CITY ELIMINATES DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAM

DETROIT -- Since 1970, residents seeking help with substance abuse
have been able to rely on treatment and rehabilitation at the Herman
Kiefer Health Clinic, including a methadone program. Employees at the
City of Detroit Department of Human Services Drug Treatment Program
say they've received notice that the division will close down in February.

The closure will affect between 400 and 500 patients at the clinic --
releasing them into a community with few similar resources.

According to Clinic Supervisor Kenneth D. Perry, staffers learned in
November that they must stop servicing patients by Jan. 23.

Department managers said budget cuts in the Community Services Block
Grant forced the closure. Nearly 75 percents of the Drug Treatment
division's budget is apportioned to staff salary.

Perry moved to the Herman Kiefer health facility when fire destroyed
the Gratiot Clinic on Nov. 6. Perry, who has worked in the city Human
Services department for 16 years, told the Michigan Citizen that cuts
affect almost 20 city employees at Herman Kiefer. Most of them will
seek redeployment within Human Services, but that opportunity may not
be there.

"At least 10 of my employees are direct hires who will be out of a
job," Perry says.

According to Perry, the greatest impact will be on the population of
44,000 known opiate addicts in Detroit who need treatment.

He says the cuts will mostly affect out-patient methadone treatment
as some administrators move toward a residential approach.

"There's just not enough methadone clinics in Detroit to serve
them."

The cuts don't favor substance abusers seeking a viable remedy,
according to Perry.

"There's no such thing as a one-stop-shop," he says. "You have to
have options."

Several staff members defended the Drug Treatment Program at a Dec. 9
City Council meeting, saying that the city division assists hundreds
of city residents through methadone treatment, acupuncture,
counseling, focus groups, and family therapy. Two of them, including
substance abuse counselor Erma Jelks, said they'd successfully
completed similar programs and had been drug-free for 15 years or
more.

"Often times, those individuals are your best examples that the
program works," Perry suggested.

Dr. Calvin Trent, General Manager for Special Populations Health
Services, says that the notification of the methadone program's
closure came from Human Services. He adds that the program may have
been cut because it was more expensive to run than community-based
programs, which contract health workers. Contracted workers are more
cost-effective than unionized city employees.

"The reality is that most of our providers are not unionized and have
a lower cost structure," Dr. Trent told the Michigan Citizen. "I
assume this had something to do with the decision."

The City Council is not the body that initiated the department
closure -- department closures are decided by the Mayor's office and
the department head. When asked about the Drug Treatment Program,
Mayor Cockrel's Spokesperson, Daniel Cherrin, would only say that the
funding grant will not be renewed.

The City of Detroit Human Services Department is entirely funded by
the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG). It's the only city
department in Michigan on a list of 30 eligible agencies to be fully
subsidized by the CSBG. According to the Administration for Children
and Families website, which operates under the U.S. department of
Health and Human Services, CSGB allocations to the state of Michigan
remained at approximately $24 million for the years 2006-2008.

Perry says that funds available to the Detroit Human Services
Department Drug Treatment Program have diminished over the last
several years as emphasis has moved from treatment to prevention. The
program's fund allotment is administered by the Michigan Bureau of
Substance Abuse.

The Michigan Citizen was unable to reach Human Services Director,
Shenetta Coleman, by deadline.