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Phoenix House Medical Director Calls for Enhanced Medical Training, Expanded Treatment Services to Combat Teen Prescription Drug Abuse

Most Doctors Unable to Diagnose Addiction, Horton Testifies at Assembly Hearing

New York , NY, January 17, 2006 -- Testifying before two New York State Assembly committees, Terry Horton, M.D., Medical Director of Phoenix House, last week called for improved medical training and expanded treatment services in New York to help combat the growing problem of prescription drug abuse.

“As doctors prescribe medications to their patients, they must understand both the medicine’s potential for abuse as well as the ways in which the symptoms of abuse might manifest themselves,” said Dr. Horton, who oversees substance abuse treatment and medical services for more than 2200 individuals in Phoenix House programs throughout New York. “Yet while we know that addiction is a potential side effect of a wide array of medications, most doctors are unable to diagnose it and even when they do, are not well-informed about the proper course of action to take.”

Dr. Horton, who also directs Phoenix House’s innovative First Step buprenorphine detox program in Long Island City, pointed to a novel partnership between Phoenix House and Weill Medical College of Cornell University as the kind of program that should be more widely available to medical students and residents.

“We bring medical students together with individuals in treatment, allowing the future doctors to learn first-hand about addiction – not only about its physical manifestations but about the denials, deceptions, and evasions they can expect to see when treating an addicted patient,” he said. “The result has been a rich experience for the students, who come away not only with a better understanding of addiction itself but also with a better understanding of why addiction qualifies as a chronic disease, the control of which is out of the hands of the addict, at least until they enter treatment.”

He said that the state could help expand training by either funding programs directly, commissioning studies of their effectiveness, or establishing statewide guidelines for training programs.

Testifying at the joint hearing of two Assembly committees – the Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse and the Committee on Health – Dr. Horton reminded legislators that treatment aimed at adolescents has been proven effective and asked them to do more to increase treatment availability.

“At Phoenix House, we operate several programs, inpatient and outpatient, that are especially devoted to teens,” said Dr. Horton. “Our signature residential model for teens, the Phoenix Academy, has been proven effective by the RAND Corporation and was recently named a model program by the federal Office of Juvenile Justice . We know, however, that there is a severe shortage of treatment for teens throughout the country. We are fortunate that in New York, the situation is not quite so stark. No state has been more generous in supporting treatment services. But more can be done to bring services to every New Yorker who needs them.”

Phoenix House is the nation’s largest non-profit provider of substance abuse treatment and prevention services, operating nearly 100 programs in nine states.  Phoenix House has served communities in New York since 1967, helping thousands to overcome the problems associated with substance abuse and lead healthy, productive and rewarding lives. More than 2,000 adults and teenagers receive treatment each day through more than 20 Phoenix House programs in New York City, upstate New York, and Long Island.