DRUG, ALCOHOL ABUSE HELPS TRIPLE PRISON POPULATION

WASHINGTON -- Eighty percent of the adults in U.S. prisons are locked up
because of criminal activity linked to drug and alcohol abuse, says a
report from a group pressing for more spending on prison drug treatment
programs.

The report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse urged
governments, particularly the states, to spend more money to help those 1.4
million inmates kick their habits before they are returned to society. In
addition, the report said prisoners need other services such as job
training, health care and religious instruction.

``The most troublesome aspect of these grim statistics is that the country
is doing so little about them,'' Joseph Califano, president of the Columbia
University-based center, told a news conference. ``We are talking about an
incredibly insane (prison) system that doesn't make that kind of
investment.''

At the same gathering, President Clinton's top drug adviser said the
government has begun to spend more on treatment as it focused its efforts
on keeping the nation's teens and children from turning to drugs.

But Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy, said the federal government alone can't be the solution.
``This is a law-enforcement no-brainer to move toward treatment,'' he said.

The retired Army general said federal spending on treatment programs grew
from $1 billion to $3 billion in the last five years and that government is
experimenting with new programs.

The 281-page drugs report said the tripling of America's prison population,
from 500,000 in 1980 to 1.7 million in 1996, was due mainly to criminal
acts influenced by drugs and-or alcohol.

Most of the inmates, more than 1 million, are housed in state prisons.

Of the 1.7 million total, 1.4 million adult men and women were incarcerated
for behavior influenced by alcohol or narcotics. Among the 1.4 million are
parents of more than 2 million children, the report said.

Charles Hynes, the district attorney for Brooklyn, N.Y., said a program
allowing drug offenders to seek residential treatment instead of
imprisonment had helped 325 people since it began in 1990. More than
two-thirds are still employed and paying taxes instead of collecting
welfare, he said.