TREATMENT CENTER FOR ADDICTED TEENAGERS OPENS

This area's first state-funded inpatient chemical dependency treatment
center for troubled teens celebrated its grand opening Monday afternoon, but
two weeks after first accepting clients in October the 14-bed center was
full.

"We had clients waiting for us to open," said Pam Goode, director of
The Cavanaugh Center in Bossier City, which currently has eight
adolescents waiting to get in.

And that personifies statistics a state addictions official delivered
Monday morning in Shreveport: Too few Louisianans identified with
addiction problems are getting treatment.

"The picture remains bleak," said Michael Duffy, assistant secretary
for the Office of Addictive Disorders.

He was at the West Shreveport branch of Shreve Memorial Library to
speak to about 40 health professionals, nonprofit organization
representatives and government agency leaders as part of a series of
public forums around the state by the Department of Health and Hospitals.

Duffy said OAD statistics from November 2003 showed 803 adults and
adolescents in Louisiana were waiting daily for 24-hour addiction
care. Other figures:

- -- Of 318,857 adults identified as needing treatment, only 9 percent
were getting treatment.

- -- Of 56,702 adolescents identified, only about 4 percent were getting
help.

- -- Of 74,400 identified with a gambling problem needing treatment,
only 1 percent were in treatment.

Telling someone with a substance problem that they have to wait, Duffy
said, sends a bad message.

"I believe (it's like) we're saying, "Go ahead and drink,'" he
said.

But he's not optimistic that OAD can look to the state for any funding
help in the future.

"It will be a challenge," Duffy said.

However, Duffy said he favors partnering with faith-based
organizations, though "I've taken some criticism in that direction,"
Duffy told the audience in west Shreveport, because some believe
faith-based involvement would lead to less stringent standards of treatment.

However, Duffy emphasized that programs would be licensed using
credentialed staff. He also said he believes Louisiana stands "a very
strong chance of being extremely competitive" for these funds.

Only hours after Duffy's presentation, The Cavanaugh Center had its
ribbon cutting, even though the center began taking clients last fall
at its location on Fullilove Drive in Bossier City.

The Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse of Northwest Louisiana
contracts with the state at about a half-million dollars a year to
operate the facility, which houses 14 teens ages 12 to 17. These are
youths who have been in the juvenile court system and continue to have
"dirty" drug screens and are sent for inpatient treatment by judges or
are placed there by their parents, who pay according to their income,
Goode said.

Treatment lasts 60 to 90 days. Previously, the nearest state
adolescent center for inpatient drug treatment was Pineville, and that
distance diminished the ability of many parents to be involved, Goode
said.

"The more family involvement there is, the better chance they'll have
when they go home," she said.

Goode expects Cavanaugh Center's waiting list to grow.

"People are realizing we are out here," she said, adding too that
"judges in the area are a lot more likely to send a child to treatment
if it's not so far from home."

- -- Times reporter Diane Haag contributed to this report.

Report findings

According to a recent report by Loren Scott and Associates, for each
dollar Louisiana puts into alcohol and drug abuse treatment programs,
it will reduce future expenditures on crime and medical care by
anywhere from $3.69 to $5.19.

To reach The Cavanaugh Center, 1525 Fullilove Drive, Bossier City,
call (318) 550-0131.