NC TREATMENT CENTERS SEE A SHIFT TO DRUG USE

Alcohol admissions fall; more people are looking for stronger and
quicker highs.

RALEIGH - People who crave the harder, faster highs of cocaine and
prescription painkillers are turning up more often in substance-abuse
treatment in North Carolina as admissions decrease for people
dependent on alcohol, according to new federal data.

The state has gone through a "substantial shift" away from alcohol
treatment toward treating a higher percentage of people for drug
abuse, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration. Another factor in the rising number of drug
admissions is increasing misuse of prescription drugs such as
oxycodone and Percocet, experts said. Abusers of these drugs tend to
fall into three categories, said Flo Stein, a division chief at the
state Department of Health and Human Services who works on mental
illness and substance abuse.

"There are the people seeking something other than heroin when heroin
is not available and there are the people that are being managed for
pain who originally got it by prescription," Stein said.

"But the biggest, fastest growing group are teenagers and young adults
who are using any prescription drugs they can get their hands on."
Wake Forest University addiction expert David Friedman, a professor of
physiology and pharmacology, said substance abusers can gravitate to
harder drugs from alcohol because the brain absorbs and feels the
effect of the former much more quickly.

"Alcohol, you have to take by mouth and it takes a while to kick in,
30 to 60 minutes," Friedman said. "With crack cocaine you get a high
in 10 seconds." The federal report comes as the quasi-governmental
N.C. Institute of Medicine is putting final touches on a long-range
effort to suggest needed changes in the state's substance-abuse
programs to the General Assembly. The Institute of Medicine report
recommends that legislators vote an additional $101 million for
substance abuse services during the next two years. Among other
recommendations, a broad-based task force suggested the state needs
increases in spending on substance-abuse prevention by states and
counties; an increase in taxes on tobacco, beer and wine; more
training for professionals working in the field; and additional drug
courts.

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More Information State statistics

Among the N.C. findings, by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration:

Alcohol-only admissions have declined from more than two in five in 1992 to
fewer than one in five in 2006, the most recent year available.

Drug-only admissions have more than doubled, from 15 percent in 1992 to 35
percent in 2005.

Unmet need for alcohol treatment has generally been below national
rates and in 2005-2006 was among the lowest in the country for all age
groups except those 26 and older.

Rates of unmet need for drug treatment have varied. In 2005-2006, they
were among the highest in the country for those older than 26.