OFFICIAL URGES PREVENTION TREATMENT

Drug Abuse Council Holds Annual Dinner

Substance abuse prevention efforts show a great return on investment,
and organizations such as the East Texas Council on Alcoholism and
Drug Abuse must convince their elected officials of that benefit, a
state health official said Tuesday in Longview.

"The single biggest driver of costs for the state of Texas is
substance abuse. It's not prisons, highways or schools," said Dave
Wanser, deputy commissioner for behavioral and community health
services for the Department of State Health Services.

About 75 percent of children in foster care have a parent with a
mental health or substance abuse problem, and 56 percent of those
children also have a substance abuse problem, Wanser said. Nearly
half of emergency room visits are related to substance abuse, and in
30 percent of truancies, a child or parent has a substance abuse
problem, cutting into school attendance revenues.

Wanser said people with substance abuse problems have four places to
go: a treatment program, doctor's office, mental health program or jail.

"The only one with no waiting list is jail," Wanser said.
"Undoubtedly, that's where a whole lot of folks end up."

Wanser said his office's initiatives include plans to help families
of active-duty military personnel and returning veterans to avoid
drugs, as well as encouraging doctors to screen for substance abuse
during primary care. He said agencies must put a face on addiction
and show that people with a substance abuse problem deserve treatment.

"To dismiss it as a willful decision made on one's own and that
should be punished will never, ever get us toward a healthy
community," he said.

Wanser spoke during ETCADA's annual dinner meeting at Pinecrest
Country Club, where Mayor Jay Dean declared September as Alcohol and
Drug Addiction Recovery Month. ETCADA presented its community service
award to Carthage Independent School District and named Mary
Lippencott with the Sabine Valley Center its volunteer of the year.