REFORM HAS LITTLE EFFECT ON ADDICTS

Study Finds Former Recipients Turn To Crime, Not Work

Eliminating cash-assistance and treatment programs for substance
abusers doesn't necessarily motivate a move into the work force,
according to a national study released Monday.

Instead, alcohol and drug abusers tended to remain addicted -- eking
out an existence on the streets or with family help until other
benefits kick in at age 65.

"This is a piece of a much larger picture of the aging baby boomers,"
said Jim Baumohl, professor at Bryn Mawr College and one of the study
authors. "The poverty rate among aging baby boomers is so much bigger
than the elderly today and will yield a large aspect of the population
that will need support when they turn 65."

Researchers interviewed 2,000 substance abusers in nine urban areas --
including more than 500 people in Ala-meda, San Joaquin, Santa Clara
and San Francisco counties -- who participated in a now-defunct
federal welfare program that provided $500 a month plus substance
abuse treatment and health benefits.

The program, under Supplemental Security Income called Drug Addiction
and Alcoholism (DA&A), began in 1974 and expanded to a peak of 170,000
participants in 1996. It supported severe drug and alcohol abusers --
many of whom were homeless, had disabilities such as liver damage and
who did not qualify for other assistance.

Amid scandals where some recipients spent their cash allowances on
drugs and alcohol, the program was killed as part of the 1997 Welfare
Reform Act. The hope was that ending cash assistance would spur people
to work.

This didn't happen, according to a series of interviews with former
participants from 1996 to 1999, led by the Oakland-based nonprofit
Public Health Institute and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation's Substance Abuse Policy Research Program and the federal
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. The findings were published Monday.

Despite historic lows in Bay Area unemployment rates in the late
1990s, 31 percent of former DA&A recipients did not replace at least
half of their lost cash assistance with other income.

Those who lost benefits were one and a half to two times more likely
to commit drug-related crimes than those who managed to find other
public assistance.

They also fell out of drug and alcohol treatment. In 1996, 41 percent
still participated in a treatment program, compared to only 17 percent
after the pro-gram ended.

"One irony of terminating the program is that people continued to use
drugs, free of the former requirements to enter treatment programs,"
said James Schwartz, researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Seen through this prism, San Francisco's closely watched "Care not
Cash" initiative -- approved by voters in November to end cash
assistance to the homeless in hopes of reducing drug and alcohol abuse
and drug-related crime -- may face further challenges if it is
implemented.

Richard Speiglman, researcher at the Public Health Institute, said
ending cash payouts doesn't translate to less drug and alcohol use.

"There's no evidence that cash assistance promoted continued use of
drugs and alcohol," he said. "My feeling is that if they need the
money, they will find a way to get it."