Drug Program Loses City Funding July 1

Substance Abuse Agency Cites 'Grave Concerns' About I Can't We Can's Operations

Several of the program's halfway houses are in foreclosure, and Cason said he is still paying off a 48-unit apartment building that he constructed in Park Heights. About 70 percent of its occupants are I Can't We Can alumni, he said.

Money was so tight at the end of last year that the program couldn't replace a rooftop heating and air-conditioning unit stolen from its Park Heights Avenue headquarters, outpatient and counseling center. Anthony McCarthy, the chief administrative officer and a radio talk show host, went on a two-week hunger strike to raise money, generating about $5,000. The unit still hasn't been replaced.

Adding to the financial issues is what Warren called "ineffective" record-keeping. Two independent audits found "no standard practice as to how bills get paid," he said. "We can't determine if taxpayer money is being spent appropriately."

He also said BSAS found some properties unsafe - they had holes in the roofs and walls, exposed extension cords and other fire hazards.

Warren said BSAS has tried to work with I Can't We Can, but the group's plans to correct their problems have been "woefully deficient."

But Cason said BSAS didn't try hard enough to help. "They don't communicate," he said.

In a May 26 letter to BSAS asking them to reconsider funding for next year, Cason wrote, "Indeed, there were times when we have dropped the ball and not always performed up to your standards, nor ours. In the past we have been fortunate to be in partnership with city administrations that made it a priority to assist us in addressing those deficiencies ... that appears not to be your priority."