WHAT DEPENDENCY MEANS TO D.C.

THE STATISTICS on substance abuse among District residents hardly begin to
tell the story about the true costs to the city. True, the numbers released
on Thursday by the D.C. Department of Health are staggering by themselves:
It's estimated that more than 60,000 residents -- more than 10 percent of
the population -- are addicted to alcohol, cocaine, heroin or marijuana.
But the larger consequences to the District of having so many of its
citizens caught in the clutches of illegal drugs and alcohol are enormous,
both socially and financially.

Information provided by Mayor Anthony Williams's office yesterday details
the effects:

* Of the 1.2 million emergency room visits in the District, 40 percent are
related to drug and alcohol abuse.

* Fifty percent of the reported motor vehicle crashes in the District are
associated with substance abuse.

* Eighty-five percent of foster care placements are connected with
substance abuse.

* Twenty-seven percent of the cumulative reported AIDS cases in the
District are related to intravenous drug use.

And the annual direct and associated costs to the city of this escalating
drug and alcohol abuse problem? The mayor says it's more than $ 1.2
billion. By any yardstick, substance abuse is a major and growing threat to
the District's health -- and treasury.

Sadly, the problem is not confined to adults. In the month leading up to
the survey, one out of six adolescents -- children between 12 and 17 years
old -- reported having consumed alcohol. About 21 percent of adolescents
said they had used an illicit drug in the past year; 7 percent reported
using an illicit drug within the past month. And these numbers do not
include institutionalized youths. The mayor, therefore, is dead right to
make substance abuse prevention and treatment a top health priority in the
District. A city with 10 percent of its population disabled by illicit
drugs and alcohol is a city that is in danger of falling to pieces from within.

At issue, however, is whether Mr. Williams's proposed citywide response is
equal to the challenge. Having declared that "it is a new day for recovery
in D.C.," the mayor has acknowledged that the city does not have enough
dollars to tackle the problem. He's appointed an executive level task force
to prepare and recommend a budget that steps up to the issue. Giant steps
are required. The District has 8,000 treatment beds for drug and alcohol
abusers. Stack those resources against a potential waiting list of 52,000
people thought to be addicted, and the challenge sharpens dramatically. Mr.
Williams has announced a goal of reducing the number of addicted residents
by 25,000 and cutting the annual addiction-related costs by $ 300 million
by 2005. What's missing, however, is the strategy for getting from here to
there. The mayor is relying on the city's Department of Health to produce
the road map. Yesterday, a Health Department spokesman said the
comprehensive drug strategy will be ready by December. The job should be
expedited and doggedly pursued by the mayor. Otherwise, the city's new era
for recovery and treatment -- and help for tens of thousands of addicted
residents -- will remain another promised, but unrealized, goal.