Fresno, CA (Nov. 18, 2008) – A program was launched yesterday that aims to help eliminate Fresno’s drug problem through prevention, intervention, education and make it make it more difficult for teenagers to abuse over-the-counter drugs.

“We at the city of Fresno have decided to stop cursing the darkness and turn on the light, that’s what Drug Free Fresno is al about,” Fresno Mayor Alan Autry said.

The program is made possible with a partnership between Autry, the city of Fresno and addicted.com, the number one addiction Web site in the world, with over 8,000 to 10,000 visitors every day.  It has a database of 65,000 treatment facilities.

“What we’re able to do is bring those resources, bring our contacts down to a local level, to concentrate all those efforts to Fresno,” said Christopher Rawn, chief marketing officer of addicted.com.

Autry said that the focus will be on prescription drugs.  There will be a public works campaign happening from now through the end of the year.  All services may be found online by accessing addicted.com through the city’s Web site, www.fresno.gov.  Drug Free Fresno’s two-pronged approach, Autry said, will be both the hammer, which is punishment, and treatment, which is the hope.

“You must have the hammer for hope to work.  That is the sad fact of drug abuse,” Autry said.

The hammer has definitely been working.  Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said that the Street Narcotics Enforcement Team, made up of a sergeant and six undercover investigators, began in July.  Since then there have been 180 investigations, and 44 narcotics search warrants have been issued, resulting in the arrests of 105 felony suspects, 28 of those being validated gang members.

Fresno Deputy Mayor Jeff Eben said that parents need to communicate with their children better.  He cited a survey saying that three out of five kids that are using drugs are getting them right from their homes.

“We’ve got to be able to have a collective conversation in our own homes, with our own children, about making better choices and about what dangers are out there in the world of drug abuse,” Eben said.

Flindt Andersen of Fresno was addicted to the pain medication Vicodin for over 20 years.  It got to the point where he would take up to 50 pills a day.

“I was not able really to function as a human being any longer, and it just got worse and worse as time went on,” he said.

Andersen said that if he were still struggling, Drug Free Fresno would be able to show him where to get help, but pointed out the need for services for children under 18.

Autry has realized the fact, and said that one of the goals is to have a drug abuse treatment center for youth in Fresno County, along the lines of the Betty Ford Clinic.

Maurice Lee, senior vice president for West Care, a health and healing services organization, thinks that it is possible for such a center.

“His (Autry’s) approach is feasible, because he’s not just taking the law enforcement aspect into consideration, but he has a double-pronged approach with the hope of trying to make sure that treatment services are provided to those who need them,” he said.