SAN ANTONIO, June 16, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Texas
and the U.S. drug treatment gap—nearly two million in Texas
and 24 million nationwide who “need but do not receive” drug or
alcohol treatment, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the federal Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS), huge numbers that are not
widely known, will be highlighted at a news conference by national
and local leaders 11 a.m. Thursday, June 23 at San Antonio’s Witte
Museum.
Among the speakers will be Four-Star General (ret) Barry
McCaffrey, the former White House Drug Czar; Harold Owens, the
Senior director of MusiCares, the charity arm of the national
Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Grammy Organization, who is
director of its addiction recovery and treatment services program
and who has helped many famous artists; and Molly Hazlett Simmons,
Miss Texas 2007, whose platform and passion remain drug education,
also National Spokesman for Mothers Against Drug Driving (MADD),
who will tell personal experiences of classmates that have
motivated her.
In addition, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus will
discuss the impact of drug treatment and awareness on reducing
crime. Dr. Walter Root, Co-President of the Bexar County
Psychiatric Association, will announce his medical experiences with
patients utilizing a new FDA-approved monthly treatment as an
alternative to a daily regimen. CRC Health Group, the nation’s
largest behavioral and substance abuse treatment provider, and its
Starlite Recovery Center at Center Point Texas, who is hosting the
San Antonio News Conference, will be represented by CRC CEO Andy
Eckert and COO Jerry Rhodes.
In addition to the Texas and national treatment gaps,
participants at the news conference will discuss the quadrupling of
opiate prescription drug abuse including OxyContin, which General
McCaffrey has called “the new heroin,” an explosion of abuse which
the White
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