HELPING TEENS KICK DRUGS

Program tailors support

As Gov. Pataki and state lawmakers debate changes in the Rockefeller drug
laws, Clayton and Linda Canaii of Flatbush are certain of one thing: To get
someone off drugs, effective treatment must be provided.

The Canaiis are not legal experts or social advocates, but they have solid,
practical experience. They have just gone through a long period of
heartbreak with their son, Ian Williams, who is almost 17 and who for three
years used marijuana and alcohol.

The practice led to increasing truancy and a downward spiral in Ian's
school work. He had several brushes with the law as he attempted to get
money for his habits.

Linda Canaii, a customer sales representative, said the experience was a
nightmare.

"You sit down and wonder, 'How could this be happening?' No one in the
house smoked or drank," she said.

His father, a butcher, added, "There's not even an ashtray in our house."

But Ian said: "Everybody around me was using marijuana - in school, after
school. I was curious. I knew my parents didn't want me using drugs, but I
thought it was the cool thing to do."

Clayton said before an effective treatment program was found for his son,
"All the cops in my neighborhood knew me on a first-name basis. Everybody
knew Ian."

The fourth of nine children, Ian is not Clayton's biological son. But
Clayton has raised Ian since he was an infant.

The Canaiis said Ian was in and out of several treatment programs before
they got him to Outreach House, a 40-bed residential program for teens in
the Ridgewood-Bushwick section.

Ian has been there for seven months and has shown steady progress. He is
working on earning his high school equivalency diploma and is planning to
go to college to major in engineering.

"Before, I didn't care. As long as I had money for liquor, marijuana, food
and the movies, I just didn't care," Ian said. Now, he does.

Outreach House is one of two residential facilities established by the
Outreach Project for youngsters 12 to 17 with substance abuse problems. It
provides intensive therapy, counseling, schooling and social services.

According to Neil Sheehan, executive vice president of the Outreach
Project, statewide there are fewer than 300 such treatment beds for teens
under 16.

"As the legislators look at repealing Rockefeller drug laws, it is critical
that they shift money to increase treatment capacity," Sheehan said.

In his State of the State address last month, Gov. Pataki proposed
softening some of the Rockefeller drug laws, which impose stiff mandatory
sentences for minor drug violations.

Signed by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller in 1973, the laws are considered among
the nation's harshest.

Pataki proposed allowing judges more discretion in sending people to
treatment for low-level or midlevel offenses.

State Sen. Velmanette Montgomery (D-Fort Greene), who is co-chairwoman of a
Senate task force on criminal justice reform, said she welcomed the proposals.

"The problem is that we need to find out what the state intends to do to
increase funding for community-based supervision and support," Montgomery said.

"That's where we are seeing that the governor has reduced funding. He is
recommending reduction of $48 million in aid to localities in various
areas. A number of the programs that may be reduced are programs that the
legislature has added to support alternatives to incarceration.

"The intent of the reform proposal is good," she added, "but in terms of
communities and how we are to respond, the picture is not entirely clear
and positive at this point in time."

David Leven, deputy director of the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy
Foundation in Manhattan, agreed.

"If the governor is serious about having effective treatment programs, he
ought to be amending his own budget to include funding - and he still has
time to do that," Leven said.

Budget hearings are scheduled to begin in Albany this week.

Outreach Project spends about $30,000 annually on each teen in residence;
the city spends about $90,000 per juvenile detention bed, Sheehan said.

"We have created a safe structure in which we teach young people positive
values. . . . If you don't treat these problems, the probability of
behavior change is low to zero," Sheehan said.

Manya Slater, director of Ian's program, said Outreach House provides tight
structure for teen residents, from morning till night.

"Twenty-four hours a day, they have something to do. There is no
unorganized down time," Slater said. The program teaches teens how to
communicate better and how to modify their behavior.

Ninety percent of the residents are former marijuana users, Slater said,
but some also have used cocaine.

The program works closely with parents and other family members,
recognizing that when treatment - which averages 12 months - is over, the
teens will return to their homes and communities.

As her son makes his way through the Outreach House program, Linda Canaii
admits she is holding her breath.

But Ian said he'll remain drug free when he completes his stay.

"The streets don't help people. They don't make sense. There's nothing good
there," he said. "It's better to go to school and grow up.

"I used to be angry. I was almost in jail. I was shot at more than once.
But my parents stuck by me."