4-Star General-Former U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey Featured At Tacoma Treatment Solutions 5-Year Anniv: Mon. May 24, 11 a.m., 9500 Front Street, Lakewood WA 98499

McCAFFREY ALSO TUES., MAY 25 NOON—RIBBON CUTTING –OPENING NEW CANYON PARK TREATMENT SOLUTIONS, 22026 20^TH AVE. SE, BOTHELL WA 98021, Suite 101

Facilities Confront "The New Heroin", Will Announce 96% Successful Stop of Opiate Abuse within 30 Days Treatment

TACOMA, Wash. and BOTHELL, Wash., May 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Four-Star General and former U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey will be the featured speaker at Tacoma Treatment Solutions' five-year anniversary celebration, Monday, May 24, 11 AM, 9500 Front Street, Lakewood, WA 98449.

On Tuesday, May 25, at noon, Gen. McCaffrey will also speak at the formal opening/ribbon cutting for Canyon Park Treatment Solutions, 22026 20th Ave., SE, Suite 101, Bothell, WA 9802. The facility had been located in Lynnwood.

The facilities are owned by CRC Health Group, the nation's largest provider of behavioral treatment services, with 140 facilities nationwide. Gen. McCaffrey, senior advisor to CRC, is Adjunct Professor at West Point and is a national media expert on international terrorism, national security, and drug policy issues.  

Both facilities have special expertise in treating the explosion of prescription drug abuse.  General McCaffrey called abuse of prescription drug opiates including OxyContin, which has as much as quintupled over the past decade, "The New Heroin." President Obama, in releasing the National Strategy to Reduce Drug Use last week (May 11), asserted that "Prescription drug abuse is the Nation's fastest growing drug problem."  According to The Washington State Department of Health, in 2008 a shocking one-tenth of Washington State 10th graders reported using opiates to get high at some time in their lives. According to the state Attorney General, due to the abundance of prescription medications, drug overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death in Washington State – more die from drug overdoses than car crashes.

McCaffrey commended the facilities' director, Dave Cush, who will emcee the events, for "bringing awareness to the drug crisis and to solutions."  Dr. Barry Karlin, CEO of CRC Health Group, stated that "the expertise at Tacoma and Canyon Park Treatment Solutions is desperately needed to address the drug treatment gap in Washington State." According to HHS last year, in Washington State 516,000 people "need but do not receive treatment" for drug and alcohol abuse.  Nationally, the treatment gap is 24 million.  Gen. McCaffrey said that "treatment solutions are a way to reduce crime, stabilize jobs and families, and restore lives for millions."

At the events, Cush will report some "outstanding outcomes that could be a national model," McCaffrey said.  Last month (April), for patients addicted to opiates seeking treatment including those abusing prescription pain pills, 96% stopped their illegal use of opiates within 30 days of starting treatment with the WA facilities.  In addition, over the past year, for the patient population that entered treatment addicted to multiple substances, such as opiates and cocaine, levels of abuse to the secondary substance dropped 97% during treatment, Cush will announce.

The celebrations at both locations will include national, state, and local public officials, treatment experts, clinicians, families, and alumni.  Media is welcome for coverage and interviews.

Contact: Bob Weiner/Rebecca Vander Linde 301-283-0821/202-306-1200

SOURCE Robert Weiner Associates and CRC Health Group