TOP NATIONAL ANTI-DRUG LEADERS JOIN GRAND OPENING OF TACOMA/LAKEWOOD 350-PERSON TREATMENT FACILITY, LAUNCH NEW FDA-APPROVED DRUG TO TREAT ADDICTION; “BUPRENORPHINE” COULD REDUCE NATION’S TREATMENT GAP, CLINIC “NATIONAL MODEL”:

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2004, 1:00 PM, “TACOMA TREATMENT SOLUTIONS”,

9500 FRONT STREET, LAKEWOOD/TACOMA, WASHINGTON

4-STAR GEN. BARRY MCCAFFREY, FORMER US DRUG CZAR, AND DR. BARRY KARLIN, CEO OF COUNTRY’S LARGEST TREATMENT PROVIDER, CRC HEALTH, SET TO JOIN STATE, COUNTY, AND LOCAL ANTI-DRUG LEADERS IN ANNOUNCING OPENING & NEW DRUG AT

LAKEWOOD OUTPATIENT FACILITY AS WELL AS VANCOUVER AND LYNNWOOD

(Tacoma, WA) – Top national anti-drug leaders will launch a new treatment for drug addiction at the grand opening of a new 350-person outpatient treatment facility on Tuesday, November 9 at 1PM, Tacoma Treatment Solutions at 9500 Front Street, Lakewood/Tacoma. Four-Star General Barry McCaffrey, the former U.S. National Drug Policy Director and now Distinguished International Security Professor at West Point, and Dr. Barry Karlin, Chairman and CEO of the country’s largest substance abuse treatment provider, CRC Health Group, will join Washington State, Pierce County, and local anti-drug leaders in the Grand Opening of the facility, near completion, and in announcing the provision of buprenorphine, a new anti-opiate treatment now in its infancy nationwide.

The federal Food and Drug Administration approved buprenorphine just last year for outpatient treatment facilities. According to CRC Health Group, which will manage the facility, buprenorphine meets a formerly largely unmet need for persons “in early opioid addictions, for detoxification from opioids, and as the first line medication for individuals not at the chronic stages of an opioid addiction.” It eliminates withdrawal symptoms in contrast to other treatments and can help individuals return to abstinence from drugs. It will be an enormous help to the area and community notably in meeting the needs of persons addicted to the new wave of OxyContin, and painkillers including prescriptions, who might not necessarily need traditional methadone maintenance. Methadone, which the facility will also offer as needed, will be used for more advanced or chronic opiate addictions. For all treatments, the objective will be to restore abusers to safe, productive lives.

According to CRC CEO Barry Karlin, “The treatment gap has existed for decades, and now we have the opportunity to do something concrete to reduce it. There are 19 million regular drug abusers, but only 3 million are receiving treatment. Tacoma Treatment Solutions will be a national model program by offering the very most advanced options to help the area community.” Karlin and McCaffrey will also announce the opening of a clinic in Vancouver by year’s end, making five CRC facilities in Washington State (Federal Way, Lynnwood, Vancouver, Lakewood and Renton…three new clinics this year).

Karlin and McCaffrey will also report on the cutting-edge Washington State online drug treatment program, another “supplement” to tradition treatment that can also reduce the treatment gap, Karlin says, which is enjoying twice the completion rate of traditional drug treatment.

McCaffrey hailed the leadership of Governor Gary Locke, Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen, state Alcohol and Substance Abuse Division Director Ken Stark, and local professionals for taking “powerful steps” to alleviate the drug crisis. “The community and providers, working together, can reduce drug addiction,” said Dr. Karlin and Gen. McCaffrey. - 30 -