GEN. MCCAFFREY POINTS –
SEPT. 12 2005
·
Pleased
to be a part of the CRC Team under Dr. Karlin’s leadership and to be with
all the outstanding leaders here today-- Cong.
Mike Honda, CA state drug program Director Kathryn Jett, Mayor Patrick Kwok,
City Councilors, and many other anti-drug leaders.
·
Over the
past three years, use of any illicit drug in the past 30 days (so-called
"current" use) declined 11 percent. Over the past two decades, we
have reduced drug abuse in
·
The private sector has taken giant
steps. CRC Health Group, celebrating a grand
opening of its new national headquarters here in Cupertino today, is as
Dr. Karlin said the country’s largest
substance abuse treatment organization and provides comprehensive residential,
outpatient, behavioral, and online addiction services.
·
Despite
the recent progress, we still face a
crisis. Some 19.5 million Americans
aged 12 and older abused illicit drugs monthly last year, including one of every six teenagers. More than two thirds of prisoners are dependent on or abuse alcohol or drugs. The National
Association of Counties in July found that 58 per cent of law enforcement
officers consider growing abuse of methamphetamine
“a national crisis” – over 12 million teens tried it last year. The "treatment
gap," or number of hard-core addicts who need treatment but do not
receive any, is 3.9 million; and the gap for all abusers not receiving
treatment who need it is perhaps as high as 16 million.
·
With the
·
We cannot
and must not hold back.
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Truly talented
and dedicated national leaders, including Charles Curie, Administrator of
SAMHSA (the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration), Beverly
Watts-Davis, Director of CSAP (Center for Substance Abuse Prevention), Nora
Volkow, MD, Director of NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse), H. Wesley
Clark, Director of CSAP (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment), and Karen
Tandy, Head of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) are committed to solve
our nation's drug problem.
·
To
support these outstanding leaders, federal funding must continue for critical
anti-drug programs.
·
As the National Leader in the field of
substance abuse treatment, CRC’s announcements today are an enormous step
forward:
·
The success
of its online treatment programs,
with twice the completion rate of traditional strategies;
·
New
methods like buprenorphine to
confront the raging OxyContin
epidemic as well as the return of heroin;
·
Behavioral
intervention to curtail the devastating impact of methamphetamine, perhaps the worst drug to confront
·
Aggressive use of the Internet to
provide help to administrators, providers, and clients.
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Dr.
Karlin knows he and his team have my full support and assistance for all they
are working so hard and so well to accomplish in confronting