BILL ON DRUG TREATMENT FOR MINORS IS SENT TO GOVERNOR

AUSTIN - Drug treatment in Texas in past decades presented a tragic picture
for minors, with widespread abuses by parents and the facilities. Then a
spate of recent heroin-related deaths among young people, particularly in
North Texas, underscored the need to treat children who are addicted.
AUSTIN - Drug treatment in Texas in past decades presented a tragic picture
for minors, with widespread abuses by parents and the facilities.

Then a spate of recent heroin-related deaths among young people,
particularly in North Texas, underscored the need to treat children who are
addicted.

Lawmakers seeking common ground on the issue of children's rights vs.
parental power have sent a measure to the governor that they say addresses
both concerns.

Under the bill approved Saturday, minors 16 and older - who currently have
the right to check themselves out of treatment centers - will have to stay
in for up to two months. At that point, parents have to get a court order
to keep the child in longer against his or her will.

In the meantime, a child can request a doctor's exam once every two weeks
to determine whether he or she is well enough to be released. If the doctor
determines that the child can leave, the parents have to get a court order
to keep the child in the facility.

Sens. Mike Moncrief, D-Fort Worth, and Chris Harris, R-Arlington, worked to
include in the bill a protective clause against "abuses by the system
created to protect them," Moncrief said.

Senate Bill 22 was carried by Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, and Rep. Todd
Smith, R-Euless, both from areas that were hit hardest by heroin addiction
in the past five years.

Statewide hearings conducted in the 1980s by Moncrief and Harris uncovered
parents dumping their children into facilities to punish them, and
facilities lying about minors' progress in order to keep them longer and
collect money.

The bill in its original form would have taken away that right again, with
no caveats. But Moncrief wanted to keep the escape option open for young
people.

"We saw the ugly side of this issue back in the day," Moncrief said. "We
just wanted to make sure that, while we give parents the authority to
protect their children, we don't return to the days of yesteryear when we
were dealing with a problem because we had a greedy system."

The original bill was much stronger and more effective, Smith said. He was,
however, pleased that the state had begun to address the problem of
addicted young people who check themselves out of facilities and go right
back to drugs as their parents watch helplessly.

A bill in which "the parent is effectively in control for 60 days, that is
dramatic progress," Smith said.

However, he said, times have changed, and the protections are outdated in
light of reforms in the insurance and health care industry.

"I'm not yet convinced that the due process is necessary under these
circumstances," Smith said.

Karen Brooks