By Chuck Erwin World Capitol Bureay

DRUG TESTS URGED FOR ALL LEGISLATORS

OKLAHOMA CITY—
All members of the Legislature, other elected officials and their staff members should voluntarily submit to drug testing in order to set a good example, the Governor’s Task Force on Substance Abuse said Monday.

That was just one suggestion of the task force, which also included pre-employment and random drug and alcohol testing for state employees and screening those seeking state services for signs of substance abuse.

Types of state services mentioned in the report include welfare, unemployment and mental health.

The report says some states require drug testing for those receiving welfare benefits because surveys have shown that a third or more of welfare recipients are unproductive because of addiction and alcoholism. The task force took no position on testing welfare recipients but strongly recommended drug testing as a condition of probation or parole for those in the criminal justice system.

Several of the recommendations are almost identical to bills that have failed to pass the Legislature in recent years, including one that would prohibit the sale of cold beer for off-premises consumption.

Two failed in the last session of the Legislature—lowering the DUI threshold blood alcohol content to 0.08 from 0.10 and confiscating the vehicles driven by any person convicted of two or more DUI offenses.

A recommendation that the state create a new agency to deal with drug and alcohol abuse and treatment generated a stinging minority report signed by four of the 18 task force members.

The minority report charged some task force members have made formation of a separate drug and alcohol abuse agency their goal for many years.

The minority report said the start-up cost for a drug and alcohol abuse agency at $40 million to $60 million, with annual costs of at least $25 million.

Keating, who said he hasn’t made up his mind on any of the recommendations, denied that the task force was stacked. He said he will consider the positions of the minority and majority members of the task force.

The Department of Mental Health has administered state drug and alcohol treatment for many years.

Keating said the state must do something to solve its problems related to substance abuse.

The Task Force Report said Oklahoma’s substance abuse funds are allocated to 12 separate agencies and 23 different programs.

It said the programs and funds should be consolidated into a single agency. If that isn’t done, then the Oklahoma Mental Health Board should be expanded to 10 members from the present seven, with the three new members having a background in substance abuse.