JUVENILE DRUG ABUSE CENTER SET TO OPEN

NORMAN -- A long-awaited 21-bed facility for juveniles addicted with drugs
will open Monday, said Ben Brown, deputy commissioner of drug and substance
abuse. The facility, to serve juveniles statewide, will be the only one
operated by the state, which contracts with private vendors for about 60
more beds. It will be on the campus of Griffin Memorial Hospital in Norman,
which is operated by the state Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Department.

"This is needed so badly," Brown said. "Today, even if your family's a
multimillionaire, there virtually is no treatment available in Oklahoma."

Brown said there is a waiting list for the facility.

Opening such a center has been a priority of Terry Cline, Mental Health
Department director.

The facility is intended to serve juveniles before they get into trouble
with the law.

"There is absolutely a link between substance abuse and juvenile crime,"
Brown said. "It's rare if officials find an adolescent in trouble with the
law who isn't involved in substance abuse."

In the past 10 years in Oklahoma, the number of substance abuse-related
arrests for juveniles has skyrocketed, Brown said.

Nearly 420 adolescents now are housed in three facilities through the
Office of Juvenile Affairs. Brown said about 85 percent of those test as
chemically dependent for substance abuse disorders.

Brown said some of the juveniles going into treatment already will have
been into some kind of trouble with the law, but the idea is to help them
before they get into a pattern of criminal behavior.

Brown said he expects the center's population to be about half male.

"The choice is to send these kids to this center or the only alternative is
the kiddie prison in Union City."

The Legislature appropriated about $350,000 for the Norman center. Brown
said he hopes to obtain about $700,000 from the federal government through
Medicaid.

"If we don't reach these kids now, we will get them in the criminal
system," Brown said.