{"id":5218,"date":"2012-03-15T14:30:55","date_gmt":"2012-03-15T19:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=5218"},"modified":"2012-12-27T13:32:41","modified_gmt":"2012-12-27T19:32:41","slug":"state-of-addiction-cash-strapped-state-rehabs-are-looking-for-a-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/03\/15\/state-of-addiction-cash-strapped-state-rehabs-are-looking-for-a-fix\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Addiction: Cash-Strapped State Rehabs are Looking for a Fix"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bryan_Chan \/ Flickr<\/p>\n<\/div>

Oklahoma was one of the country\u2019s biggest <\/a>abusers of prescription medications last year, news that comes after several years of budget cuts that have reduced state treatment programs.<\/p>

Dramatic TV news coverage can make it look like methamphetamine is Oklahoma\u2019s biggest drug problem. But Terri White, Commissioner of the state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, says that\u2019s never really been the case.<\/p>


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\u201cWhen you look at the number one drug that people identify as their number one issue, it\u2019s still alcohol,\u201d White says. \u201cSo, second behind that, we have marijuana and methamphetamine, which often tie for number two and number three. So, methamphetamine is still a significant issue in our state, as is marijuana use.\u201d<\/p>

And there\u2019s a new culprit quickly making up ground.<\/p>

\u201cBut coming up very quickly and growing everyday is our number four, which is prescription drugs. And so, that is growing at a faster rate,\u201d White says.<\/p>

But battling these issues takes money, and over the last several years, the agency has seen cuts both in both federal block grants and state appropriations. It received more than $87 million for substance abuse in 2008, before the economic crisis. For 2012, that number is closer to $69 million.<\/p>

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\u201c$35 million being ripped out of a system that\u2019s already under funded is really a horrid situation for the State of Oklahoma.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Terri White, Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services<\/h6>

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\u201cThis agency has lost about 35-million dollars over the last four years,\u201d White says. \u201c$35 million being ripped out of a system that\u2019s already under funded is really a horrid situation for the State of Oklahoma.\u201d<\/p>

And White says cuts directly affect the number of people who can be helped by treatment facilities that rely on state funding.<\/p>

\u201cFor example, on any give day already had between 500 and 600 Oklahomans on a waiting list who needed substance abuse treatment, who\u2019d actually made the step to ask for treatment, and every bed in the state was full,\u201d she says. \u201cThat number\u2019s gone now, and instead of being between 500 and 600 on any given day, it\u2019s now between 600 and 900 on any given day.\u201d<\/p>

About 50 of those beds are being occupied by residents of Catalyst Behavior Services in Oklahoma City, an in-patient treatment center that\u2019s often the last resort for those who can\u2019t afford and are unable to receive treatment at a fully private program.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019d been an addict for over a decade,\u201d says Kathleen Beeman, a resident at Catalyst. \u201cI started out using pain medication, opiate pain medication, and it led me to heroin eventually.\u201d<\/p>

Beeman has been at Catalyst for seven months and will be allowed to stay a full year.<\/p>

\u201cMy life was destroyed by it,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I called for days and days to get in here, and there\u2019s a long waiting list to get in here \u2014 to get into any rehab, but I got in and it\u2019s been very helpful to me. I\u2019ve got the tools to stay sober the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>

But Catalyst is providing those tools on a shoestring budget, says Director Mike Covington.<\/p>

\u201cWe get $74 a day per client. That\u2019ll tell you how low that is. That\u2019s really low,\u201d he says. \u201cConsidering all the services we provide and all the salaries. And as cost of living has gone up the last three or four years, with the budget, our payment has not gone up.\u201d<\/p>

With an improving state budget outlook, Commissioner White expects about $6 million more to work with starting next fiscal year. But her agency will still just be playing catch-up.<\/p>

This story is part of “State of Addiction,” a collaborative series with non-profit journalism outfit Oklahoma Watch<\/a>.
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Bryan_Chan \/ Flickr Oklahoma was one of the country\u2019s biggest abusers of prescription medications last year, news that comes after several years of budget cuts that have reduced state treatment programs.Dramatic TV news coverage can make it look like methamphetamine is Oklahoma\u2019s biggest drug problem. But Terri White, Commissioner of the state Department of Mental […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":5285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[334,245,335,38,333,332],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5218"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5218"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5299,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5218\/revisions\/5299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}