FLORIDA RESIDENTS WITH ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE PROBLEMS MAY GO WITHOUT
TREATMENT

Between 500 and 600 people in the community could be affected by the
reductions

Hundreds of Southwest Florida residents with alcohol and drug abuse problems
may go without the treatment they need.

Southwest Florida Addiction Services, the area's major drug treatment
center, is dramatically cutting back its treatment services and eliminating
jobs.

Between 500 and 600 people in the community could be affected by the
reductions. In addition, 11 employees are losing their jobs.

Those cutbacks come as the center is faced with a $328,000 reduction in
funding from state and local sources.

The financial crisis is the worst the non-profit agency has had to face in
its 20-year history.

"In the last three weeks, we looked at this new budget and realized we
needed to make some dramatic changes," said Kevin Lewis, executive director
of SWFAS.

Those changes include reducing beds in its detoxification center and serving
fewer children and adults who need counseling.

A day treatment program for children and a juvenile sex offender treatment
program also will be eliminated.

SWFAS already had waiting lists to get into many of its programs. Lewis said
those lists will only get longer.

All of it concerns many in a community that has already faced a dramatic
reduction in mental health and substance abuse services in the past year.

"It's astounds me," said Bud Stephens, board member for the Coalition for a
Drug Free Southwest Florida. "It leaves one more person addicted to drugs on
the street. I've had to send family members to SWFAS. I know how dangerous
it is for them to not get treatment."

None are more concerned than Lewis.

"The hard part is when families call tonight and we tell them we have no
beds," he said.

The drug treatment center's cutback is just one more blow to mental health
services in Lee County.

Late last year, Ruth Cooper Center ended many of its outpatient services for
the indigent.

In June, Charter Glade Hospital closed, essentially ending many of the
services for children in the county.

Those closings have already had an impact on the community with backed up
emergency rooms and many people being sent out of the county to receive
help.

A decrease in drug treatment may cause crime to increase and put a further
burden on other agencies.

"The reduction in the detox beds is going to have a serious impact on us,"
said Jan Eustis, CEO of the Ruth Cooper Center. "Many people with substance
abuse problems have mental health problems."

The cutbacks have put the police on edge as well. Without treatment, drug
and alcohol abusers could become a further drain on the community.

"Drug abuse and alcohol abuse definitely play a factor in the committing of
crime," said Kara Winton, spokeswoman for the Fort Myers Police Department.
"Our police are police officers. They're not drug abuse counselors."

There's also the children. Ruth Cooper already transports one child in
crisis a day out of the county to receive help. Over the summer, it
transported 12 to 13 children a month out of the county. Now it's seven to
eight a week.

Many mental health providers wonder just how much more they can handle the
growing crisis.

"There's a domino effect when these cutbacks are made," said Meg Geltner,
business manager of the Salvation Army. "It's going to affect the emergency
rooms, the hospitals. The cuts in children's services are irresponsible.
What are our legislators thinking?"

Many of the SWFAS budget cuts come from the Department of Juvenile Justice,
which decided not to provide money for children's programs at SWFAS.

A reduction in funding came from other sources as well.

"People don't want to pay for (these programs)," Lewis said.

The cuts actually could have been worse. The deficit SWFAS faced could have
been as high as $600,000 but the Department of Children and Families gave
the drug treatment center an additional $300,000.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to cover all of its deficits," said Janet
Chapman, DCF's District mental health director.

Any overflow from the detox center may have to go to the detox center at the
David Lawrence Center in Naples.

The Southwest Florida Children's Fund is taking over the juvenile sex
offender program.

But many people will still be left without treatment, especially those who
don't have insurance.

"We'll have to look around the community to see where we can find other
services for them," Chapman said.

The question becomes who will provide those services when so many are
cutting back.

"The problem is the tension is increasing as the demand increases and the
resources don't," Eustis said. "In fact, the resources are shrinking. The
crisis is not going away."

DRUG TREATMENT CUTBACKS

Southwest Florida Addiction Services will reduce or eliminate the following
services immediately and over the next 30 days:

* Detoxification Center -- Beds reduced from 19 to 15. About 200 to 225
people will not receive services.

* Adolescent day treatment -- Eliminated entirely. About 20 to 30 teen-agers
will be impacted.

* Juvenile sex offender treatment program -- Eliminated entirely, affecting
50 to 60 children and their families.

* Prevention services -- Reduced prevention program in schools, impacting
100 children.

* Adolescent outpatient therapy -- Reduced counseling. About 75 to 90
children will not receive individual and group counseling.

* Adult outpatient therapy -- Reduced counseling, affecting 90 to 120
people, many of who are indigent and don't have insurance.