HUMAN SERVICES SEEKS GRANT FOR REHAB CENTER

MOUNT HOLLY - Many drug users spend every penny they have to satisfy their
habit. Burlington County wants to spend half a million dollars to help them
break it.

Yesterday, freeholders gave the county's Human Services Department
permission to seek a $555,010 grant from New Jersey to continue its work at
Post House, a 25-bed facility in Pemberton Township that provides
residential and outpatient treatment to drug abusers, including alcoholics.

Human Services staff will seek the grant from the Division of Alcoholism,
Drug Abuse and Addiction Services, part of New Jersey's Department of
Health. It receives such grants every year from the division to cover the
majority of its operating costs.

Gary Miller, head of Human Services, said he will seek more money later to
help the program meet a growing need - treating drug offenders who have
been sentenced to rehabilitation instead of jail.

Already, the state pays for several beds at Post House for patients sent
there by Camden County's drug court. Miller expects Burlington County to
have a similar program for drug offenders by next year. "It will take off,
and I hope it does," Miller said. "There is some talk about Burlington
County and Post House being asked to do major drug court activity in the
future, and I'm pursuing money for that."