Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon's new Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission released its first study Thursday.  As Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, it found Oregon's drug prevention and treatment programs are underfunded and fragmented.

The study is expected to form the basis of some new laws in the next legislative session.

Among the report's main ideas is the creation of a new Alcohol and Drug Policy czar.

It also suggests starting a whole new state prevention program.

Attorney general John Kroger says he toured the DePaul Treatment program in Portland recently: John Kroger: "It literally made me cry. It was the first place these kids had ever had to go to school everyday, to get help with their addiction, and to go to bed at night, and to be safe.  And when I asked the executive director if they have to turn children away. It happens all the time because we just don't have the funding in place and the structures in place to get more kids that kind of help."

Kroger estimates that for every dollar spent on treatment, $5 can be saved by lower crime and healthcare costs. 

About 70 percent of the inmates in Oregon have problems with drugs or alcohol.