trends April, 2005	A publication of Treatment Trends, Inc 18-22 6th Street PO Box 685 Allentown, PA 18105 Publisher: Robert Csandl Managing Editor: Karen Tomlinson Production Staff: John Dillensnyder   Vol 4, Issue 3
Treatment Trends, Inc., 18-22 South 6th St., Box 685, Allentown, PA 18105
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INNOVATIONS IN TREATMENT GIVE ADDED VALUE TO DRUG TREATMENT
By Robert Csandl, MHS, Executive Director

During difficult fiscal times it is important for both clients and funders to get the most for their money. In the non-profit sector we develop and further develop cost-effective programs and services to help our clients. We find creative ways with limited funding, to stand aside of the "for-profit," public funded programs (is that an oxymoron?) to compete.

When having to compete with the "big boys" for referrals, the constant refrain inside Treatment Trends Program is "stick to the mission, do what you do and do it well." Being smaller allows us to pay attention at a different level. We do old fashioned things—like talk to our clients in focus groups, study the demographics of our clientele, and most importantly, try to meet their needs while attending to the expectations of our referral source.

Analysis from data collected from our clients identify needs beyond drug treatment. Some disturbing trends in workforce preparedness along with educational deficits are worsening. While our clientele are plenty smart in other ways (arguably, street smart), they are often lacking in basic skills such as reading and writing as well as hard vocational skills.

To address these client deficits we have (1) added volunteer mentors to augment an Adult Basic Education and GED Prep program delivered on-site for 15 hours a week by Lehigh County Community College and (2) added hard vocational skill development to our Therapeutic Community drug treatment services (an idea taken from a sister program, Phoenix House, in NYC).

VOCATIONAL TRAINING CERTIFICATES ACHIEVED WHILE IN DRUG TREATMENT

Treatment Trends has partnered with Bethlehem Area Vocational Technical School (BVATS) to run a culinary arts program for residents of Keenan House, our residential therapeutic community, while they are undergoing treatment. In addition to the Culinary Arts Program Certificate, clients completing can test for and receive the "Serve Safe" Certificate required in every Pennsylvania Restaurant.

This is our second partnership with Bethlehem Vocational Technical School. Our clients can also complete a 10-week Basic Computer Proficiency Class during their stay at Keenan House. When they complete a proficiency test, they receive a completion certificate from BAVTS. The director of BVATS is an innovator who believes that these programs are the kinds of outreach activities necessary to make vocational training available to under served populations who would not otherwise upgrade their skills.

Though we are not allowed to use their name, Our Job Readiness Training Programs utilize the same TC concepts as the famous East Harlem Welfare to Work Program, STRIVE. While these skills may not be "hard skills," they are necessary work ethic and attitude skills so necessary to our residents’ success in the workforce.

As we look ahead and grow excited about what our program has to offer, we see more and more potential. Additional exploratory work is being done to develop a building maintenance certificate program to further add to the value of our drug treatment services and the efforts to make our clients more employable and responsible.

For added value, non-profits do the job. We are proud to serve our communities’ and clients’ needs.

"We strive to give you roots and the wings to fly." —TTI motto

HALFWAY HOME OF LEHIGH VALLEY WELCOMED TO TREATMENT TRENDS FAMILY
By Robert Csandl, MHS, Executive Director

The Halfway Home of the Lehigh Valley becoming part of Treatment Trends, Inc., was finalized on December 1, 2004. We welcome the addition of this 36-bed facility to the service delivery system of Treatment Trends. The Halfway Home has a very capable professional staff and enjoys an excellent reputation throughout our region of Pennsylvania. The addition of the Halfway Home adds 15 professional staff positions to Treatment Trends, Inc.

The Two Main Buildings on 8th Street

Treatment Trends now employs 80 people, provides 121 residential treatment beds, 11 transitional living beds and 150 out-patient treatment slots with a combined budget of $4.6 million.

The Halfway Home was purchased from the nonprofit St. Luke’s Hospital for $625,000 when they decided to "divest from all drug and alcohol treatment services."  The Treatment Trends Foundation purchased the property for $240,000 and had to borrow the remaining $385,000 to buy the "business."

Though we are now in debt for the first time in a decade, we were glad to assure the continuation of this valued service helping addicts and alcoholics have the opportunity of recovery. We commend the staff of the Halfway Home for their historical efforts treating addicts and alcoholics and welcome their continued employment with Treatment Trends. As the new "stewards" of this program, we intend to continue their fine tradition of exemplary services to our community and region.

The Carriage House contains the staff offices and sleeping quarters for residents

OPINION: WHAT IS IT ABOUT MEDICATION...
By Bruce Walters, TCAP

At the heart of the evolution of Narcotics Anonymous is the belief that we are guided by a loving God made manifest in our group conscience. Because individual members fall short, we utilize this revered process when important decisions affecting the fellowship as a whole need to be made.

In order to change and grow, it is necessary, individually and collectively, to re-evaluate our old ideas and behaviors so that we can either replace them or expand on our existing beliefs. The revision of existing publications and the creation of new NA-approved literature is a reflection of the growth of our fellowship on a global scale.

Fortunately, most of us choose to accept the collective wisdom of the fellowship; however, when members who find themselves in the minority refuse to relinquish opposing points of view, our unity is compromised and members suffer. In over sixteen years of recovery, I have seen this type of dissention result in varying degrees of harm, ranging from mere annoyance to outright catastrophe. Of particular concern is the medication issue. Since 1992, Narcotics Anonymous’ position regarding the use of medication has been clearly stated in our NA-approved pamphlet. In Times of Illness: "Narcotics Anonymous as a whole has no opinion on outside issues, including health issues. The ultimate responsibility for making medical decisions rests with each individual."

Enter the NA purists.

Does the following sound like a familiar scenario? An NA purist raises his or her hand and starts telling everyone that if they are taking medication, they are not really clean because our Basic Text states that this is a program of complete abstinence. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the pamphlet In Times of Illness came into being through the same process of group conscience as did our Basic Text. I can only speculate that the group conscience of the World Board of Narcotics Anonymous regarding this issue did not swing their—i.e., the purists’—way. What I can say with confidence is that, whenever a small group of individuals take the stance that they are right and the whole world is wrong, something is amiss.

In my area, there have been dire consequences following the NA purists’ misrepresentation of Narcotics Anonymous. I know first hand of psychiatric admissions that have resulted from this type of sharing, and worse. One NA member who moved here from Florida reported knowing of an actual suicide that occurred because a newcomer discontinued his antidepressant medication after hearing a purist share that he was not clean.

Another suggestion of the purists in my area is for all those on psychiatric medications to form a twelve-step program for the dually diagnosed. This is a slap in the face to members who, after recovering in the Narcotics Anonymous program for many years, have found it necessary to take medication in order to maintain their mental health.

When confronted, some purists simply shrug and say they are not responsible for the feelings of the injured party. What a perfect way to continue running on self-will. If we all jumped on that bandwagon, we could eliminate all the steps after Step Seven because we would never need to become willing to make amends in Step Eight!

As the medication controversy rages on, I wonder how many more will suffer. My first tendency is to enter the fray in heated debate, but once again I turn to the literature of Narcotics Anonymous for the answer. The Basic Text’s essay on the Second Tradition states, "The self-seekers soon find they are on the outside, causing dissention and eventually disaster for themselves."

In my area, those who have withdrawn from the evolution of the NA Fellowship have formed a home group of their own. It is no small irony that they have adopted the same name as another group of dissenters who refused to surrender.

They call it The Alamo.

[Ed Note: This article appeared in the January 2005 issue of The NA Way, the Narcotics Anonymous International Newsletter.]

ACLU REPORT: US DRUG LAWS HURT WOMEN
© 2005 The Oklahoma Publishing Company
The Oklahoman (OK) Www.oklahoman.com
From www.drugsense.org

3/17/05 New York (AP)—America’s war on drugs is inflicting deep and disproportionate harm on women—most of them mothers—who are filling prisons in ever-rising numbers despite their typically minor roles in drug rings, the American Civil Liberties Union and two other groups contended in a major new report.

The report, "Caught in the Net," is being released Thursday as the focus of a two-day national conference in New York, bringing together criminal justice officials, sentence-reform activists and other experts to consider its package of proposed legislative and policy changes. The report recommends expansion of treatment programs geared toward women, says incarceration should be a last resort and urges more vigorous efforts to maintain ties between imprisoned mothers and their children.

"Drug convictions have caused the number of women behind bars to explode, leaving in the rubble displaced children and overburdened families," the document says.
The number of imprisoned women is increasing at a much faster rate than the number of men, mostly because of tougher drug laws. There were 101,000 women in state and federal prisons in 2003, an eight-fold increase since 1980: roughly one-third were drug offenders, compared to about one-fifth of male inmate.

"Many of the drug conspiracy and accomplice laws were created to go after the kingpins," said the ACLU women’s rights project director, Lenora Lapidus, a lead author of the report. "But women who may simply be a girlfriend or wife are getting caught in the web as well, and sent to prison for very long times when all they may have done is answer the telephone."

Lapidus acknowledged that legislation addressing the situation would probably need to be gender-neutral. But she and her fellow authors—from New York University Law School’s Brennan Center for Justice and the advocacy group Break The Chains—make a detailed case that existing drug laws have had specific, devastating and disparate effects on women.

Among the report’s contentions:

Many women are ensnared in drug investigations despite peripheral involvement, sometimes solely because they failed to turn in their partners into police.
Treatment programs, to the extent they exist, often are tailored for men and prove relatively ineffective for women.

Black and Hispanic women are imprisoned for drug offenses at higher rates than white women even though their rates of illegal drug use are comparable.
Most imprisoned women and relatively few imprisoned men leave behind children for whom they were the sole primary caretakers.

The report makes an economic case for change, contending that the combined annual cost of imprisoning a mother and placing a child in foster care is seven times the cost of an intensive one-year treatment program.

Several mothers jailed for drug offenses are attending the conference, including Dorothy Gaines, whose 19-year prison sentence for cocaine conspiracy was commuted by President Clinton in 2000 after she served six years. Gaines says her son, Phillip, now 20, was devastated by the separation.

"He was an honor roll student, but when I went to prison, he just lost it," Gaines said in a telephone interview from Alabama. "Even when I finally came home, he tried to kill himself. He’s still bearing the scars."

The issues raised in the report are difficult ones for criminal justice officials as their states debate building new prisons of diverting more nonviolent drug offenders into treatment.

"When there’s a woman defendant with children, we generally try everything we can to put her into rehab rather than prison," said Michael Arcuri, District Attorney in New York’s Oneida County and former president of the state DA's association.

"On the other hand, we’re supposed to treat everyone the same," he said. "You see more women in prison because you see more women selling drugs. Some of them feel that, because we were softer on women in the past, they’ll get some sort of easier treatment."

Bruce Bullington, a Florida State University criminologist, said drug-offending mothers may win sympathy from some activists but often are viewed harshly by lawmakers.

"It’s not just an issue of drugs, but of embedded moral values," he said. "We demonize these women, and it comes back to haunt us in a variety of ways."

PA Doctors Have Final Say on Addiction Treatment
Reprinted from Jointogether Online www.jointogether.org

The Pennsylvania Insurance Department has issued notice to health insurance companies doing business in the state that physicians, not managed care firms, have final determination regarding referrals for inpatient and outpatient treatment services, Alcohol & Drug Abuse Weekly, reported August 25.

Treatment providers applauded the state’s directive, saying that for too long Pennsylvania residents have been unable to obtain care or have received inadequate alcohol or other drug treatment services because of policies set by managed-care companies.

"We view this as a perfectly accurate reading of the statute," said Deb Beck, president of the Drug & Alcohol Service Providers Organization of Pennsylvania. "It gives the power back to the physician. The right of the treating physician has been upheld and that ought to be the case in every state."

On the other hand, health insurers said that state’s statement could have adverse implications to their infrastructure and contractual relationships.

"It really throws managed care out the window as to drug and alcohol treatment benefits," said Jonathan Vipond III, a lawyer who represents Magellan Behavioral Health’s interests before the state General Assembly.

Sate law mandates seven days of detoxification services per year and 30 days residential rehabilitation per year with lifetime benefits.

But the law has been interpreted in different ways by providers and managed care firms. Providers said the law requires the treating physician to authorize treatment, while health insurers maintained that the law doesn’t deny them the right to review cases and deny minimum coverage

SALUTING OUR EMPLOYEES--2005 SERVICE ANNIVERSARIES

Nothing in Treatment Trends would function without the dedication and time of our staff. Starting with this issue and in all future April issues milestone (5 or more years) service anniversaries will be published. Congratulations to all!

36 YEARS
Robert Csandl, TTI Admin, July 1

20 YEARS
Vanessa Choma, Keenan House, June 29

15 YEARS
Barbara Dunn, TTI Admin, October 5
Ann Friedenheim, Confront, August 22

14 YEARS
Leslie Dillensnyder, TTI Admin, July 10

12 YEARS
Kathi Oswald, Keenan House, January 13

11 YEARS
Ted Alex, TTI Admin, February 22
John Dillensnyder, TTI Admin, April 10
Josie Braem, Confront, June 6

10 YEARS
John Harter, Keenan House, April 10
Annabelle Dittbrenner, TTI Admin, Sept 19
Nelly Ramos-Gonzalez, Confront, October 2
Joan Allen, Keenan House, October 9

9 YEARS
Peter Amoresano, Keenan House, Jan 10
Jon Wacker, Keenan House, April 14
Randy Derr, Keenan House, October 26
Diane Hopkins, Keenan House, Nov 20

8 YEARS
Nancy Reightler, Confront, April 14
Chuck Beasley, TTI Admin, June 30
David Gonzalez, Keenan House, Dec 12

7 YEARS
Jim LaBar, TTI Admin, February 3

5 YEARS
Brenda Andrews, Keenan House, August 7

ANNOUNCING THE 2004 WALK FOR RECOVERY SCHOLARSHIP
Tiffany Becker, Keenan House Staff

With best intentions, the Walk committee scheduled the 2004 Walk for Recovery for Saturday, September 18, 2004. This was to be the day to come out and support drug and alcohol recovery by raising money and walking a 5K course through the Lehigh Parkway. As fate would have it, a hurricane left the Lehigh Parkway, the site of the Walk for Recovery, flooded and closed, forcing the cancellation of the Walk.

Fortunately, all monetary proceeds raised up to that point were not withdrawn. Instead, sponsors and the Committee developed a scholarship fund benefit educational advancement opportunities for recovering individuals in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas. The funds are divided into three scholarships for three lucky students.

CRITERIA
To become eligible for a scholarship, a candidate must submit an essay on "How My Recovery Impacts My Community, Family and Education" along with an official application which can be printed directly from our website or can be picked up at our Keenan House location (18-22 South 6th Street, Allentown).

A candidate must also be:

=  In recovery for at least 1 year
=  A resident of Lehigh County
=  At least 18 years or older
=  Have an annual income of less than $30,000 per year.

All applications and essays must be submitted by June 1, 2005. Essays will be judged by the Walk Committee members, and the winners will be awarded soon thereafter.

SPONSORS
The 2004 Walk for Recovery Committee would like to offer a special thanks to our corporate sponsors. Thanks to SYSCO; PNC Bank; Capital Blue Cross; Gross, McGinley, LaBarre & Eaton, LLP; and Brown & Brown Insurance for all their generous donations. Without their support, this scholarship fund would not have been possible.

TO ENTER
Call Tiffany Becker, Walk Director, at 610-439-8479.

Go to www.treatmenttrends.org. Hit the Scholarship button for the form and more information.

Drug War Clock excerpted from www.drugsense.org

As of Tuesday, April 12, 2005:

MONEY SPENT ON THE WAR ON DRUGS THIS YEAR:

The US Federal government spent over $19 billion dollars in 2003 on the War on Drugs, at a rate of about $600 per second. The budget has since been increased by over a billion dollars..

State and local governments will spend at least another $30 billion.
Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy

 PEOPLE ARRESTED FOR DRUG LAW OFFENSES THIS YEAR:

Arrests for drug law violations in 2005 are expected to exceed the 1,678,192 arrests of 2003. Someone is arrested every 20 seconds.

PEOPLE ARRESTED FOR CANNABIS OFFENSES THIS YEAR:

In 2002, 45.3 percent of the total 1,538,813 total arrests for drug abuse violations were for marijuana—a total of 697,082. Of those, 613,986 people were arrested for marijuana possession alone. This is a slight decrease from 2000, when a total of 734,497 Americans were arrested for marijuana offenses, of which 646,042 were for possession alone.

PEOPLE INCARCERATED FOR DRUG LAW OFFENSES THIS YEAR:

Since December 31, 1995, the US prison population has grown an average of 43, 266 inmates per year. About 25 per cent are sentenced for drug law violations.

PREVENTABLE HIV INFECTIONS THIS YEAR

Nearly 4,000 new HIV infections can be prevented before the year 2006 if the federal ban on needle exchange funding is lifted this year. About 10 new cases could be prevented every day.