Treating Substance Abuse In Baltimore

Experts say that Baltimore has tens of thousands of drug addicts. Last year, for the first time, substance abuse treatment was added to Medicaid benefits. WYPR’s Natasha Lesser reports on how the program is paying off.

Every day Eric Gasque, who is 47, comes to the REACH Health Services clinic at 21st and Maryland Avenue for Methadone treatment. Unemployed and addicted to heroin and cocaine for more than 15 years, Gasque decided that it was time to get help.

“Me, I thought I needed help. I thought, I don’t want to be using, I want to be clean, you know. And I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to get clean.”

Gasque is one of Baltimore’s many addicts whose drug treatment is now being covered by Medicaid. Last year, Maryland added outpatient substance abuse treatment services to Medicaid’s Primary Adult Care Program. According to a new report by the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the program has helped thousands of addicts get treatment.

“Individuals making less than approximately 12,600 dollars now have the opportunity to get into substance abuse treatment where they never did before. Prior to January 2010, long waiting list. Now, it’s treatment on demand. In other words, when they want help, help is available.”

That’s Greg Warren, Director of the Baltimore Substance Abuse System, a semi-public, non-profit that works closely with the state government to manage substance abuse treatment services in Baltimore. Warren says that since the program started, about seven thousand people in the city have signed up. Perhaps most importantly, addicts don’t have to wait anymore to get treatment. That’s crucial because addicts waiting for treatment tend to lose their drive to stop using, and fall back into addiction. For decades, says Warren, drug addiction has been a huge problem in Baltimore, affecting almost every aspect of city life.

“Baltimore City, for decades, has had a tremendous unmet need of people who need addiction treatment. In any given year there’s an estimated 65,000 to 70,000 individuals needing substance abuse treatment. And at best we’ve only had enough funding to give it to approximately 15,000. So, that leaves a gap of 45,000 people, who need substance abuse treatment that are suffering every year, going into emergency rooms, hospitals, into our detention center and prison system.”

Warren says that increasing the availability of treatment has been shown to lower crime, decrease unemployment and reduce risky sexual behavior – which makes paying for more treatment worth the money, even in a recession. The state is paying for expanded treatment by moving money from other grant programs. That also means that state funds are now being matched by money from the Federal government. By next year, an additional $26 million will have gone to the program, according to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene report. That’s money well spent, says Warren.

“To treat someone in treatment easily for six months isn’t much, especially when you can have the benefit of having a healthy person join their family again, be a taxpaying citizen in our city.”

Eric Gasque, the addict who started in the program last year, is happy to be benefiting from drug treatment.

“Well, right now I mean the program itself is really helping me because I’m no longer using. Well, it’s almost two years that I’m clean."

State and local officials hope that in the next few years thousands more addicts will get treatment as well.

I’m Natasha Lesser, reporting in downtown Baltimore, for 88.1, WYPR.