DRUG ABUSE PANEL SEEKS WAYS TO POOL RESOURCES

News staff writer The Alabama Commission for the Prevention and Treatment
of Substance Abuse met for its kick-off meeting Thursday and discussed the
need for the state to pool resources to combat drug abuse.

Gov. Bob Riley created the commission to bring together all state agencies
that deal with substance abuse problems and help them better coordinate
their efforts. The idea behind the commission is to find more efficient
ways to do business rather than spending more money.

"Each year we spend at least $1.2 billion in state funds on treatment,
prevention and other services that address the crime, death and misery
caused by drug and alcohol abuse," Riley said at the breakfast meeting in
Montgomery. "Any problem exacting such a heavy cost on the health and well
being of our citizens demands an organized, coordinated plan that achieves
results."

More than 250,000 Alabamians require substance abuse treatment, and the
state's system can handle fewer than 10 percent of them. The state agencies
on the commission are the Departments of Public Health, Education,
Corrections, Public Safety, Human Resources and Mental Health and Mental
Retardation. The commission grew out of a $200,000 grant by the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation to Mental Health to expand alcohol and drug abuse treatment.