DRUGS, ALCOHOL PART OF REPEAT PRISONER PROBLEM

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Substance abuse is involved in 65 percent of the
probation and parole violations in Wyoming, according to a survey by
the state Department of Corrections.

In a study of the state probationers and parolees, the department
discovered that from July 1, 2000, to June 30 of this year, 768
convicts had their parole or probation revoked.

Of those, 55 percent had it revoked entirely for a drug or alcohol
abuse violation. Another 10 percent involved both misdemeanors and
substance abuse, the department said.

The department's study revealed that when convicts first came into the
prison system 84 percent of probationers and parolees used alcohol, 65
percent used marijuana, 30 percent used amphetamines, 19 percent used
cocaine, 10 percent used hallucinogens, and 3 percent used opiates.

Inmates often tested positive for more than one substance, said Steve
Lindly, the administrator for the Division of Field Services.

Drug and alcohol use clearly have a big impact on the number of people
who have their parole or probation revoked, Lindly said.

That, in turn, makes the state prison system's population swell, said
Judy Uphoff, director of the Department of Corrections.

"The revocations really do have a major impact on our prison
population," Uphoff told a legislative subcommittee on substance abuse
and mental health Wednesday.

Lindly said that treating such addictions, through a variety of
programs already set up throughout the state, could slow the growth of
the prison population.

Officials want to focus on six counties - Laramie, Natrona,
Sweetwater, Campbell, Fremont and Sheridan, Lindly said. Sixty percent
of the state's 4,881 offenders under supervision come from those counties.

Lindly said the agency also has discovered that not all treatment
programs use the same standards. The department wants to smooth out
the standards statewide so that people get the same program wherever
they are.