Most local experts agree that adult drinkers have plenty of options. While young people have probably always drunk, the ramifications of alcohol use car accidents, health risks and addiction, for example have gotten worse, experts claim. Educational programs through schools and churches teach kids the dangers associated with alcohol use. We have counseling services, activities and mentor programs in schools. That is, if there's room.
Many times existing centers are so full there's a six-month waiting list just to get a bed.
And the cost is high. It hasn't always been that way. In the early '90s, Health Quest, an inpatient residential care home in Red Bluff, served only children. But that center, which served much of Northern California, closed about seven years ago because of poor reimbursement from insurance providers and deteriorating building conditions, St. Elizabeth Community Hospital officials said. The lack of a treatment center isn't due so much to a denial of a problem.