[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 156 (Tuesday, October 16, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2154-E2155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 COMMEMORATING PHOENIX HOUSE'S 40 YEARS OF COMMITMENT TO SERVING THOSE 
             STRUGGLING WITH ADDICTION AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 16, 2007

  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend 
Phoenix House, an honorable organization that has been an outstanding 
member of my community and many other communities nationwide for 40 
years. The praise is well-deserved, and I am proud to recognize its 
invaluable service to our country.
  Phoenix House is a provider of substance abuse treatment and 
prevention services operating in nine states across the country. In my 
district alone, it provides critical services to nearly 600 people each 
year. Phoenix House utilizes an approach based on mutual support and 
success through community. Today, we celebrate Phoenix House's 40 years 
of commitment to and success in serving those struggling with addiction 
and substance abuse.
  Six heroin addicts started the Phoenix House in 1967 when they came 
together at a dextoxification program at a New York hospital. Today, it 
is the nation's leading nonprofit substance abuse treatment and 
prevention agency--operating more than 100 programs in New York, 
California, Texas, Florida, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, 
Maine, and Vermont.
  Over the years, Phoenix House has treated approximately 150,000 
substance abusers and currently cares for nearly 6,000 men, women, and 
teens each day. Phoenix House operates more than 100 programs including 
residential centers for adults, as well as outpatient, and prison 
programs--at close to 120 locations in nine states. It also provides 
education and prevention programs, with in-school and after-school 
programs that reach more then 30,000 young people every year.
  Moreover, for more than two decades, Phoenix House has operated the 
Phoenix Academies, where teens can make up schooling lost to drugs and 
recapture opportunities for higher education and careers. As a result, 
thousands of at-risk youth every year are given the tools and support 
they need to leave drug abuse behind and become contributing members of 
their communities. There are now eleven Phoenix Academies operating in 
seven states, and they were designated by the U.S. Department of 
Justice as a ``model program'' in 2005.
  A 2004 study by RAND Corporation, a respected research organization, 
found that adolescents treated at a Phoenix House Academy demonstrated 
substantial reductions in drug use and unlawful behavior and 
improvement in psychological status--and that the Academy outperformed 
other juvenile programs in achieving these objectives.
  Phoenix House is also the leading research organization among 
treatment providers. Its expanding research agenda reflects the broad 
array of services it provides; its growing number of research partners; 
and the historic imperative of Phoenix House to improve, refine, and 
innovate to make its services better, stronger, less costly, more 
accessible, and more predictably effective. I believe that those are 
objectives that all of us, as a Congress, can support.
  Phoenix House was recently featured in an HBO documentary series 
titled Addiction. The project is one of the most ambitious efforts ever 
undertaken to educate the American public about drug addiction as well 
as recent advancements in treatment. Addiction aired on HBO in March, 
April, and May of 2007. I am honored to join Phoenix House in 
celebrating its 40 year commitment to fighting the war on drugs. I want 
to thank Phoenix House for the lives it has touched and its leadership 
in battling this harmful addiction that affects every family.

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