SUBSTANCE ABUSE MONEY FALLS SHORT

DURHAM -- The Durham Center is getting just over half the $500,000 it
asked for to kick-start an ambitious plan to battle substance abuse.
County Manager Mike Ruffin has proposed adding $226,632 to the budget
for the center, which also is getting an unexpected $60,000 from the
state. That brings its total increase to $286,632.

Officials at the center -- managers of the county's mental health,
substance abuse and developmental disabilities services -- had asked
for $516,300 to launch the 10-year campaign against substance abuse,
which the N.C. Alcohol and Drug Council estimated cost Durham County
$250 million in 2003. Ruffin squeezed the increase request and
targeted his funding recommendation to managing individual substance
abuse cases and strengthening partnerships with private providers who
deliver services.

"Clearly the county will not be the sole partner in war against
substance abuse," Ruffin said.

About $50,000 of the increase will go toward individual case
management for substance abusers, many of whom drift out of recovery
programs after getting involved. "We simply have to have better case
management to make our people stay in our programs," Ruffin said.

Mental health officials told the County Commissioners last week that
19,000 Durham County citizens are addicted to alcohol or other drugs,
but that just 2,500 or so of the 7,000 who seek treatment actually
get it. The Durham Center used to provide substance abuse treatment
directly, but has shifted to managing private providers instead under
state reform. Ruffin is recommending slightly more than $100,000 for
recruiting professionals to providers through scholarships training
and bonuses, plus business development assistance for providers
alongside evaluations of their progress. "I hope we can do this
effectively in the first year, get up to a certain level and move
that money to the service end," County Chairwoman Ellen Reckhow said.

Reckhow also wants to see contracts with private providers to
guarantee they'll stay in Durham if they get county assistance. "We
need to protect our interests with that," she said. Commissioner
Lewis Cheek said agencies need to act in concert with the county's plan.

"Before we start pumping money anywhere, we want to make sure the
philosophy of the agencies fits with the county," he said. "I want to
make sure whatever we do with our money is money well spent."

The increase also includes funds to incorporate the plan's efforts
into Durham's System of Care, an award-winning initiative that seeks
to bring county services together in a seamless network.

Besides adding funds, Ruffin's recommendation also shifts $67,000 to
outpatient treatment and $133,000 to Durham's Recovery Center from
last year's $350,000 funding of methadone, which clients will start
paying for themselves on a sliding scale according to income.
Methadone is used to wean addicts off drugs such as heroin.

It wasn't the half-million-dollar launch pad Durham Center officials
asked for. But with a vote on the county budget barely a week away,
Durham Center Director Ellen Holliman will take what she can get.

"It's a great start," she said.