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32, Problem Statement Per the Region T CCCJ, 1973 Regional Plan, Orange County has one of the most severe drug abuse problems of any county in the state. In this county, drug oriented problems relate to approximately 40% of all major crimes committed. For this reason, this category of drug abuse has been assigned the top priority in Region T (Orange County's CCCJ designation) problem planning and priority. A comprehensive fully integrated effort is necessary in order to solve this very serious problem. The severity of the drug abuse problem in Orange County is indicated below: 1) 2) Orange County's 23 police agencies made a total of 18,002 narcotic arrests in 1973, an increase of .2,223 over the previous year. This represents an increase of 14~. (Figure 3) In 1973 53% of all adult felony cases arrested in the ctunty were for narcotics misuse. 3) Arrests constitute only a small portion of the total drug abuse prnblem. It is estimated that 50-70% of Or~nge County's 1973-1974 High School Students (130,425) will have had some involvement with drug abuse by the time they graduate. The estimate for Junior High School students is 25% and 13% for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students. 4) ~re than 400. secondary school students were suspended and/or expelled during the 1972-73 school year for drug abuse offenses. This is of significance when it is noted that only a small fraction of those involved with drugs are identified. In 1973, 1162 patients from Orange County were admitted to Metropolitan State Hospital for withdrawal or detoxificatton treatment. This number, of course, represents only a fraction of the addict population. It is ~s~imated, for example, that there are 5,000-8,000 heroin users in Orange County. (Source: Orange County Mental Health Department). In Orange County; overall drug abuse is on the rise with marijuana arrests up 23%, opiates up 124%, dangerous drugs down 54%, and arrests for other miscellaneous drug offenses down 1% versus the statistics in 1972. (It should be noted that the decrease in dangerou~ ~rugs and miscellaneous drug offenses can be attributed to the reclassification of drugs by the state in 1972.) Figures 1, la, 2 and 3 6) In Orange'Cbunty'the tota~ adult felony arrest for 1973 was 17,987. 9,575 (53~) of these a{re~ts were for narcotic violations. The Juvenile Felony/misdemeanor arrest total for narcotic violations was 5,462, an increase over 1972 o~ ~6% (4,317 arrests). Figure 2(a) Juvenile drug arrests are also increasing, though not as rapidly as in past years (Figure 2). Unfortunately, actual drug abuse among Juveniles is apparently continuing to soar. County education specialist state that within the public school system of 521 schools with 450,000 students there is a high rate of involvement in drugs. They estimate that 50% to 70% of all high school students will have had some involvement with drugs by graduation. Involvement in Junior -- high school is estimated at 25~. Usage in elementary schools is estimated at 3~ to 7%. During the 1972-73 school year, 400 high school students were suspended and/or expelled for drug abuse offenses.