Tulsa Mayor, Law Enforcement Holding Community Conversation About Alcohol Abuse

Tulsa's mayor is trying to start a community conversation about alcohol abuse.

It's a chronic problem nationally, but here - coupled with prescription drug abuse - it puts Tulsa high on the list of cities where abuse is most common.

It's not a new problem, and that's part of the issue. It's an old problem that's not getting any better.

So, next month, the mayor plans to hold a public forum to talk about the problem and some preventions - which even law enforcement agrees is the way to go.

Lieutenant Eric Smoot with Oklahoma ABLE Commission said, "What we have seen as a law enforcement issue is that we have to figure out how we do it. We've started education campaigns for schools and for businesses and we've realized we just can't arrest our way out of this problem."

The public forum on alcohol abuse is February 5 at the OU-Tulsa campus.

You can watch a preview of the discussion here.