Drug Treatment

A Baltimore drug-treatment program that was investigated for financial improprieties earlier this year apparently will be denied renewal of a federal grant.The Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems, a quasi-public organization, has been operating for three years under a $13 million grant from the federal Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, under a program called Target Cities.But Dr. Peter Beilenson, Baltimore health commissioner, says the city has been notified informally that its application for another $3.4 million has been denied.

A Sinai Hospital cardiologist is launching a clinical trial of a type of coronary artery disease drug not yet tested in humans, building on a history at the Baltimore hospital of research to develop more effective treatments to prevent blood clotting. Dr. Paul Gurbel is studying an intravenous drug for patients undergoing cardiac stenting, when mesh tubes are implanted to widen blocked arteries. The drug, known for now as PZ-128, would be given to patients after stent implantation to prevent platelets from sticking together around the device, potentially leading to heart attack.

In 2009, Congress passed legislation reversing the decades-old ban on the use of federal funding for syringe exchange but, for unclear reasons, in late 2011, it reversed this decision, again withholding federal funding from programs that provide drug users with sterile needles and syringes. This month, Congress approved the health spending budget for the rest of this fiscal year without lifting the ban. This lack of action worsens public health problems, makes our communities less safe, and increases future financial burdens on taxpayers.

As the federal government shifts its drug control strategy toward drug treatment and education initiatives, the U.S. drug czar said Wednesday at an event in Baltimore that he plans to emphasize the expansion of drug courts to divert nonviolent offenders to treatment instead of prison. Gil Kerlikowske, director of national drug control policy, announced the changes at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine as he laid out his goals for the year. The former Seattle police chief said there would be no official change in the federal stance that marijuana is an illegal and harmful drug, a hot issue since two states voted to allow its use last year.

It's been a busy year so far at Powell Recovery Center in Upper Fells Point. About 40 new clients have walked into the drug treatment center since the state expanded substance-abuse coverage for low-income Maryland residents Jan. 1. State officials hope that getting more addicts into treatment will ease a major backlog, especially in Baltimore. While some centers worry that the expansion will prove burdensome, Powell Recovery's president sees only an upside: He predicts his center will be able to serve more than 2,000 drug users this year, up from 1,500 last year.

As the federal government shifts its drug control strategy toward drug treatment and education initiatives, the U.S. drug czar said Wednesday at an event in Baltimore that he plans to emphasize the expansion of drug courts to divert nonviolent offenders to treatment instead of prison. Gil Kerlikowske, director of national drug control policy, announced the changes at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine as he laid out his goals for the year. The former Seattle police chief said there would be no official change in the federal stance that marijuana is an illegal and harmful drug, a hot issue since two states voted to allow its use last year.

GOV. ROBERT L. Ehrlich Jr., a law-and-order Republican, has made drug treatment efforts a top priority of his administration. He has focused on putting nonviolent, drug-addicted offenders into treatment instead of jail, and offering treatment to prisoners before they return to the streets. But a key aspect of the administration's initiatives now before the Maryland General Assembly is in danger of being derailed by cost-cutting, shortsighted legislative budget analysts. Targeted for cuts is the administration's plan to enhance drug treatment and education programs for Maryland prisoners - a welcome reform of the prison system.

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY should reject Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s plan to enhance drug treatment and education programs. Drug users can pay for their own "treatment" if they really want help. They found the money to buy drugs, they can find the money to buy treatment. State funding for addiction treatment only helps addiction treatment providers. The most popular way of helping people with drug and alcohol problems is through free self-help programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and SMART Recovery.

Graham-Melvin Associates, Inc. has shut down its drug treatment clinic in the Oakwood Business Center on Oakland Mills Road in east Columbia, apparently because of financial problems.The company, which also closed a clinic at 2117 Maryland Ave. in Baltimore, has been under state scrutiny since April, when the state cut off funding to the program when auditors discovered the clinic might be overbilling Medicaid.In June in Howard Circuit Court, the clinic admitted bilking $95,000 from the Medicaid program by inflating hours spent with patients and billing for office visits that never happened.

Baltimore Housing Commissioner Daniel P. Henson has withdrawn a threat to cut $4 million in housing funds from the city's drug treatment program, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said yesterday.Henson, who sits on the board of Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems Inc., the agency created to coordinate drug treatment in the city, threatened this week to take back a portion of the organization's $33 million budget after becoming frustrated by what he called inaction in treating public housing addicts.Schmoke said yesterday that he met Wednesday with Henson and city Health Commissioner Peter L. Beilenson, who agreed to speed up the treating of city addicts.

Lawmakers in Annapolis rejected a bill this year that would have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana, but prosecutors in Baltimore City are already ahead of the curve in treating the offense as a public health issue rather than as a crime. This is the beginning of a sane policy on marijuana that one can only hope city officials will seek to expand in coming years. When the idea of treating drug abuse as a medical problem rather than as a criminal justice issue was proposed in the late 1980s by former Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, critics dismissed the suggestion as not only dangerously naive and impractical but as morally and ethically wrong.

In 2009, Congress passed legislation reversing the decades-old ban on the use of federal funding for syringe exchange but, for unclear reasons, in late 2011, it reversed this decision, again withholding federal funding from programs that provide drug users with sterile needles and syringes. This month, Congress approved the health spending budget for the rest of this fiscal year without lifting the ban. This lack of action worsens public health problems, makes our communities less safe, and increases future financial burdens on taxpayers.

I read the article about the Oliver neighborhood with great hope and jubilation ("Blitz of help set in Oliver," March 13). I applaud Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and her team for their efforts in trying to resuscitate this community by using a holistic approach. I particularly like the integration of law enforcement and drug treatment but with some words of caution. National statistics tell us there is very high prevalence of co-occurring substance use and mental disorders specifically among minorities.

A 51-year-old man with a colorful criminal past has been charged in connection with the robbery of two hospital employees at Mercy Medical Center's McAuley Tower, police said. Officers arrested William Johnson of the 500 block of Yale Avenue Friday and he has been charged with armed robbery, first degree assault and other offenses, according to online court records. He is being held without bail. Two employees were robbed of cash from their personal belongings Tuesday, police said earlier in the week.

By the time Baltimore Behavioral Health Inc. sought bankruptcy protection Dec. 28, the once-high-flying drug treatment and mental health clinic had been showing signs of financial trouble for two years. But even as the private nonprofit's debts mounted, members of the family that long oversaw the West Pratt Street clinic continued to be well paid, recently released tax records show. In 2011, five family members received $1.1 million in salary and contract payments, according to records filed with the Internal Revenue Service in September.

Vernon L. Hackett's latest stint at the Howard County Detention Center ended early last month after 54 days awaiting trial on a misdemeanor theft charge that was eventually dropped. The 41-year-old from Baltimore City says he's been in and out of the jail in Jessup five or six times, and in the last 22 years has also done turns in three other county jails and two state prisons - always on charges of theft, drug sale or possession, and probation violations. This time, he says, it's going to be different.

Diane Lynn Wisner, twice convicted on cocaine distribution charges, asked Carroll Circuit Judge Francis M. Arnold yesterday to send her to a drug treatment program and spare her from a possible minimum, mandatory prison term of 10 years without parole."

State officials will meet with Straight Inc. drug treatment clients and their parents today to discuss where the adolescents should continue their therapy in the wake of the program's unexpected closing.Meanwhile, a group of parents who were dissatisfied with Straight's management policies is hoping to start an independent program modeledafter Straight.The Columbia program, which is part of a national chain, will close Friday due to financial difficulties and a host of internal problems between the local program and Straight's corporate home office in Florida.

The directors of Baltimore Behavioral Health Inc., a major drug treatment provider in Baltimore, have laid off longtime executive William "Kris" Hathaway, as the once high-flying nonprofit continues to cut costs. The board of directors had earlier removed Hathaway as chief executive and put vice president Terry T. Brown in charge of the clinic, which specializes in treating people with both addiction and mental illness. In an emailed response to questions from The Baltimore Sun, board member Jay Miller said that Hathaway was laid off "in the interest of saving money.

Isn't it a bit disingenuous for the University of Maryland School of Medicine to use its own research to justify locating a methadone treatment center in the 1100 block of West Pratt Street ("Study: Methadone clinics don't draw crime," May 1)? It's interesting that the school found that convenience stores bring crime to a neighborhood because of the foot traffic they generate. How else would the university describe bringing 600 or so drug addicts a day to a methadone treatment center except as generating foot traffic through the neighborhood?