. . . AND THE UNBUDGETED

On Dec. 15 Jessie Jackson, an 18-year-old who was under the
protection of the District's child welfare agency, was fatally shot,
two days before city officials were to appear in court to explain why
they repeatedly failed to find him a better home and place him in
drug treatment.

In a Dec. 22 front-page article about the case, D.C. Superior Court
Judge Lee F. Satterfield said, "Judges have resorted to sending
juveniles with drug problems to the Oak Hill juvenile detention
center in Maryland just so they can get treatment."

In its recommendations for the FY '02 budget, the D.C. Council's
Committee on Human Services directed the health department to direct
no less than $2 million to a two-year pilot program on substance
abuse for youth ages 16 to 21. This directive was approved by the
D.C. Council, the mayor and Congress.

In the previous year, the committee also ordered the establishment of
a "Choice in Drug Treatment" program for D.C. residents who had no
insurance. This program was to allow the drug-addicted to select a
treatment provider and set up a fund to pay providers for services.
This too was passed into law.

Yet neither program exists.

According to a 2000 D.C. Department of Health survey on substance
abuse, approximately 37,300 District residents need treatment for
substance abuse. Of this number, 837 are adolescents between ages 12
and 17, and about 9,400 are young adults between ages 18 and 24.

The most prevalent illicit drug used in the District is marijuana. It
is also the drug of choice among young people. Experts say marijuana
is a gateway to use of harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

The economic costs associated with substance abuse are enormous,
probably exceeding $1 billion a year in the District for health care
expenditures, premature death, impaired productivity, motor vehicle
crashes, crime and social welfare cases.

For every $1 spent on substance abuse treatment, an average of $7 is
saved in costs associated with criminal justice, health care and
social services.

Even more devastating are the human costs associated with substance
abuse. Substance abuse is a major factor in crime, domestic violence,
child abuse, joblessness, emergency room visits, AIDS cases and other
public health issues.

I am outraged that the best we can do to help drug-addicted youth is
to send them to Oak Hill. Access to meaningful treatment is vital to
the recovery of our most vulnerable citizens, especially our young
people.

It is not enough to pay lip service to the importance of drug
treatment programs. The time has come to follow the budget mandates
agreed to by the D.C. Council, the mayor, Congress and the president
and make provision of these services a priority. Meanwhile, our young
people are left to their own devices, and we are left to hope that
their choices do not lead to their demise.