DRUG CZAR SPEAKS AT RIVERSIDE PROGRAM

Photo: Teen Challenge International graduate Daniel Lopez, 21, tells about
his former drug habits and trouble with the law. Lopez says, "I asked God
to help me because I didn't know what to do anymore. The heroin had a grip
on me." (Terry Pierson/The Press-Enterprise)

Photo: Teen Challenge International graduate Justin Jellerson, center, and
fellow graduates pray Tuesday at the drug treatment facility's graduation
ceremonies. (Terry Pierson/The Press-Enterprise)

Photo: John P. Walters, the White House drug czar, speaks at a news
conference at the Teen Challenge International Drug Treatment Facility in
Riverside. The facility is a faith-based program to help teens overcome
their drug addiction. (Terry Pierson/The Press-Enterprise)

RIVERSIDE - Daniel Lopez started smoking pot when he was 12. Two years
later, he was hanging with a tagging crew and using heroin.

His life then took a predictable turn as the addiction took a greater hold:
He went in and out of jail, tried treatment program after treatment program
and felt helpless.

"I asked God to help me because I didn't know what to do anymore," said
Lopez, now 21. "The heroin had a grip on me."

Finally, he found Teen Challenge International, a faith-based, residential
drug treatment program in Riverside.

He's been sober ever since.

On Tuesday, moments before Lopez participated in graduation ceremonies at
Teen Challenge, he shared his story with White House drug czar John P.
Walters and other guests.

Shortly before the ceremony, Walters credited the facility for good work
and talked about Bush's Access to Recovery Initiative, a three-year, $600
million federal drug treatment initiative that aims to help 300,000
Americans kick their addictions.

"This is a place of hope that takes those who have been hurt, those who
have been broken, and puts them back together," Walters said about Teen
Challenge. The director of the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy was scheduled to speak at the ceremony and hand out certificates to
graduates.

Bush's drug program would help Americans who want treatment for drug and
alcohol addiction but lack the money to pay for it. The voucher program
would add to the federal block grant funding available to states and would
allow addicts more choices in treatment, including faith-based and
community-based programs.

Many people in recovery have been aided by faith-based programs, Walters
said, citing the success of 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church
and State, based in Washington D.C., said by telephone that he was
disturbed by Walters' visit to Teen Challenge, which he called "sectarian"
and said seeks to covert people of other religions to Christianity.

"This apparently is the first step of what appears to be a campaign to
endorse religious-based treatment programs," Lynn said. "There is no
evidence these programs are particularly effective."

Walters said he chose to speak at the Teen Challenge center because it is
an example of what needs to be done elsewhere. He also said the drug
problems facing Riverside -- heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana
use -- are typical of what the nation as a whole faces.

There are 6 million people in need of drug treatment in the country,
Walters said. Twenty-three percent are teenagers, he said.

The drug czar is touring 25 of the largest metropolitan areas in the United
States, talking about the initiative and about the need for the community
involvement.

Forty percent to 80 percent of substance abuse occurs in those cities, he said.

"As I travel, I find almost every family in the United States has been
touched by substance abuse," he said.