Pubdate: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL) Copyright: 2003 Sarasota Herald-Tribune Contact: http://www.heraldtribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/398 TREAT INMATES' ADDICTIONS Florida Should Restore Funding Of Drug Programs Addiction is a disastrous thing, but Rush Limbaugh is a lucky man in one respect: He can afford rehabilitation therapy for his drug habit. Thousands of offenders in Florida's jails and prisons aren't so fortunate. For them, substance-abuse treatment is often out of reach, even when they've been ordered to get it. The state doesn't fund enough program slots to accommodate the thousands of offenders who need help. Even in good times, Florida was far from generous in funding drug and alcohol treatment. But in the fiscal crunch of the past two years, the dollars haven't even matched inflation, much less population growth. Millions of dollars have been slashed from the Department of Corrections' treatment budget. Southwest Florida's 12th Judicial Circuit is among those feeling the impact. The cuts are exacerbating a treatment shortage that is resulting in longer jail stays, fewer sentencing options and a court backlog. At Sarasota's First Step treatment center (which contracts with the DOC), funding for offender programs was cut 22 percent, state officials said. Not surprisingly, First Step's waiting list for those programs grew -- to 70 people -- forcing some resentencings. Nothing good happens when people don't get treatment. If they sit in jail instead of residential rehab, they soak up $21,527 a year in incarceration costs (that's Sarasota County Jail's average; prison can be far more expensive). When they eventually get out of jail, the untreated take their substance-abuse problems with them, putting public safety at risk. It's estimated that 80 percent of criminal activity in Florida is "driven by drugs," James McDonough, director of the Governor's Office of Drug Control, said in 2000. With the problem comes "the breakdown of communities and families," he added. Crime and social decay are extremely expensive, both in dollar and human terms. Treatment is an important way to curtail these troubles, but state lawmakers tend to fund prisons at the expense of substance- abuse programs - -- a Catch-22 approach, because drug and alcohol problems drive up the prison population. As McDonough points out, "Even without the influx of new addicts, Florida is faced with the problem of reducing the already significant number of addicts present in our population, which will continue to grow unless we can get treatment to them." That's the word from the governor's drug czar. Are legislators and the governor listening? If so, they will restore funding for the DOC's programs. Addictions don't recede in harsh economic times. Neither should treatment. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens