ADDICTION MONSTER TAKES ITS TOLL

NEWTOWN - The monster of addiction once burned behind Fred's deep
brown eyes.

As recently as December, Fred would reach out for any substance that
dulled the razor edge of his emotions: alcohol, marijuana and, most
recently, crack cocaine.

His family saw him sliding away.

He felt it too.

Six weeks in the drug treatment have chased the monster from his eyes
to his memory.

It still lurks, but the longer he stays with the APT Foundation, the
better chance he has of slaying the beast and starting a new life.

The last name of Fred and other clients are withheld because of the
confidentiality of the drug treatment program.

The average client is age 27; Fred is a few years older.

"All my life I was an addict and no good," he said, giving a tour of
his home for the next year.

"Now I come here and not only do they give me meaning, purpose,
clothes, food, but they teach me to get my life together."

Fred occupies one of the 105 beds in the residential treatment program
run by the APT Foundation, a private nonprofit founded in 1970 and
affiliated with Yale University.

The program is trying to move from the former Fairfield Hills Hospital
campus to the former Veterans Memorial Medical Center building in Meriden.

They hope to occupy four floors on the northern side of the building
with 125 beds: 80 for adults and 45 for teen-agers.

The residential drug treatment program is the only one in Connecticut
that draws clients from across the state.

Meriden's central location appeals to the foundation.

Modeled after a revolutionary treatment program called DAYTOP, the
residential program is much different from a methadone clinic or a
detoxification center.

Nearly all the clients have been clean for weeks; they have physically
removed the chemicals from their bodies, but have yet to purge the
drugs from their minds and lifestyles.

The highly regimented program stresses responsibility and
confrontation of feelings, then slowly reintroduces clients to the
outside world.

About 90 percent of the clients are referred by the state: the
Department of Children and Families, the Court Support Services
Division of the Judicial Branch, the Department of Mental Health and
Addictions, the Department of Correction.

The state Court Support Services Division (formerly known as the
Office of Alternative Incarceration) refers nonviolent offenders who
are awaiting sentencing or are on probation, to help free jail beds
for more dangerous criminals.

The foundation stressed that it is not required to take any patients
from the state; staff members screen each referral and refuse those
with histories of violence or sexual offenses.

"We pick and choose those we want to take," said David Polio, the
director of professional services.

The facility is not locked down; clients can leave if they want, but
since most are referred by a court, the decision to leave can mean
jail time.

"It's not a locked facility because it doesn't need to be," Samuel
Ball, director of residential services and an associate professor of
psychiatry at Yale.