Dismal Report on Alcoholics, Addicts and Aid

Just 1% of the low-income drug addicts and alcoholics who collect disability benefits ever recover or get jobs. Most are dropped from the rolls only when they die or go to jail, a federal study says.

The report, by the inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services, also documents government failure to make sure substance abusers are in treatment as a condition of collecting monthly Supplemental Security Income checks of $446.

SSI is a welfare program for the elderly and disabled. Fewer than 10% of SSI substance abusers are definitely in treatment, and the treatment status of most of the rest is unknown, said Monday’s report.

Earlier studies found that addicts were spending their checks on drugs and alcohol.

This month’s report finds that death is the most common reason addicts and alcoholics are crossed off the rolls and that many substance abusers collect benefits for years. Investigators identified 510 who have been receiving benefits since the program began in 1974.