RECOVERY MONTH RECOGNIZED

LAKE COUNTY - September is National Alcohol and Drug Addiction
Recovery Month, and a proclamation today by the county Board of
Supervisors will usher it in for Lake County.

The proclamation states that 22.2 million people in the U.S. have
suffered from substance abuse in the past year.

"The problem here is immense," said Lori Carter-Runyon, executive
director Hilltop Recovery, a non-profit, 65-bed, licensed and
certified residential treatment facility on Cobb Mountain for men.

Carter-Runyon said she's been in the recovery field for nine years,
and is in she speaks from experience as she is in recovery.

Hilltop has about nine beds available and about 70 percent of its
residents are from Lake County, said Carter-Runyon. It serves Lake
County parolees who need to be rehabilitated back into the community,
referrals from other agencies and those who self-refer.

"My personal opinion is that marijuana cards are an extreme problem.
Anybody can get a card whether they need it or not, and it creates
legalized drug use. Marijuana is a gateway drug," said
Carter-Runyon.

According to the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs,
methamphetamine became the primary drug of abuse in the state for all
treatment admissions in California, exceeding admissions for alcohol
treatment.

A 2006 report from the Lake County Narcotic Task Force reveals that
felony drug arrests lead other types of arrest by 47 percent.
Misdemeanor drug arrests come in second at 40 percent. Other types of
criminal misdemeanors comprise nine percent of arrests; felony
criminal arrests were reported at four percent.

"Substance abuse tears lives apart, tears families apart, and I think
the war against illegal narcotics is one worth fighting," said Lake
County Sheriff Rodney Mitchell.

He chairs the steering committee for the Lake County Narcotics Task
Force, which also includes the two cities' chiefs of police, a
California Highway Patrol commander and a senior special Department of
Justice agent out of San Francisco.

The theme of the 17 th annual observance of "Recovery Month" is "Join
the Voices for Recovery: Saving Lives, Saving Dollars."

"Substance abuse is the root cause of a myriad of health problems - it
causes tens of thousands of deaths each year, and untreated addiction
takes an enormous economic toll - an estimated $294 billion annually,"
said Laura Solis, administrator of Alcohol and other Drug Services,
which is a division of Lake County Mental Health.