Pubdate: Thu,  2 Oct 2003
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2003 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Sewell Chan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
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REPORT SAYS 10% IN CITY ADDICTED

Mayoral Study Cites $1.2 Billion in Costs

About 60,000 District residents, more than one in 10, are addicted to 
illicit drugs or alcohol, and substance abuse costs the city $1.2 billion 
each year in lost productivity, illness, premature death and crime and 
incarceration, a study released yesterday by Mayor Anthony A. Williams has 
found.

The two-year study, which sought to measure the scope and effects of 
substance abuse, also found that half of all people arrested for violent 
crimes in Washington test positive for narcotics.

A task force that Williams (D) convened in May 2001 announced two goals to 
achieve by 2010: reducing the number of addicts from 60,000 to 25,000 and 
cutting the total cost of substance abuse from $1.2 billion to $300 million.

Officials billed the task force's study as a comprehensive, citywide 
substance abuse strategy and as the first-ever collaboration of 14 federal 
and city agencies, including D.C. Superior Court and the public schools, 
that deal with substance abuse and addiction.

"This is truly a beginning," said James A. Buford, director of the D.C. 
Department of Health, who co-chaired the Interagency Task Force on 
Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment and Control. But he cautioned: "We 
understand there are no quick fixes or overnight solutions."

The other co-chairman, Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey, said, "For too long, 
people have treated drug abuse as only a crime problem, when it's both a 
public health and a crime problem."

Much of the task force's work was in response to a survey commissioned by 
the Health Department in December 2000 and completed in September 2001. The 
survey of 1,535 households, which cost about $500,000, found that more than 
9 percent of residents reported a drug or alcohol addiction, compared with 
an estimated national rate of 4.7 percent in 1999.

The panel concluded that funding for drug-related programs is spread across 
many agencies. Although an estimated $356.1 million was spent on such 
programs in the fiscal year that ended Tuesday, only $53.3 million funded 
programs whose primary focus is on treatment, and of the smaller sum, only 
$34.5 million went to the direct provision of drug treatment.

The task force also set four broad goals, but they largely comprise 
recommendations that the city is already trying to follow. For example, the 
third goal, reducing drug-related crime, includes closing open-air drug 
markets, expanding the use of "drug courts" for parents to keep their 
families together, and helping former prison inmates as they return to 
mainstream society.

The other goals are to reduce the prevalence and incidence of drug use, to 
cut by more than half the number of addicts and to cooperate with federal 
and suburban officials on a regional response to substance abuse.

Officials acknowledged that because the city assists only an estimated 14 
percent of all addicts, much is unknown about the habits and demographic 
profile of the remainder.

"We can't answer a lot of questions about the profile of people we aren't 
seeing today," said William H. Steward, interim chief of the Addiction 
Prevention and Recovery Administration, the branch of the Health Department 
that has the main responsibility for providing drug treatment.

Advocates have criticized the addiction agency for its decision to close 
Karrick Hall, the city's inpatient drug rehabilitation facility. The 
agency's budget has been cut by about $3 million this year.

Addicts seeking treatment face long waiting lists at the agency's central 
intake division at 1300 First St. NE and at its detoxification unit on the 
former campus of D.C. General Hospital in Southeast Washington. There is a 
shortage of long-term residential treatment spaces, officials acknowledge, 
and those seeking access often encounter bureaucratic obstacles.

"Treatment beds lie empty, while people who want to get clean and sober are 
turned away from central intake and detox," said Robert H. Fleming, a 
community organizer who chairs an informal coalition of drug-treatment 
groups. "Right now, the best way to get into treatment is to commit a 
felony while under the influence of drugs and alcohol." 
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