DRUG, ALCOHOL WORRIES RISE

But Study Could Find Increase In Addiction Treatment In Only 13 States
Since Sept. 11

WASHINGTON - Safety advocates say they are worried that heavier drinking
linked to Sept. 11 anxieties may make the New Year's holiday a particularly
lethal time to be on the road. Highway safety advocates are on alert
because of a nearly 2 percent spike in alcohol-related traffic fatalities
last year when alcohol-linked driving deaths rose to 16,653, compared with
15,976 in 1999, according to the National Highway Safety Administration.

The jump in drunken driving fatalities follows a five-year period in which
the statistics had leveled off after falling steadily from the 1980s to the
mid-1990s.

Auto traffic will be about the same this season as it was last year,
according to the American Automobile Association, with some 42 million
people hitting the road between Christmas and New Year's Day.

According to a survey released last month by the National Center on
Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, 13 states have
detected an increased demand for alcohol and drug treatment since Sept. 11.
They were: Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky,
Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and
Tennessee. Four cities - Washington, D.C., New York, Phoenix and Houston -
also reported a higher demand for substance abuse treatment.

Dr. Michael Blumenfield, a psychiatrist at New York Medical College who
serves on the American Psychiatric Association's committee on disasters,
predicted the terrorist attacks might be jolting more people into
reevaluating their lives and seeking help for addictions, rather than
leading them to increased substance abuse.