TREAT ADDICTS OR PAY COST, EX-USERS SAY

Recovering drug addicts and those who treat addictions in the Central
Valley implored state lawmakers Wednesday to spend as much money on drug
victims as they do to fight the war on drugs.

"I work with the tragic victims of this war," said James Bowman, a Fresno
County chemical-dependency adviser. "I know I have continued job security."

Said Ray Tapia, a 33-year substance-abuse counselor from Fowler: "If you
get in trouble, there's a bed. But if you need treatment, there's not a bed."

The concerns go to the heart of a Treatment on Demand Assistance Act she
plans to introduce in the Senate in the next couple of weeks, said Sen.
Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

Boxer and U.S. Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Hanford, listened to concerns during
Wednesday's Central Valley Methamphetamine Treatment Summit in downtown
Fresno. The public was invited to discuss ideas for making substance-abuse
treatment more effective and available. It was the second summit to focus
on meth abuse. A meeting in January looked at the need for more law
enforcement resources.

Boxer said her legislation would double the federal government's funding
for drug treatment over the next five years -- from the current $3 billion
to $6 billion by 2006. Half of the money would be given to the states in
grants, and 50% would be given directly to treatment providers.

Dooley said he plans to introduce similar legislation in the House.
Providing adequate money for drug-abuse treatment makes fiscal sense as
well as common sense, he said. To treat an addict costs about $3,000 a
year, compared with $24,000 for incarceration.

Increasing the amount spent on substance-abuse treatment is critical, Boxer
said. Of 5 million substance abusers nationwide, less than one-half are
receiving treatment. "This is unacceptable," she said.

Methamphetamine use is of particular concern, Boxer said, because it is a
growing problem. In 1992, there were 14,496 admissions to treatment for
meth abuse. By 1998, the number had jumped by 285% to 55,745.

"If we were looking at measles or mumps, we would say this is an epidemic
and we better get on it," she said.

Boxer praised the 200 Valley residents who attended the summit for their
focus on methamphetamine as a problem plaguing Central California. The
scope of the drug problem was detailed in an 18-page special section that
ran last year in The Bee newspapers in Fresno, Sacramento and Modesto.

Boxer said she was leaving the summit with ideas on how her legislation
could be tweaked to better serve the community. She made note of the need
for more money for states, such as California that passed Proposition 36,
which requires treatment for nonviolent drug abusers in lieu of jail or
prison time.

Boxer's legislation would authorize $125 million a year for five years to
provide matching grants to states. But from comments at the summit, Boxer
said it was apparent that was too little money.

Tulare County Judge Glade Roper said his county was allotted $1.4 million
to provide treatment for an estimated 3,674 drug abusers who meet the
requirements of Prop. 36. That's about $380 a person for therapy.

"How we're going to be effective treating someone for $300 is beyond my
comprehension," he said.

Among other ideas Boxer said she gained from the summit:

Drug-treatment programs for methamphetamine need to last at least a year to
18 months; 30- or 60-day programs don't work, Valley residents said.

"My first treatment was for 60 days," said Nancy Peyton, a recovering
addict. "The first day I got out, I was drinking and had a needle in my arm."

The Valley needs longer treatment programs and transitional homes for
mothers who are in treatment, said Deanne Van Drisse, a recovering addict
who received treatment for her addiction while in prison and who works at
Spirit of Women, a Fresno drug-treatment program.

"Children raised in this Valley are exposed to the abuse caused by these
drugs," Van Drisse said. "We need a mentorship program for the children and
an after-care program for mothers and their children."

Treatment programs need to include consequences for participants who fail
to complete treatment.

The threat of jail time is a powerful motivator for drug abusers, said
Roper, who was asked to speak about a drug court he started in the county
in 1996.

Individuals who appear before him are put in an 18-month treatment program,
Roper said. Only 5% of those who graduated from the drug court had new
charges against them at the end of four years. The typical recidivism rate
for drug abusers is 60% after one year.

The program works because of the length of treatment and the sanctions
available for those who fail to comply, the judge said. "It's been
described as 'kicking someone down the yellow brick road with barbed wire
on both sides,'" he said.

Brenda Kent-Spenhoff, clinical supervisor for the Fresno County PATHS
program, said she could use a lever to get pregnant substance abusers to
sign up for treatment. PATHS, a county-funded program, provides treatment
for women for as little as $3 a day. Approximately 90% of the women in the
program are on welfare.

The perinatal substance-abuse program has 67 women enrolled but has 240
open slots, Kent-Spenhoff said. "We need a hammer to get these women there
and a hammer to keep them there," she said.

Boxer said she would consider making enrollment in a treatment program
mandatory to receive any type of government assistance, including a welfare
check.