
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, December 7, 1993                   TAG: 9312070131
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

ADDICTS SWELL DISABILITY ROLLS

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 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 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.

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."

by CNB