OKLAHOMA CITY- As Jack Turner thumbed through the newspaper, he found story after story with one common factor. The wrinkle in his brow revealed it was a problem he has grown tired of seeing.
The problem:addiction. One solution: education.
The problem is addicts’ behaviors and their consequences, Turner explained.
Turner has been glad to see some progress in the last few years for treating the illness ofaddiction, but noted very little has been done to prevent addiction.
That’s why Turner recently made a $500,000 donation to fund a new program at Oklahoma City University. Turner’s donation will be administered by the Oklahoma United Methodist Foundation and will establish a five-year program in addiction prevention studies at OCU’s Petree College of Arts and Sciences, beginning in the fall of 2011.
OCU Arts andSciences Dean Mark Davies said the university will work toward making the program permanent.
“The addiction prevention studies program gives OCU a greater opportunity to make meaningful contributions within our local community,” Davies said. “The program is an extension of our mission to help students develop into servant leaders. Mr.Turner’s generous contribution will make a positive impact at OCU and in the broader community for years to come.”
Turner, who has served on two governor’s task forces regarding addiction and on the board for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Service, wants to make Oklahomans more aware of how addiction adversely impacts the state’s economy, and most importantly, the lives of thousands of Oklahomans.
“A lot of people don’t realize how critical the problem of addiction is and how many lives it affects,” he said.
Turner said substance abuse problems have cost the state billions of dollars and causedthousands of Oklahoma college students to drop out of school. The findings of a study conducted for the most recent Governor’s Task Force disclosed that the economic impact of drug and alcohol addiction and abuse alone cost the state and its citizens as much as $4.38 billion in 2003 and that each year, more than 6,500 students in Oklahoma colleges and universities drop out of school because of problems related to alcohol addiction and abuse. National studies revealthat as many as 85 percent of those incarcerated are there because of drug and alcohol addiction and abuse.
Turner met several times with OCU arts and sciences Dean Mark Davies and faculty members representing various disciplines to discuss a new program for addiction prevention studies and was impressed with their interest caused by the ever-increasing effect of addiction on students and society.
Turner, a member of Saint Luke’s United Methodist Church, said OCU – a United Methodist university – is charged to follow Christian teachings for helping the sick.
“That’s what the church is called to do and to do anything less than to get involved would be failure,” he said. “There’s a lot of people to help out there.”
To contribute to the new addiction prevention studies program at OCU, contact OCU Development Director Sandy Cotton at (405) 208-5346 or scotton@okcu.edu.
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