ONE-STOP PROGRAM TO FIGHT DRUG ABUSE IN POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY

Gov. Frank Keating and a former member of President Carter's Cabinet
announced Tuesday they plan to start a substance abuse program for families
in Pottawatomie County.

The Safe Haven program is designed to combine several state agencies and
services into one location for families dealing with substance abuse,
addiction and the abuse or neglect of children. One hundred families will
participate -- some voluntarily, some by court order.

"For us as Oklahomans ... to be a more productive society we need to
address the issue of substance abuse," Keating said during a news
conference at the state Capitol.

"To do less is to jettison our future."

Keating and Joseph Califano, president of the National Center on Addiction
and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York, said they want to
target substance abuse to help cure social ills such as teen-age pregnancy,
divorce, domestic abuse and school dropouts. Califano served as secretary
of health, education and welfare from 1977 to 1979.

The program will combine substance abuse treatment, parenting classes,
child care, literacy programs, job training, law enforcement, family
courts, and foster and adoption services.

The project will start Oct. 1 and will continue as long as the county,
state and foundations or businesses can pay for it.

Marilyn Thoms, an administrator working with the substance abuse center on
the Safe Haven project, said other counties, including Cleveland, Wagoner,
Stephens, Jefferson and Cotton, have similar programs. But those programs
are not as complete as the Safe Haven project.

She said combining services will make it easier for addicted family members
to get help and achieve their goals of staying clean. She said the
traditional way of offering help is too complex to be effective for many
people.

Califano said the next Safe Haven projects will open in Phoenix and New
York City.

The national center created the Safe Haven programs after a study in 1999
found that substance abuse causes or exacerbates seven out of 10 cases of
child abuse or neglect.