Day 4 - Part 4, South Texas Trafficking - Anatomy Of A Pipeline

LOCAL TREATMENT FACILITIES CAN'T SERVE ALL WHO NEED HELP

Officials Say More Funding Needed To Provide Additional Beds, Pay To Help
Find Addicts Who Won't Come In

Cheryl Whitehead has seen hundreds of drug addicts pass through the door of
Charlie's Place, an in-patient rehabilitation center for the indigent.
Whitehead, the facility's executive director, says her patients don't look
for help because they fear arrest or stiff drug sentences.

"When they're using, they're not afraid of anything," she said. "They just
keep doing what they've been doing . . . going in and out of prison doesn't
do anything but teach them how to do the crime better."

Local drug treatment officials say rehabilitation centers in Corpus Christi
are woefully underfunded, especially when compared to the billions of
dollars that state, federal and local law enforcement agencies spend on
prosecuting drug crime.

"We don't have enough beds funded," Whitehead said. "We have a great
problem in our city."

Not Meeting The Need

Charlie's Place, one of two free in-patient treatment centers in the city,
has 15 detoxification beds and another 38 funded for longer stays. It has
seen its state funding cut from $2.2 million to $1.6 million over the last
three years, Whitehead said.

Dee Ogle, executive director of the Council on Alcohol and Drug
Abuse-Coastal Bend, an out-patient treatment center, said her organization
receives only enough funding to meet a fraction of the area's need. "We're
fortunate if we meet 10 to 20 percent of the need," she said, adding that
her $1.5 million annual budget could be tripled and still not be able to
help everyone who needs it.

Ogle said the biggest hole in locally provided treatment is outreach to
addicts who won't walk through a rehabilitation center's doors.

"We need an outreach program to find them," she said. "That takes money and
staff and that's where we fall short."

Such cries for help are not just the whining of service providers looking
to fatten their budgets.

The federal government has recognized that about 5 million Americans need
drug treatment but only about 2.1 million get it. According to the Office
of National Drug Control Policy, President Bush has requested $1.5 billion
over the next five years to close the treatment gap.

The requested 2002 national drug control budget would allocate 31 percent
of the total $19.1 billion budget to treatment and demand reduction, in
line with recent budgets and down from 41 percent in 1981. In the past 20
years, the percent of the national drug control budget spent on busting
drug traffickers in this country has grown from 30 percent to 54 percent of
the total.

In Texas, money spent on law enforcement also dwarfs the dollars spent on
treatment. This fiscal year, the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse
is spending $86.5 million on treatment for the indigent.

According to a study by the Texas Chapter of the National Organization for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws, the state spends approximately $436 million a
year to arrest, prosecute and incarcerate marijuana offenders. And
according to an often-cited 1994 study by the Rand Corporation, spending on
treatment is far more effective in reducing the societal costs of drug use
- - such as crime, violence and loss of productivity - than stepped-up law
enforcement. The study concludes that treatment is up to 15 times as effective.

Enforcement Needed

Ogle said she thinks law enforcement, while not the solution, is a
necessary tool in the battle to fight drug use and addiction. "Even though
it's very beneficial for a person to receive rehabilitation, it's a very
important message that people need to be he held responsible."

But Whitehead said the disparities in funding are preventing local
residents from getting the help they need.

"It's not enough to do the job appropriately," Whitehead said. "It's got to
be cheaper to treat people than to send them to prison."