POLITICAL BATTLE FACES SUBSTANCE ABUSE PANEL

Politics could get in the way when the Legislature considers a task force's
recommendations on how to fight drug and alcohol abuse in Oklahoma, the
House Mental Health Committee chairman said Wednesday.

Committee members reviewed 13 recommendations of the Governor's Blue Ribbon
Task Force on Substance Abuse. The recommendations were made to prevent and
treat alcohol and drug abuse that the task force said costs taxpayers more
than $1.8 billion a year in health care, public safety and other costs in
1996.

The task force reports state substance abuse funding has been fragmented,
and that the full force of prevention and treatment dollars has not been
brought to bear on the problem.

"Simply to lock them up is not the solution," said the Rev. Bill Crowell,
task force chairman.

The panel recommended lawmakers prohibit the sale of cold beer for
off-premises consumption.

Committee Chairman Rep. Joe Eddins, D-Vinita, said the proposal would be
fairly simple to enact but will be unpopular politically.

"The cold-beer-to-go deal is a simple thing to do -- not politically,"
Eddins said.

Crowell also said the panel favors ending beer sales at midnight or earlier.

Another plan, creating a substance abuse agency, would be difficult to get
through the Legislature even if there were no political opposition, Eddins
said. The proposed agency would consolidate Oklahoma's drug and alcohol
prevention and treatment programs operated by the state Education and
Mental Health departments and other agencies, the task force said.

If the agency is not created, the panel recommended the state Mental Health
Board be expanded from seven to 10 members, and that the three new members
be drawn from the substance abuse treatment field.

Another proposal would reduce the legal definition of intoxication in
Oklahoma from a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.10 percent to 0.08.