When Kentucky Juvenile Justice Commissioner Bridget Skaggs Brown was appointed in July, confronting substance abuse among the juvenile population became a priority.  Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher had charged all state agencies with taking a closer look at the issue, so, Brown took it on as one of her first tasks as Commissioner.

"I guess probably the biggest challenge facing us right now is that Gov. Fletcher's major initiative for state government is to address substance abuse," said Brown.  "It's especially important to criminal justice agencies, whether it be police or corrections."

According to Brown, Fletcher has encouraged agencies to take a new approach to this issue and focus on treatment, prevention and education.

"It is a tough issue," Brown said.  "It's a hard issue to deal with and to know exactly which direction you need to go."

To begin to address substance abuse among the juvenile offender population, Brown said the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) will first analyze how it deals with juveniles in its care who have substance abuse issues.  She said the department will focus on both juveniles who use substances recreationally and those who are addicted to drugs or alcohol.

"We're looking at how we have done it in the past," Brown said.  "I think we've done a lot of things for substance abuse in the past, but it's really going to be a major focus for this department [now]."

According to Brown, the DJJ is in the beginning stages of tackling this problem.  She said that the department currently has a large treatment staff, which is a good start.

"A lot of [our treatment staff] are certified counselors for alcohol and chemical dependency," she said.  "We have a lot of people with a lot of expertise on substance abuse and treatment methods."

The DJJ has already reviewed the treatment that it is now offering to juveniles in their care as well as researched different theories on substance abuse treatment.  Additionally, the agency has put together a panel of experts from within DJJ to focus specifically on this problem and to examine different assessment tools.

"[We are] trying to determine, when a kid comes in, what level of treatment and education [is] needed," Brown said.  "That's really you're first step - determining how we are going to assess these kids and then develop a standard for treatment."

But Brown anticipates that there will be challenges along the way in selecting assessment tools and developing treatment standards, especially since, in Kentucky, substance abuse trends differs regionally.

"You have OxyContin in the east [and] meth is a problem in the western part of the state, so you have these local issues," Brown said.  "That's something else that we have to address."

It is also important, she added, to focus on the re-entry process for these kids.

"We have kids that are coming to the facility and then they have to transition back into the community," Brown said.  "How do you go about doing that?"

With the panel in place to debate these kinds of issues and develop effective substance abuse treatment policies and practices, Brown hopes that the DJJ will be able to combat the problem and comply with the governor's initiative.

"We hope to have a timeline for implementation by January 1st," Brown said.  "[But] we're being flexible on that because we realize that it is a massive undertaking."

Despite the broad scope of the project, Brown believes that it is a valuable effort.  In the end, she hopes it will improve treatment for juveniles with substance abuse issues and their chances of success in society.