Addicts And Alcoholics

With Congress about to consider even tougher action against them, 172,000 drug addicts and alcoholics are being notified this week that they face the loss of federal disability checks beginning in three years.In a letter to each recipient, the Social Security Administration is outlining the terms of a nationwide crackdown that lawmakers ordered after congressional investigators said many addicts and alcoholics use monthly checks to support their habits. The investigators also faulted Social Security for doing a poor job of monitoring addicts and getting them into treatment.

PERHAPS IT'S a case of stage fright. Or maybe an aversion to hostile audiences. Whatever the reason, the very eloquent operators of Damascus House are no-shows. They're not answering curtain calls -- rather, catcalls -- about plans to expand their valuable drug treatment halfway house in Brooklyn Park. For 27 years, the community had no reason to hear much from Damascus House. The center operated quietly and lawfully. Silence has shrouded the place to such a degree that nary a peep of protest ever emerged.

A humane society takes care of its disabled citizens, but a wise government sees to it that this support does not make their plight worse.In recent years, the Social Security Administration has been reaching out to Americans disabled by drugs or alcohol, adding so many addicts and alcoholics to the rolls that it has put itself in an administrative crunch with a backlog of applications. The intention is to help sustain these people -- and also to help them overcome their problems. But the reality falls far short of that lofty goal.

The Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners passed unanimously an amended version of a bill that would have banned group homes for drug addicts and alcoholics in residential areas.The amended version will allow the group homes for recovering addicts and alcoholics.Opponents of the original bill had complained that it violated the Federal Fair Housing Act by denying those in recovery the right to live in neighborhoods."We really were trying to make sure that we met all of the fairness criteria in our ordinance," said Board Chairman Stephen C. Burdette.

The Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners passed unanimously an amended version of a bill that would have banned group homes for drug addicts and alcoholics in residential areas.The amended version will allow the group homes for recovering addicts and alcoholics.Opponents of the original bill had complained that it violated the Federal Fair Housing Act by denying those in recovery the right to live in neighborhoods."We really were trying to make sure that we met all of the fairness criteria in our ordinance," said Board Chairman Stephen C. Burdette.

WASHINGTON -- A move by House Republicans to make major changes in Social Security's disability program took on a more bipartisan tone this week as Maryland Democrats called for a range of changes in the $65 billion aid plan.Acknowledging that there is "fraud and abuse" in the program, Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, a Baltimore Democrat, asked the Senate Finance Committee to hold hearings on the program while some of her Maryland colleagues in the House -- both Democrats and Republicans -- urged various reforms.

After more than a decade of failing to stop gross abuses in an aid program for disabled drug addicts and alcoholics, the Social Security Administration is preparing to spend nearly $300 million on a crackdown ordered by Congress that will force thousands of chronic substance abusers off the rolls.That's the estimated cost of enforcing a new law that aims to cut off payments to all addicts after three years -- a move triggered by reports from investigators that Social Security has failed to keep recipients from spending the money on drugs and alcohol.

"It's clear to me that this program is out of control and badly in need of reform. ... To what extent do we redefine what is truly, severely disabled? Then the question is, do we take the next step and replace cash benefits with available services for those [children] who qualify?"Rep. Jim McCrery, R-La.,member House Ways and Means subcommittee on Human ResourcesWhile there may be problems and the system should be shored up, an all-out attack is simply irresponsible. The attack is not designed to correct problems, it is designed to cut -- to save money and put it to other uses.

WASHINGTON -- Vowing to end "cash-inducements to teen-agers who have children they know they cannot afford to raise," House Republicans proposed yesterday to turn welfare over to the states and end the New Deal guarantee that anyone who qualifies can collect benefits.The sweeping legislation would also require welfare recipients to work; end cash payments to the "able-bodied" after five years; deny welfare to most legal immigrants; increase efforts to find "dead-beat dads"; halt disability payments to drug addicts and alcoholics; and tighten eligibility criteria for the children's disability program.

PERHAPS IT'S a case of stage fright. Or maybe an aversion to hostile audiences. Whatever the reason, the very eloquent operators of Damascus House are no-shows. They're not answering curtain calls -- rather, catcalls -- about plans to expand their valuable drug treatment halfway house in Brooklyn Park. For 27 years, the community had no reason to hear much from Damascus House. The center operated quietly and lawfully. Silence has shrouded the place to such a degree that nary a peep of protest ever emerged.

WASHINGTON -- Vowing to end "cash-inducements to teen-agers who have children they know they cannot afford to raise," House Republicans proposed yesterday to turn welfare over to the states and end the New Deal guarantee that anyone who qualifies can collect benefits.The sweeping legislation would also require welfare recipients to work; end cash payments to the "able-bodied" after five years; deny welfare to most legal immigrants; increase efforts to find "dead-beat dads"; halt disability payments to drug addicts and alcoholics; and tighten eligibility criteria for the children's disability program.

With Congress about to consider even tougher action against them, 172,000 drug addicts and alcoholics are being notified this week that they face the loss of federal disability checks beginning in three years.In a letter to each recipient, the Social Security Administration is outlining the terms of a nationwide crackdown that lawmakers ordered after congressional investigators said many addicts and alcoholics use monthly checks to support their habits. The investigators also faulted Social Security for doing a poor job of monitoring addicts and getting them into treatment.

WASHINGTON -- A move by House Republicans to make major changes in Social Security's disability program took on a more bipartisan tone this week as Maryland Democrats called for a range of changes in the $65 billion aid plan.Acknowledging that there is "fraud and abuse" in the program, Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, a Baltimore Democrat, asked the Senate Finance Committee to hold hearings on the program while some of her Maryland colleagues in the House -- both Democrats and Republicans -- urged various reforms.

"It's clear to me that this program is out of control and badly in need of reform. ... To what extent do we redefine what is truly, severely disabled? Then the question is, do we take the next step and replace cash benefits with available services for those [children] who qualify?"Rep. Jim McCrery, R-La.,member House Ways and Means subcommittee on Human ResourcesWhile there may be problems and the system should be shored up, an all-out attack is simply irresponsible. The attack is not designed to correct problems, it is designed to cut -- to save money and put it to other uses.

After more than a decade of failing to stop gross abuses in an aid program for disabled drug addicts and alcoholics, the Social Security Administration is preparing to spend nearly $300 million on a crackdown ordered by Congress that will force thousands of chronic substance abusers off the rolls.That's the estimated cost of enforcing a new law that aims to cut off payments to all addicts after three years -- a move triggered by reports from investigators that Social Security has failed to keep recipients from spending the money on drugs and alcohol.

A humane society takes care of its disabled citizens, but a wise government sees to it that this support does not make their plight worse.In recent years, the Social Security Administration has been reaching out to Americans disabled by drugs or alcohol, adding so many addicts and alcoholics to the rolls that it has put itself in an administrative crunch with a backlog of applications. The intention is to help sustain these people -- and also to help them overcome their problems. But the reality falls far short of that lofty goal.

They've been unlikely allies fighting the Schaefer administration's budget cuts -- uniformed state police and an eclectic band of drug addicts and alcoholics.For a few days last week, they stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the State House in Annapolis, hoping to catch the conscience of legislators.While the troopers' plight -- layoffs, barracks closings and reduced Med-Evac helicopter service -- has caught the public's attention, many officials say the massive cuts to drug- and alcohol-treatment programs pose the greater threat to public safety.

Declaring America's "war on drugs" a failure, retired U.S. Sen Harold Hughes exhorted recovering addicts and alcoholics yesterday to fight brazenly for more treatment programs and health coverage.To do that, he said, recovering addicts need to move beyond their tradition of anonymity into political activity.Mr. Hughes, a one-time Iowa truck driver who was jailed several times for drunkenness before beginning 39 years of sobriety, visited Baltimore yesterday to launch what he hopes will be a national movement of political activism by a group accustomed to secrecy.

WASHINGTON -- Despite criticism by congressional investigators that the situation is "out of control," the Social Security commissioner said yesterday that the number of drug addicts and alcoholics collecting disability benefits will grow as her agency continues its efforts to get them on the rolls.Testifying at a House subcommittee hearing, Shirley Sears Chater defended the idea of providing government payments to people unable to work because of drug or alcohol addiction. But she admitted that the agency had done a poor job of monitoring addicts who are supposed to be in treatment programs.

Declaring America's "war on drugs" a failure, retired U.S. Sen Harold Hughes exhorted recovering addicts and alcoholics yesterday to fight brazenly for more treatment programs and health coverage.To do that, he said, recovering addicts need to move beyond their tradition of anonymity into political activity.Mr. Hughes, a one-time Iowa truck driver who was jailed several times for drunkenness before beginning 39 years of sobriety, visited Baltimore yesterday to launch what he hopes will be a national movement of political activism by a group accustomed to secrecy.