substance use disorder treatment. joining us in our panel today are dr. h. westley clark, director, center for substance abuse treatment, substance abuse and mental health services administration, u.s. department of health and human services, rockville, maryland. richard cho, director of innovations and research, corporation for supportive housing, new haven, connecticut. robert kershaw, business owner and outreach worker, oxford house, incorporated, silver spring, maryland. dr. jesse b. milby, director, medical psychology, substance abuse and homeless research program, department of psychology, university of alabama at birmingham, birmingham, alabama. dr. clark, when is a person categorized as homeless? well, the most important thing is to recognize that when a person lacks a permanent, fixed residence, they meet the category of homeless. now, there are a number of temporary arrangements that people have; for instance, it's estimated that roughly 1.6 million people are living in transitional or shelters, and they also meet the definition of homeless. so it's-we're looking for people who have permanent, fixed

westley clark, director, center for substance abuse treatment, substance abuse and mental health servicesinistration, u.s. department of health and human services, rockville, maryland; dr. timothy condon, deputy director, national institute on drug abuse, national institutes of health, u.s. department of health and human services, rockville, maryland; dr. barbara krantz, chief executive officer and medical director, hanley center, west palm beach, florida; beverly gmerek, prescription drug abuse prevention program coordinator, peer assistance services inc., denver, colorado. dr. clark, how prevalent is prescription drug misuse in the united states? well, we estimate that there are approximately 15 million people who misuse prescription drugs in the united states, and that gives us an estimated 2.5 million new initiates per year, or, if you think about it, that's about 7,000 new initiates a day. and within that, do one age group uses it more than others? what is the distribution among the age groups? well, i think the most important thing to keep in mind is that prescription drug abuse aff

westley clark, director, center for substance abuse treatment, substance abuse and mental health servicesinistration, u.s. department of health and human services, rockville, maryland. marco e. jacome, chief executive officer, healthcare alternative systems incorporated, chicago, illinois. john de miranda, president and ceo, stepping stone, san diego, california. william lossiah-bratt, board of directors, southeastern regional representative, faces and voices of recovery, cherokee, north carolina. dr. clark, why should we be concerned about ethnic and racial differences within the addiction and recovery field, as well as other differences? well, one of the things that we want to make sure is that people who have substance use problems are able to recover and that materials that we use can assist them in that process. and so, you know, there are differences associated with cultural values and beliefs, starting from how one physiologically responds to a particular substance misuse to how certain substances are used in a cultural context. so if we're going to facilitate recovery, we need to

center after 12 days of voluntary treatment there. williams had a long history of substance abuse that separated him from the family and left him homeless for years. >>> and a surfer is in critical condition after a set of massive waves ripped through a group of surfers awaiting their turn for competition in california. caught on tape, and dozenbes of surfers were taken by surprise when a 25-foot wave bore down knocking many of them off of their board. >>> it is now 7:20, pacific time and now back to matt and meredith and maria this morning. >> we watched the footage of the way they go up and almost airborne at the top, because it is so steep. look at this. >> and one of them is still in the hospital in critical condition after that. that is frightening. >> we have maria marosa here filling in for al. >> well, the west coast is looking quiet and we have sunshine and 76 degrees in los angeles and meanwhile waking up to foggy conditions in northwestern seattle and maybe snow showers in and around salt lake city, and denver 44 and sunshine. and we are waiting for the storm to move int >>> good morning to you. a beautiful day shaping up. i thin