L.A. Wins $4 Million for Drug Programs : Treatment: Federal funding will enable overburdened centers, some targeting minorities and pregnant women, to cut long waiting lists.

Los Angeles was awarded $4 million in federal funds to bolster overburdened drug-abuse programs as part of a $60-million grant package announced Thursday to help drug-ravaged cities nationwide.

The money--allocated last year by Congress and therefore not subject to current budget cutting--is expected to significantly enhance as many as 17 existing treatment programs in Los Angeles, including programs aimed at minorities and pregnant women, said Rene Topalian, assistant director of drug-abuse services for the county Health Department.

As one of eight cities specifically targeted by federal anti-drug efforts, Los Angeles qualified for $4 million this year and $7.6 million in additional money in 1991 and 1992, Topalian said.

The other targeted cities receiving grants this year were Boston, $4.5 million; Baltimore, $4.48 million; Atlanta, $3.96 million; San Juan, Puerto Rico, $3.8 million; New York, $3.67 million; Albuquerque, N.M., $2.47 million, and Milwaukee, $1.46 million.

“The nice thing about this money is . . . that it doesn’t force us to start new services,” Topalian said, adding that local programs have struggled to catch up with patient waiting lists since widespread federal cuts in 1982.

Since that time, he said, the county drug-treatment system has “declined about one-third” in what it could afford to offer. Meanwhile, the rise in cocaine addiction and other drug problems has put additional strains on most programs.

The grant “won’t put us back to where we were,” Topalian said, “but it will definitely help.”

The money will fund county programs and augment a budget of slightly more than $40 million for drug-abuse programs. But because the federal funds announced Thursday were awarded to cities, the county’s grant must go to programs located within Los Angeles city boundaries, Topalian said.

Expected to benefit are a variety of outpatient programs for Asians, blacks and Latinos, as well as services for drug-abusing pregnant women or mothers and their children.

“The ‘children’ part is real important,” Topalian said. “What we do in those programs is to teach parenting skills. There just isn’t enough room in the system to (find homes for) foster children. This is when we know a woman is most susceptible to treatment.”

About six offices in Los Angeles now treat pregnant women and their children; the money will enable two more to be established.

In addition, Topalian said, the money would help to establish five referral centers where drug abusers could learn which programs are best suited to their problems. A 10% share of the money will be set aside to help officials evaluate the success of the programs, a part of the federal effort to develop model approaches that can be used in every city.