GUEST EDITORIAL

By:  Rick Kaysen and Bill Schilling

The alcohol and substance abuse is costly - - to our state, to families, to business. A Columbia University study pegs the price tag at $240 per year for every Wyoming citizen - - $117 million total!

One of the keys to containing these costs is early intervention. That’s the purpose of HB59, a bill currently making its way through the legislature. It’s a comprehensive approach - - perhaps the most comprehensive of any state in the nation. And its pricey, about $25 million for the next two years. The good news is the $25 million could come from Wyoming’s share of the national tobacco settlement.

We hear that there is a methamphetamine problem in Wyoming and that binge drinking among our youth is serious. Here are the facts: Wyoming leads the nation in many categories of alcohol and substance abuse. Youth under 13 have one of the highest use - - abuse - - rates in America. Of all people taking required drug tests in Wyoming last year, 35% were 18 or younger. As many as 85% of the inmates in our prisons have substance abuse problems. Often their crimes, to support their dependencies, led to their arrest and imprisonment, and it costs the citizens of Wyoming $23,000 a year for each person in prison.

Drug dealing is big money. Think about a business that would bring $16 to $24 million a year to the local economy. Sounds great . . . but what would you say, if the "business" was the methamphetamine connection between two Wyoming cities and the West Coast? That happened last year. Our Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation took down this enterprise - - an enterprise that took $16-$24 million from Wyoming and in exchange brought drugs into Wyoming to get young people addicted, tear families apart, lower work place productivity, lower academic achievement and increase theft and crime.

Can you do a cost benefit analysis for the $25 million proposed by HB59 and the Reclaiming Wyoming: A Comprehensive Blueprint for the Prevention, Early Intervention and Treatment of Substance Abuse? We don’t know. What we do know is that something must be done. The Blueprint is based on our many reforms - - in our state prisons, through drug courts, in schools and at the doctor’s office. Based on state data, if Wyoming were able to avert 10 high risk teens or children a year, over a ten year period, we could save $25 to $25 million. Not a bad return on investment. Imagine if it was 100 kids a year $250 million!

Our legislature faces many problems and are asked to set priorities given limited resources. Emotions run high with HB59. If passed, the savings to taxpayers would be enormous, but more important would be the possibility of stopping an endless cycle that hurts all of society.