GROUPS ADVOCATE TREATMENT OPTIONS

Forum promotes substance abuse help.

Had it not been for two months of treatment at Phoenix Programs in Columbia,
Ken Cissna thinks he would be a dead man.

"I simply went there for the treatment or I would die, " said the former
drug addict and alcoholic who is now a Boone Works employee.

Cissna, 35, said he came to Columbia in the 1990s from the Hannibal area to
seek treatment after substance abuse resulted in several arrests and
destroyed his liver. Phoenix Programs helped him stop abusing drugs and
alcohol, he said.

Success stories such as Cissna's have convinced health professionals, social
workers and law enforcement officials that treatment programs are critical
in reconstructing an addict's life and are cost effective for society.

With the possibility of cuts in state funding and a reduction in program
services, Cissna and others gathered for a panel discussion yesterday to
discuss the need for recovery programs, how to safeguard state funds for the
programs and how to look for more solutions.

"We need to start the discussion to get honest of what's going on and what
are the needs," said Jerry Mathis, director of the Missouri Recovery
Network, an advocacy group for substance abusers and their families.

Nancy Howard of the recovery network organized the panel discussion at the
Roger B. Wilson Boone County Government Center. It was the group's first
effort to gather state representatives, Boone County Drug Court staff and
treatment counselors for discussions of substance recovery efforts.

Mathis said the network hopes to raise the public awareness of drug and
alcohol abuse, help addicts and their families shake off stigmas and
encourage them to seek treatment.

With waiting lists to get into treatment programs such as Phoenix Programs
and McCambridge House, the network is drumming up efforts to provide more
services. "There's a gap there between people who are able to access the
service and those who need the service," Mathis said.

"We're facing a huge budget deficit in the state, and drug and alcohol
addicts are not popular," Mathis said. "Some people want to lock them up and
put them in prison. It's a poor choice with horrible results. Treatment is
the better way."

Al Tacker, executive director of the Family Counseling Center, said
substance abuse treatment could remold an addict into a better employee and
a better parent but lack of treatment would result in more crime, more
violence and more children removed from their parents.

Boone County Jail Administrator Warren Brewer reported that charges of DWI,
possession of drug and domestic assault are the top offenses that result in
going to jail.

Rep. Vicky Riback Wilson, D-Columbia, said that state funding for the
treatment of addiction should be protected.

"We've heard every year from some colleagues that addiction is a lifestyle
choice and that it's not up to the government to pay for the treatment," she
said. "It is not only medically inaccurate but also fiscally irresponsible
to think that way."

Dewey Price of the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, who did not
attend the discussion, estimated that 10 to 12 percent of any local
population has substance-abuse problems but less than one percent have been
identified for treatment programs. He said that no services for addiction
treatment had been cut.