Every third Sunday, there is a chapter meeting in Tulsa. Chapter leaders audit the books for each house, provide workshops and help resolve issues. Lewis requires all her residents to attend or pay a $25 fine.

Rules are strict, but Lewis said the residents encourage and support each other. She said Oxford House has made an important difference in her personal life.

“I got all the relationships back with the people I love,” she said. “That gives you all the motivation in the world.”

Health care authorities cite a great need to address chemical dependency. Statistics compiled by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration show that, in 2005, the last year for which data was available, hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans as young as 12 had developed dependence on substances including illicit drugs, pain relievers (nonmedical), alcohol and tobacco. Here are the numbers:

• Past year cocaine use — 56,000.

• Past year nonmedical pain reliever use — 168,000.

• Past month alcohol use — 1,221,000.

• Past month binge alcohol use — 617,000.

• Past month tobacco product use — 973,000.

SAMHSA also gauged the number of people not getting help kicking the drug habit.

• Needing but not receiving treatment for illicit drug use — 82,000.

• Needing but not receiving treatment for alcohol use — 214,000.

One of the main backers for getting the Muskogee Oxford House started is Joe Eversole, owner of Elite Images Salon. He said he saw a need for transitional living when his wife Mary worked at Muskogee Organization for Narcotic and Alcohol Referral Counseling and Help and he was a volunteer there.

“At MONARCH, we would sometimes see women go 30, 60 or 90 days clean, then relapse because they had to go back to an environment where they were the only person who was clean,” he said. “Nothing was more frustrating.”

Eversole said he and several other people who volunteered time and money to refurbish the house are proud to make a positive difference. His research revealed that sober living environment is the highest-rated method for helping former alcoholics and addicts become productive citizens.