FLORIDA DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAMS MAY GET CUT

Priscilla Bush gave birth to her third child just hours after she was
arrested for violating probation on drug charges.

Bush faced 18 months in prison, but fought to get into treatment for
her prescription drug addiction at Operation PAR in Largo. She has
been there 11 months and will get out in August.

"It saved my life," she said.

But it's unclear if people like Bush will get the same help next year
as Florida lawmakers cut more than $2-billion from the state's
budget. Drug abuse treatment programs, both under social service and
corrections budgets, are at risk.

"I'm terrified that it's going to be cut," said Bush, 27. "That's
terrible. I can't even fathom that."

The possibility has both state and local officials on edge. They see
treatment as more cost effective than prison. Plus, drug use is as
prevalent as ever, with prescription drug abuse flooding treatment
centers with new addicts. Funding already was cut about 15 percent last year.

"We know that crime is intimately linked with alcohol and substance
abuse," said Nancy Hamilton, chief executive of Operation PAR, Tampa
Bay's largest publicly funded program. "It's not an isolated thing.
When people don't get treatment, they get worse."

The worry began last week when Corrections Secretary Walter McNeil
appeared before a Senate committee, whose chairman, Victor Crist,
R-Tampa, had asked how to cut 10 percent of the agency's $3.2-billion budget.

McNeil reluctantly suggested cutting $36-million for prisoners,
probationers and those in drug court "" a cut that would close most
of the state's publicly funded treatment centers.

"I think a majority of them would go out of business," said Pam
Denmark, McNeil's deputy assistant secretary for community
corrections. "Some could get by, but it would be a tremendous hardship."

Hamilton said the cuts would mean 2,400 fewer people would receive
treatment next year. That's about one-fifth of PAR's current clientele.

Denmark said two-thirds of inmates have substance abuse problems and
that most of their crimes were fueled by addiction.

Corrections officials have said offenders who complete treatment are
44 percent less likely to return to prison. And officials predict
treatment for all inmates with drug problems would prevent more than
21,000 felony arrests a year.

Other agencies also were forced to look for 10 percent cuts. The
departments of Juvenile Justice and Children and Families also put
drug treatment on the chopping block.

"I'm hoping we find alternatives to cutting these services or the
problems are going to magnify," said Bill Janes, the DCF assistant
secretary who also oversees the state Office of Drug Control. "More
crime, more broken families, more devastation in our communities."

Gov. Charlie Crist earlier this year proposed spending $28.8-million
more on the Corrections Department drug treatment programs. But the
state's fiscal picture has worsened since then. The Legislature is
considering the largest one-time cuts in years to balance the state
budget without raising new revenue.

Sen. Crist, who is no relation to the governor, said he hopes funding
for drug treatment can be preserved.

"That would be the last resort in the cutting process," he said
Monday evening. "Right now, I haven't touched any of the drug
treatment stuff. I think that those programs are already skinny. I
have a history of fighting to fund them."

Sara Romeo, CEO of Tampa Crossroads, said she doesn't expect
treatment funding to be eliminated.

But she expects her state money to take a 10 percent hit, which could
be more devastating to smaller treatment centers that rely more
heavily on state dollars.

"There are substance abuse providers who are going to be closed
nonetheless," she said. "I don't think there's any way nobody will be
touched this year."

Bush, the client at Operation PAR, said the program has helped her
keep her two oldest children, who live with her in residential
treatment. Her youngest is living with a sister.

"If I hadn't come to PAR, my kids, honestly, would have been in
foster care," Bush said. "They would be too much to handle. There's
no way I would be clean if I was released from prison today. I would
be let out with all this anger and all this guilt. I don't think I'd
be able to live with myself."