STATE MUST TAKE CHARGE ON DRUG ADDICTION

Substance abuse impacts the lives of every person who lives and works in
Maryland, and it costs the state an estimated $5.5 billion a year.

The Maryland Children's Action Network reports that children living in a
home with addicted parents are more likely to be abused, more likely to be
placed into foster care, and more likely to start using drugs themselves.
On top of the destruction of individuals and families, addiction saps the
lifeblood out of communities through street crime and domestic violence,
unemployment and lost productivity.

The damage addiction causes our society has been known for some time, but
now there is a growing consensus that we can do something about it.

Public awareness of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of treatment
is beginning to catch up with the research, which is clear in its findings.

The National Treatment Improvement and Evaluation Study and Baltimore
City's Drug Treatment Court have shown that treatment significantly reduces
criminal behavior, cutting arrests in half. The Treatment Outcomes and
Performance Pilot Study found that after treatment, the proportion of
clients working increased by 50 percent.

And by now, lots of people have heard the statistic that every $1 spent on
treatment saves $7 in criminal justice, health care and other costs.

Public leaders also are increasingly recognizing that high-quality, readily
available drug treatment can substantially improve the quality of life of
citizens in Baltimore City and throughout the state. Mayor Martin O'Malley
is aggressively brandishing the treatment torch that was lit by Kurt
Schmoke, making treatment a central focus of his campaign against crime.

Legislative leaders, including House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr., Sen.
Barbara A. Hoffman and Del. Howard P. Rawlings, have called for more and
better treatment. So have the Maryland Association of Counties, the
Maryland Catholic Conference, the Abell Foundation, the Greater Baltimore
Committee and business leaders like Willard Hackerman. Through its
accomplishments with the Drug Court, the judiciary has shown critical
leadership for treatment as well.

In December, a statewide task force on drug treatment that we chair issued
an interim report that provides a framework to galvanize this growing
consensus into action.

The report called for both short-Yand long-term steps to make universal and
immediate statewide access to effective treatment a reality for all of our
citizens.

First, we must first provide greater access for the underinsured and those
who have no insurance at all.

The task force is taking a critical step in this direction by conducting a
county-by-county assessment to identify present gaps in services.

We plan to use the first $10 million of Gov. Parris N. Glendening's $100
million commitment from the state's tobacco settlement funds to establish
an emergency addiction treatment fund to meet the most urgent needs. In
Baltimore City, we are working closely with Mayor O'Malley to determine how
to allocate the city's share of the new funds, including how funding should
be split between programs that target criminal and juvenile offenders and
those that serve clients from other sources.

Over the next year, the task force is designing a statewide treatment
system that will significantly boost the odds that treatment programs will
help addicts kick their habits.

The comprehensive system must pull together the current hodgepodge of
funding streams, coordinate treatment programs to ensure that clients are
matched with the type of program they need, and guarantee that they move
seamlessly from one program to another as their treatment needs change.

The task force found significant differences in the performance of
individual treatment programs in Maryland; the new system must provide
strong incentives for programs to produce the best possible results. A
series of public task force hearings beginning this spring will help us get
citizens' direct input.

Addiction is among the most complicated and far-reaching challenges
Maryland faces today.

For too long, drugs have ravaged the lives of Marylanders with too few
places to turn for effective help.

Advocates for each segment of the addicted population share a common goal
of reducing the toll drugs take on our society. By working together, we can
make sure that every Marylander struggling with addiction is able to
reclaim their lives and return to safer families and communities.