Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ...
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Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ...

Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ... Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ...

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GIOcenters for the treatment of heroin addiction, that this ultimateh' overa period of 3'ears might be expanded to 30,Our experience in Georgia has been that heroin addicts are not goingto leave tJieir own habitat, their own commmiities, to travel to any distantpoint for concerted treatment for heroin addiction, even acrossa city where it requires a bus ride or the hiring of a taxicab to go fortiio daily treatment required.We also asked them if they would be willing to give us records toinform us when a heroin addict was being discharged to take his placewithin one of the Georgia communities. General Tabor said that hewished this could be the case, but he did not have any reason to assumethat the military forces would give me as Governor or the head of ourdrug treatment pi'ogram any information about a discharged servicemanw^ho did have this affliction, I pointed out to him that this shouldbe parallel to a man who has tuberculosis or a more serious disease andthat Ave ought to be able to know the identity of a returned servicemanwho still had the heroin addiction so we could care for him, offer himservice, and observe his operations.Dr. Bourne, behind me, just recently had one of the armed servicesveterans tell him that he was personally responsible for 50 additionaladdicts having acquired the heroin addiction in order to finance hisown addiction within the city of Atlanta.I am concerned that the Military Establishment will shirk thisresponsibility and that no Federal agency vrill assume it for them. Weunderstand that the typical heroin addict in the military is not A'erydifferent from his counterpart in civilian life. He did not finish h'"hschool, he comes from, a broken home, and there is a good chance helikelihood, he is a draftee, andis a member of a minority group. In allno one would argue that treating his habit is essential to the militarymission. When he returns to civilian life, he will find himself on thestreet with little chance of landing a good job. In short, he is powerless,and it is not hard to suspect that the Armed Forces would be happy toquietly svreep him under the rug. or into the hands of civilian agencies.The Armed Forces and the Federal Government should not beallowed to discharge their responsibility for heroin addiction by simplyretaining an addict on active duty for an additional 21 davs of treatment.There is no 21-day cure for heroin addiction, and it is dishonestto lead the Ajnerican public to believe this. To the Vietnam vetei-anwho is retained, and to the civilian agencies that must eventually providehim services. 4 short weeks of extra treatment by the military isa cynical joke.If the iVrmed Forces take seriously their responsibility for treatmentof their heroin addicts, then I am

:'611required to treat heroin addiction among returning servicemen. Ihope that we will be able in Georgia to arrange for contracts betweenthe Veterans' Administration and those civilian programs which willcomplement VA programs. The Veterans' Administration might, forexample, contract with Georgia's statewide program to operate storefronttreatment centers in cities where military bases are located. Orthe Veterans' Administration might seek epidemiological advice fromthe U.S. Public Health Service's National Center for Disease Control,located in Atlanta.We also asked General Tabor if it would be possible to have youngdraftee doctors work part time, after hours, even with pay, with theState agency to help us control drug addiction in communities nearmilitary bases. He was very discouraging in his answer and thoughtthat the Surgeon General would not be willing for these young men,who often work 8 hours or less per day in military service, to help usin these communities. We would hope that this could be arranged.A simple solution ma^^ be joint financing of our overall drug addictionprogram for Georgia, which will cost from $4 million to $7million annually—a cost which; we cannot afford and which has not"been budgeted.At the Democratic Governors' Conference in Omaha last weekend,I discussed heroin addiction with other Governors and particularlysouthern Governors. They and I believe that the heroin addictionpi-oblem offers important opportunities for regional cooperation, suchas centralizing laboratory facilities and record systems. At the presenttime in Georgia, private laboratories cost $5 to $6 per urine sample tohave tests made for controlling heroin use. I understand this can bedone for about $1 and we would be happy to see a laboratory establishedin Atlanta or perhaps a recordkeeping system established inAtlanta to serve Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and other surroundingStates. I expect to set a date in the near future for a meetingof southern Governors in Atlanta to which representatives of theWhite House, the Pentagon, and successful drug treatment programswould be invited. We passed a resolution out there in Omaha expressingour concern about the inadequacy of the administration'sprogramBecause of inaction of the present administration, drag abuse now menaces thehealth and life of an alarming number of American private citizens and servicemen,and is a major cause of violent crime. The National Government mustutilize the instruments of foreign policy to cut off the supply lines of illicit drugtraffic, support research which will yield a better understanding of the consequencesof drug use, stimulate an intensive educational program that will reachall of the Nation's communities, provide more significant funding for the treatmentof those who are drug dependent, and enforce effectively Federal lawsagainst domestic criminal elements engaged in the drug traffic. The recent proposalsof the Nixon administration, which come tragically late, fall far short ofachieving any of the above objectives.'We absolutely must have an adequate Federal program to help usnow to meet this critical problem. We Georgians are ready to move ona well-coordinated State and regional plan as soon as Federal financialassistance and cooperation of the Department of Defense and otherFederal agencies is available. We now have available some OEO fmids.We would hope that they \YOuld be coordinated with an overall Stateplan.

GIOcenters for the <strong>treatment</strong> of heroin addiction, that this ultimateh' overa period of 3'ears might be exp<strong>and</strong>ed to 30,Our experience in Georgia has been that heroin addicts are not goingto leave tJieir own habitat, their own commmiities, to travel to any distantpoint for concerted <strong>treatment</strong> for heroin addiction, even acrossa city where it requires a bus ride or the hiring of a taxicab to go fortiio daily <strong>treatment</strong> required.We also asked them if they would be willing to give us records toinform us when a heroin addict was being discharged to take his placewithin one of the Georgia communities. General Tabor said that hewished this could be the case, but he did not have any reason to assumethat the military forces would give me as Governor or the head of ourdrug <strong>treatment</strong> pi'ogram any information about a discharged servicemanw^ho did have this affliction, I pointed out to him that this shouldbe parallel to a man who has tuberculosis or a more serious disease <strong>and</strong>that Ave ought to be able to know the identity of a returned servicemanwho still had the heroin addiction so we could care for him, offer himservice, <strong>and</strong> observe his operations.Dr. Bourne, behind me, just recently had one of the armed servicesveterans tell him that he was personally responsible for 50 additionaladdicts having acquired the heroin addiction in order to finance hisown addiction within the city of Atlanta.I am concerned that the Military Establishment will shirk thisresponsibility <strong>and</strong> that no Federal agency vrill assume it for them. Weunderst<strong>and</strong> that the typical heroin addict in the military is not A'erydifferent from his counterpart in civilian life. He did not finish h'"hschool, he comes from, a broken home, <strong>and</strong> there is a good chance helikelihood, he is a draftee, <strong>and</strong>is a member of a minority group. In allno one would argue that treating his habit is essential to the militarymission. When he returns to civilian life, he will find himself on thestreet with little chance of l<strong>and</strong>ing a good job. In short, he is powerless,<strong>and</strong> it is not hard to suspect that the Armed Forces would be happy toquietly svreep him under the rug. or into the h<strong>and</strong>s of civilian agencies.The Armed Forces <strong>and</strong> the Federal Government should not beallowed to discharge their responsibility for heroin addiction by simplyretaining an addict on active duty for an additional 21 davs of <strong>treatment</strong>.There is no 21-day cure for heroin addiction, <strong>and</strong> it is dishonestto lead the Ajnerican public to believe this. To the Vietnam vetei-anwho is retained, <strong>and</strong> to the civilian agencies that must eventually providehim services. 4 short weeks of extra <strong>treatment</strong> by the military isa cynical joke.If the iVrmed Forces take seriously their responsibility for <strong>treatment</strong>of their heroin addicts, then I am

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