Computer Heist Slows Treatment Study

A long-time research project studying the nation's substance abuse treatment centers has run into a small glitch -- someone stole all 21 of the center's laptop computers.

The National Treatment Center Study, headquartered at Barrow Hall on the University of Georgia campus, was victimized by burglars who stole $33,851 worth of laptops which were being used by Institute of Behavioral Research associates to record their findings.

Fortunately, all of the data on the laptops had been backed up prior to the theft, but researchers now are having to use pencil and paper to do their recording and then later entering the information into their personal computers.

"While it has not affected the integrity of our data, it has put a strain on us being able to do it at the same pace and with the same fluidity," Lisa Walker, project director for the National Treatment Center Study, told the Athens Banner-Herald.

The National Treatment Center Study is actually three separate studies all of which are funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse to look at issues of quality and risky practices within the nation's addiction treatment centers.

More: The National Treatment Center Study | NTCS Reports