D.C. DRUG, ALCOHOL USE SAID RISING

WASHINGTON (AP) Illicit use of drugs and alcohol has reached crisis
proportions in the nation's capital and must be dealt with quickly,
Mayor Anthony Williams said Friday.

"We have to act now," Williams said. "Left on autopilot ..., this is
not a pretty picture."

Drug and alcohol abuse costs the District of Columbia about $1.2
billion a year and accounts for most of the district's crime
problems, Williams said.

He cited a new report by Drug Strategies, a nonprofit research
institute headquartered in the district, that said the district's
annual per capita spending on the problem amounts to $42.50 on drug
prevention and treatment and $1,257 on criminal justice. The report
recommends the city spend a greater proportion of its drug-related
funding on prevention and rehabilitation.

Williams said he was willing to consider it but gave no
specifics.

According to the report, addicted prisoners are regularly released
from the district's jails and halfway houses without getting necessary
treatment. "We know we're not getting ahead of the problem," Assistant
Police Chief Terrence Gainer said. "Just locking people up is simply
not enough."

The report found adult cocaine and heroin use rates in the district
were twice the national average in 1993, the latest figures available.

Current studies cited by the report show heavy drinking is 50 percent
more prevalent among adults in the capital than among their peers
nationwide, and alcohol-related deaths in the district are double the
national rate.