ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <!-- saved from url=(0073)http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A7113-2001Sep21?language=printer --> <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>washingtonpost.com: What Dependency Means to D.C.</TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=unicode"> <SCRIPT language=JavaScript> <!-- var axel = Math.random() + ""; var ord = axel * 1000000000000000000; //--> </SCRIPT> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4616.200" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <P><FONT size=+2><B>What Dependency Means to D.C.</B></FONT> <BR> <P><FONT size=-1><BR><BR>Saturday, September 22, 2001; Page A28 </FONT> <P> <P>THE STATISTICS on substance abuse among District residents hardly begin to tell the story about the true costs to the city. True, the numbers released on Thursday by the D.C. Department of Health are staggering by themselves: It's estimated that more than 60,000 residents -- more than 10 percent of the population -- are addicted to alcohol, cocaine, heroin or marijuana. But the larger consequences to the District of having so many of its citizens caught in the clutches of illegal drugs and alcohol are enormous, both socially and financially.</P> <P>Information provided by Mayor Anthony Williams's office yesterday details the effects:</P> <P>û0Of the 1.2 million emergency room visits in the District, 40 percent are related to drug and alcohol abuse.</P> <P>û0Fifty percent of the reported motor vehicle crashes in the District are associated with substance abuse.</P> <P>û0Eighty-five percent of foster care placements are connected with substance abuse.</P> <P>û0Twenty-seven percent of the cumulative reported AIDS cases in the District are related to intravenous drug use.</P> <P>And the annual direct and associated costs to the city of this escalating drug and alcohol abuse problem? The mayor says it's more than $1.2 billion. By any yardstick, substance abuse is a major and growing threat to the District's health -- and treasury.</P> <P>Sadly, the problem is not confined to adults. In the month leading up to the survey, one out of six adolescents -- children between 12 and 17 years old -- reported having consumed alcohol. About 21 percent of adolescents said they had used an illicit drug in the past year; 7 percent reported using an illicit drug within the past month. And these numbers do <EM>not</EM> include institutionalized youths. The mayor, therefore, is dead right to make substance abuse prevention and treatment a top health priority in the District. A city with 10 percent of its population disabled by illicit drugs and alcohol is a city that is in danger of falling to pieces from within.</P> <P>At issue, however, is whether Mr. Williams's proposed citywide response is equal to the challenge. Having declared that "it is a new day for recovery in D.C.," the mayor has acknowledged that the city does not have enough dollars to tackle the problem. He's appointed an executive level task force to prepare and recommend a budget that steps up to the issue. Giant steps are required. The District has 8,000 treatment beds for drug and alcohol abusers. Stack those resources against a potential waiting list of 52,000 people thought to be addicted, and the challenge sharpens dramatically. Mr. Williams has announced a goal of reducing the number of addicted residents by 25,000 and cutting the annual addiction-related costs by $300 million by 2005. What's missing, however, is the strategy for getting from here to there. The mayor is relying on the city's Department of Health to produce the road map. Yesterday, a Health Department spokesman said the comprehensive drug strategy will be ready by December. The job should be expedited and doggedly pursued by the mayor. Otherwise, the city's new era for recovery and treatment -- and help for tens of thousands of addicted residents -- will remain another promised, but unrealized, goal.</P> <P></P> <P> <CENTER>© 2001 The Washington Post Company </CENTER> <P></P></BODY></HTML>