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Page 5 of 15 Oregon Faces Growing Meth Addiction in the Young The number of treatment admissions for boys 17 and under has grown steadily in the past five years. It has jumped 57% among girls. Last year more than 1,700 children were treated for methamphetamine abuse in Oregon. More than 1,000 are girls. Oregon treats more people for meth addiction per capita than any other state in the country. By the time teens reach treatment they have lost anything resembling baby fat. They don't eat when they are high, and they have been high for days at a time. They are anxious and sweating, battling body aches, looking confused and sometimes suffering from open sores. Often their teeth are rotting away. Many of them begin using in middle school. ++++++++++ New Federal Law Has Effects in the States The Keeping Children and Families Safe Act intended to protect children who are affected by prenatal exposure to illegal drugs will likely increase the number of children reported to child protective services and raises questions about the child welfare system’s role and responsibility in such cases. This paper describes the new law, provides an overview of existing state reporting laws, discusses the role of CPS, and highlights the importance of prevention. ++++++++++ What You Need to Know About Starting a Student Drug-Testing Program ONDCP (Office of National Drug Control Policy) presents this manual for student drug testing as part of a comprehensive drug and alcohol prevention, intervention, and treatment program. It encourages early intervention to identify nondependent users, through drug resting and other means, then steer them from drugs and into counseling before they come addicted or entice others to use drugs. 35 page pdf file. ++++++++++ Police Chiefs Call for Major Reform in Approach to Drugs and Crime A majority of American police chiefs view drug abuse as their number one problem and see efforts to address it as unsuccessful. Many chiefs, particularly in small towns, report major increases in drug abuse since a similar survey in 1996. From the Major Findings section of the report: Drug abuse continues to be the top law enforcement problem and it has increased in seriousness since 1996. The majority of police chiefs (63%) rate drug abuse as an extremely or quite serious problem in their communities, while only a small minority of chiefs describe the threat of terrorism (17%) and violent crime (18%) in those terms. - Police chiefs (67%) believe overwhelmingly that law enforcement has been unsuccessful in reducing the drug problem.
- Police chiefs call for major changes in the way that law enforcement deals with the drug problem.
- Three out of four chiefs (74%) believe that the resource gap in dealing with drugs is far greater than the resource gap in dealing with any other crime problems they confront, including the threat of terrorism.
The survey was conducted for the Drug Strategies and Police Foundation. 22 page pdf file. ++++++++++ La Bodega de la Familia: Reaching Out to the Forgotten Victims of Substance Abuse This Bureau of Justice Assistance Bulletin discusses the effects of addiction on family: parents, children, siblings, grandparents and La Bodega de la Familia, a drug crisis center in New York which includes addicts’ families in the drug treatment process. The center demonstrates that a supportive family is a drug user’s best hope for recovery. 8 page pdf file. Here’s a synopsis of a table from the report: Drug Addiction’s Devastating Impact on Families:
- Alcohol abuse is the leading cause of family violence.
- Drug abuse is one of the most common factors leading to a child’s entry into the welfare system.
- At least half of the 104,000 drug- and alcohol-involved female inmates in the United States had minor-age children living with them before they entered prison.
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