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Alaska Substance Abuse News
Alaska Governor signs five Interior bills

Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski signed five bills penned by Alaska Interior legislators into law Wednesday, including a measure introduced by Alaska Rep. Jim Holm, R-Fairbanks, Alaska to create guidelines for the cleanup of illegal meth labs. Holm's measure requires Alaska law enforcement to post signs warning of the danger of entering a property that was used as a drug lab. Among its many provisions, it also creates guidelines for when such a property can be occupied, sold, rented or leased and mandates testing procedures and standards to see whether a property is livable.

Alaska property owners would be allowed to go after the tenants responsible in order to pay for the cleanup, but otherwise would have to foot the bill themselves.

Holm's bill was actually introduced last year by Anchorage, Alaska Democratic Sen. Gretchen Guess, then a member of the Alaska state House. It passed the House but the Senate ran out of time at the end of the session before it could vote on it. Holm reintroduced the bill this year and it passed unanimously in both the House and Senate.

Another Holm bill, House Bill 250, was also signed into Alaska law Wednesday. The bill changes provisions regarding the procedures undertaken to settle claims filed by contractors with Alaska. It establishes timelines for the Alaska state procurement officer to make a decision regarding a contract dispute, requires arbitration to settle contract disputes under $250,000 and awards attorney fees and costs to the prevailing party. The bill passed both the House and Senate unanimously.

A pair of bills introduced by Sen. Ralph Seekins, R-Fairbanks, Alaska were also ratified by Murkowski on Wednesday. Senate Bill 198 precludes a peace officer or firefighter from suing for damages suffered while on duty, unless the damages are based on an act unrelated to the fire or other event the person was called out on. The bill unanimously passed both the Alaska House and Senate.

Senate Bill 87 rewrites Alaska's Uniform Principal and Income Act. The 13-page bill creates procedures for trustees administering an estate to separate principal from income, and alters Alaska's trust investment law to work with more modern investment approaches. The bill passed both houses unanimously.

Murkowski also ratified House Bill 120, introduced by House Majority Leader John Coghill, R-North Pole. The bill exempts extended service contracts and warranty extensions--such as those sold by department stores--from being regulated as insurance.

The bill differentiates between a warranty extension, which guarantees the operation of an item due to normal usage, and insurance, which covers an item from external damage. The bill passed the House 34-0 and the Senate 19-1.

Alaska Treatment Facts

During 2000, of the 5,563 individuals entering substance abuse treatment in Alaska, 341 were for cocaine .
During 2000, of the 5,563 individuals entering substance abuse treatment in Alaska, 524 were for marijuana .
During 2000, of the 5,563 individuals entering substance abuse treatment in Alaska, 31 were for heroin .
During 2000, of the 5,563 individuals entering substance abuse treatment in Alaska, 53 were for meth .

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If you or someone you care for has a substance abuse problem and needs treatment, it is important to know that no single treatment approach is appropriate for all individuals. Finding the right substance abuse treatment program involves careful consideration of such things as the setting, length of care, philosophical approach and your or your loved one's needs.

Effective treatment must attend to the multiple needs of the individual, not just the drug use.
Remaining in substance abuse treatment for an adequate period of time is critical for treatment effectiveness and positive change.
Each person is different and the amount of time in treatment will depend on his or her problems and needs. Research shows that for most individuals, the beginning of improvement begins at about 3 months into treatment. After this time, there is usually further progress toward recovery.
Counseling (individual and/or group) and other behavioral therapies are critical components of effective treatment.
In treatment, individuals look at issues of motivation, build skills to resist drug use, replace drug-using activities with constructive and rewarding behaviors, and improve problem-solving skills. Behavioral therapy also facilitates interpersonal relationships and the individual's ability to function in the home and community.
Detoxification is only the first stage of substance abuse treatment and by itself does little to change long-term drug use.
Detoxification safely manages the acute physical symptoms of withdrawal associated with stopping substance use. While detoxification alone is rarely sufficient to help addicts achieve long-term abstinence, for some individuals it is a strongly indicated precursor to effective drug addiction treatment.
Strong motivation can facilitate the treatment process. Support from family and friends can increase significantly both treatment entry and retention rates and the success of drug treatment interventions.
It is important to match treatment settings, interventions, and services to each individual's particular problems and needs. This is critical to his or her ultimate success in returning to healthy functioning in the family, school, work and society.

Patients who stay in substance abuse treatment longer than 3 months usually have better outcomes than those who stay less time. Patients who go through medically assisted withdrawal to minimize discomfort but do not receive any further treatment, perform about the same in terms of their substance use as those who were never treated. Over the last 25 years, studies have shown that treatment works to reduce drug intake and crimes committed by drug-dependent people. Researchers also have found that drug abusers who have been through treatment are more likely to have jobs.

The ultimate goal of all substance abuse treatment is to enable the individual to achieve lasting abstinence. The immediate goals are to reduce drug use, improve the patient's ability to function, and minimize the medical and social complications of drug abuse. Nearly all addicted individuals believe in the beginning that they can stop using drugs on their own, and most try to stop without treatment. However, most of these attempts result in failure to achieve long-term abstinence. Research has shown that long-term substance abuse results in significant changes in brain function that persist long after the individual stops using drugs. These drug-induced changes in brain function may have many behavioral consequences including the compulsion to use drugs despite adverse consequences, the defining characteristic of addiction.

Understanding that addiction has such an important biological component may help explain an individual's difficulty in achieving and maintaining abstinence without treatment. Psychological stress from work or family problems, social cues (such as meeting individuals from one's drug-using past), or the environment (such as encountering streets, objects, or even smells associated with substance abuse) can interact with biological factors to hinder attainment of sustained abstinence and make relapse more likely. Research studies indicate that even the most severely addicted individuals can participate actively in treatment and that active participation is essential to good outcomes.

Alaska Facts

Outsiders first discovered Alaska in 1741 when Danish explorer Vitus Jonassen Bering sighted it on a voyage from Siberia.

Russian whalers and fur traders on Kodiak Island established the first settlement in Alaska in 1784.

In 1867 United States Secretary of State William H. Seward offered Russia $7,200,000, or two cents per acre, for Alaska.

On October 18, 1867 Alaska officially became the property of the United States. Many Americans called the purchase "Seward's Folly."

Alaska officially became the 49th state on January 3, 1959.