Date: Tue, 7 Dec 93 21:30:36 MST
From: [t j p] at [as.arizona.edu] (Ted Parvu)
To: [net tank] at [cica.cica.indiana.edu]
Subject: Good use of taxes :-/

Glad to see that my tax dollars are going to good use. :-/

Ted
*******************************
AP Online
AP 12/06 15:46 EST V0780
Copyright 1993. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than 72,000 people collect an average $405 a month in
federal disability payments because they are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Few
get the treatment they need to kick their habit and some end up using the cash
to buy more liquor or drugs.
   The number of drug addicts and alcoholics on the rolls of Supplemental
Security Income has exploded in recent years. In the first nine months of 1993,
nearly 19,000 people began collecting benefits.
   The federal government will spend an estimated $350 million in payments to
addicts and alcoholics on SSI this fiscal year, more than six times as much as
the $55 million spent in 1989.
   SSI is a welfare program, run by the Social Security Administration, that is
supposed to help low-income elderly and disabled people pay for food, shelter
and clothing.
   To qualify for SSI disability benefits, a person must be unable to work
because of a physical or mental impairment that is expected to result in death
or last for at least a year. Social Security determines who is eligible for
benefits.
   Some 5.8 million people receive SSI benefits, and just 1.5 percent of them
are addicts and alcoholics, said Social Security spokesman Phil Gambino.
   In exchange for their checks, drug addicts and alcoholics must agree to get
abuse treatment, if it's available.
   The problem, say advocates and Social Security officials, is that there
aren't enough treatment opportunities in a country with 23 million addicts,
alcoholics and problem drinkers and fewer than 90,000 federally funded treatment
slots.
   In any given year, only about 2 million to 3 million people are actually
being treated in either private or publicly funded facilities, according to the
National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors.
   As a result, some addicts may be spending their benefits on liquor or drugs.
   "Social Security, unknowingly, unwittingly, provides more money to drug
dealers and bars than any other organization in the whole world," said Francis
J. O'Byrne, an administrative law judge in Chicago who hears appeals from people
who have been denied Social Security benefits.
   "No drug addict, no alcoholic should ever have their hands on cash," O'Byrne
said. "These people should be put in a hospital, in detox, to make them better,
not given money to buy a better class of drugs."
   O'Byrne says he asks people applying for disability benefits if they will use
the money to buy alcohol. A common answer, he says, is "Well yes, but I'll steal
less."
   Al Guida, vice president of governmental affairs for the National Mental
Health Association, believes most SSI benefits to recipients disabled by
addiction go to rent, food and day-to-day survival.
   "Let's say for a moment that we bar these payments and then shift the $300
million into direct drug treatment," he said. "What you're going to do is
increase the number of people who are homeless."
   Social Security requires that all cash payments to a drug addict or alcoholic
be made to a "representative payee," such as a relative, friend or roommate, who
is supposed to make sure the money is well spent.
   But that's no guarantee the addict won't buy drugs or alcohol, because Social
Security may unknowingly chose a representative payee who is irresponsible or
easily intimidated by the addict.
   According to Social Security, there were 72,137 people on the SSI rolls
because of a debilitating drug or alcohol addiction in September. Less than a
third, 22,000, were in treatment.
   "This is one of the social consequences of our utter failure to provide
adequate substance abuse treatment," said Guida.
   The federal government budgeted $931 million for substance abuse and
alcoholism treatment this fiscal year. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration, a Public Health Service agency, says that will pay for
88,742 treatment slots, lasting six months each.
   "Without question, more resources are required in order to treat and
rehabilitate those SSI recipients addicted to drugs and-or alcohol," said
Gambino, the Social Security spokesman.
   "However, we must accept the fact that with over 23 million addicts in this
country, there is already a vast shortage of addiction treatment and
rehabilitation services throughout the United States."
   The number of addicts on the SSI rolls has been mushrooming since the late
1980s: from 12,694 in December 1988 to 59,424 in March to 65,925 in June.
   Social Security officials believe the increase is due to the downturn in the
economy, greater awareness of the program, increased referrals and more accurate
coding of cases by employees.