REFORM FAILS TO CHANGE ADDICTS

Crime, Homelessness Rise Among Substance Abusers Under Welfare Rules, Study
Shows

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 Alameda, 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 (SSI) called Drug Addiction
and Alcoholism (DA&A), began in 1974 and expanded to a peak of 170,000 parti-

cipants 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, accor-ding to a series of interviews with former
participants from 1996 to 1999, lead 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 in
Contemporary Drug Problems, a peer-reviewed online journal.

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. Some 37 percent qualified for other
programs and another 27 percent were able to replace at least half of their
income through work or help from family.

"These people were extremely poor, with nearly no work history," Baumohl
said. "They were plagued by widespread unemployment."

Those who lost benefits were one-and-a-half to two times more likely to
commit drug-related crimes than those who found 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
program 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 last 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."