of Medicine. "Detention can be this 
place to intervene with preventive efforts to try to prevent 
subsequent development of substance abuse and dependence."

Over the course of 12 years, nearly 100 participants have died, 
mostly from homicide, some returned to the community and were not 
incarcerated again, while others cycled through the justice system, Welty said.

The median age of those who were the subject of the study at the time 
it started was 15. At the conclusion of the study, the median age was 28.

The males in the study were more likely to have had a problem with 
marijuana and alcohol than the females, and the females were more 
likely to have had cocaine, opiate, amphetamine and sedative 
dependency in their lifetime, she said.

The study found racial disparities. Non-Hispanic white youths were 
much more likely to have a cocaine-use disorder than 
African-Americans. Non-Hispanic white youths were 30 times more 
likely to abuse cocaine and Hispanic youths had more than 20 times 
the odds compared with African-Americans.

The study underscores the need for substance abuse services 
nationwide, said senior author Linda Teplin, professor of psychiatry 
and behavioral science at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

The study did not look at the reasons behind the juveniles ending up 
in the detention center, which on average lasted about two weeks, Teplin said.

The Juvenile Temporary Detention Center provides preventive substance 
abuse services and treatment to its residents, according to Pat 
Milhizer, spokesman for the Chief Judge's Office of the Cook County 
Circuit Court, which oversees the juvenile detention center on 
Chicago's West Side.

Upon entering the center, all youths are assessed on how likely they 
are to use and how severe the use would be, Milhizer said. Nearly all 
youths indicate varying degrees of substance use, he said. While at 
the detention center, all youths with substance abuse issues have 
individual counseling sessions, he said.

Additionally, youths have weekly substance abuse group meetings, 
Milhizer said. Also, the Cook County Juvenile Probation and Court 
Services work with its substance-abuse treatment providers to offer services.

The study's findings illustrate the problem with government not 
investing in prevention and treatment services, said Sara Moscato 
Howe, the chief executive officer of the Illinois Alcoholism and Drug 
Dependence Association. The state has eliminated funding for 
prevention and reduced funding of treatment services by 40 percent 
over the last six fiscal years, she said. "If the state were 
investing in prevention services and more treatment services, we 
would not be necessarily seeing the numbers we are seeing," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom