Mrs. Reagan Adds Grants to Drug War

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan launched a new phase of her anti-drug crusade during a visit to a Pacoima drug rehabilitation center Thursday, her first tour of a Los Angeles drug center since leaving the White House in January.

After meeting with women residents and their children at Via Avanta drug center, Mrs. Reagan announced that her foundation will soon distribute grants to similar centers in the Los Angeles area. The grants will be small this year, but Mrs. Reagan said “if people will contribute,” the amount available may grow in future years to support programs throughout the country.

The former first lady formed the nonprofit Nancy Reagan Foundation in January to encourage drug-abuse prevention education and treatment.

However, she indicated that she is unlikely to get involved with another proposal for a Nancy Reagan Center, similar to the one planned for nearby Lake View Terrace before local opposition killed it.

“That center is gone, finished,” Mrs. Reagan said. “I’ll be busy with the foundation.”

Neighbors’ protests that the proposed 210-bed rehabilitation, research and training center would attract more drugs and crime to their area prompted Mrs. Reagan to withdraw from the project in May.

“The last thing I wanted to do was upset a community,” she said Thursday.

However, officials of Phoenix House Inc., the nonprofit company that hoped to make the center the hub of Mrs. Reagan’s “Just Say No” crusade, insist that they are continuing to look for a site for her center elsewhere in Los Angeles.

Grant Program

About $4.3 million in cash and pledges was collected for Phoenix House in Mrs. Reagan’s name, according to Suzanne Marx, the national campaign chairman for the proposed Nancy Reagan Center. Use of that money is “still under negotiation,” said John Gustafson, executive director of the Nancy Reagan Foundation, but it is not likely to go to the grant program.

Instead, Gustafson said, drug-abuse treatment and education centers around Los Angeles are being reviewed as possible candidates for grants. He said requests for existing drug centers to submit proposals will go out by the end of the week. He refused to disclose how much money the foundation has raised since January.

Even if a Nancy Reagan Center does eventually materialize, Gustafson said it would be “just one small piece” of Mrs. Reagan’s overall battle against drug abuse. Mostly, he said, the foundation plans to concentrate its resources on supporting existing programs, rather than trying to start new ones.

“There is a lot going on out there,” Gustafson said. “The most important thing in foundation work is not to duplicate efforts.”

Unusual Nature

Gustafson said the unusual nature of the Via Avanta program led Mrs. Reagan to choose it for her visit. The live-in center is one of a handful in California that caters to women who have children or are pregnant.

“I’ve never seen this kind of a program before . . . they tell me there are a couple of others,” Mrs. Reagan said. “I think it’s very important, especially for young mothers.”

Mrs. Reagan spent nearly an hour with residents on Thursday, asking them about their backgrounds and hopes for the future. She admonished them to try to break the addiction cycle by keeping their children off drugs.

Later, she said she was amazed by the severity of abuse, neglect and family drug abuse the women said had led them to drugs.

The residents were equally impressed that Mrs. Reagan chose them. One 26-year-old woman, who revealed that she was a gang member and PCP user for the last 11 years, said, “I’ve watched her make history and here she comes along and she’s interested in us.”

Retrieve Children

Many of the mothers living at Via Avanta have had their children taken away by authorities because of their drug addiction. During the nine-to-18-month program, when the center’s staff decides the mothers are ready, they try to retrieve their children from foster homes and other court-ordered placements, said Christine Westfall, clinic coordinator.

The children then come to live with their mothers at the center, which provides day care, a nursery school and classes for elementary school children.