[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 11 (Tuesday, February 8, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
           DISABILITY PAYMENTS TO DRUG ADDICTS AND ALCOHOLICS

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. President, the President of the United States has just 
submitted a $1.52 trillion budget proposal to Congress and this week 
will introduce his drug strategy plan. We will soon start rolling up 
our sleeves to hammer out the details of major health care reform 
proposals--and will then turn to the rather large task of reforming our 
Nation's welfare system.
  While there will be many solutions proposed to these problems of 
crime, drugs, health care, and welfare, I rise today to report to my 
colleagues on one way that we can make a dent in each of these problems 
facing our Nation today.
  Stop giving drug dealers and drug addicts cash to buy more drugs. 
Absurd as it must seem to hardworking Americans who see more and more 
of their paychecks going to taxes, and to severely disabled persons who 
truly need assistance, we are now paying over a billion dollars a year 
in disability payments to drug addicts and alcoholics--many of whom are 
using taxpayer dollars to buy more drugs and alcohol.
  For the past several months, my staff on the Senate Special Committee 
on Aging has been investigating the payment of Social Security 
disability benefits to drug addicts and alcoholics. As part of this 
investigation, I asked the GAO to review the adequacy of the Social 
Security Administration's program for SSI and DI recipients who are 
drug addicts and alcoholics [DA&A].


                                findings

  The current policy of allowing addicts and alcoholics to use 
disability payments to turn around and buy more drugs and alcohol 
seriously undermines our efforts to combat crime, promote preventive 
health care, and reform our welfare system. In addition to wasting 
taxpayer dollars, the current situation hurts the addicts themselves--
and only perpetuates drug and alcohol abuse.
  We found that:
  The word on the street is that SSI gives easy cash for drugs and 
alcohol.
  The director of a homeless shelter in Denver told staff investigators 
that SSI is, in effect ``suicide on the installment plan'' because the 
program provides ready cash to addicts and alcoholics with no strings 
attached for followup or treatment. He maintains that the first day of 
every month is considered Christmas Day by many of the alcoholics and 
addicts who use the money for illegal drugs and alcohol, fail to enter 
treatment programs, and then either stay on the street or return to 
homeless shelters for food and shelter once their disability benefit 
has been spent on drugs.
  An expert who works with drug abusers and alcoholics compared the 
policy of giving addicts cash to ``giving someone on disability because 
of cancer a monthly injection of cancer cells.''

  A mental health worker specializing in chemical dependency told the 
committee that his caseload of illegal drug users was about 99.5 
percent SSI recipients. He said that he has witnessed several deaths of 
SSI recipients from drug overdoses, ``yet their checks just keep 
coming.''
  In San Francisco, a drug addict used his disability benefits to buy 
high-grade drugs, diluted these into small doses, and realized huge 
profits by reselling them on the street.
  In our investigation, we heard several allegations that the current 
disability process has spawned a cottage industry of clinics, attorney 
representatives, and doctors who help abusers get on the disability 
rolls.
  Another major finding is that lump sum disability benefits of 
thousands of dollars are being paid to substance abusers who are using 
these funds to buy drugs and alcohol.
  Since it frequently takes a year or longer to be awarded benefits for 
SSI and DI, lump sums as high as $15,000 to $20,000 can be awarded to 
substance abusers. For example:
  An SSI applicant alleging drug addiction was found disabled and then 
died of a lethal drug overdose purchased with thousands of dollars of 
unrestricted retroactive benefits.
  An SSI and DI recipient with a history of drug abuse was awarded 
retroactive benefits of $19,000. He went directly to Las Vegas and 
proceeded to purchase cocaine, using up all of his money.
  We know directly that some recipients are dealing drugs but we still 
pay them.
  The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that under the 
current law governing the SSI program, active drug dealing is not 
enough to deny disability benefits.
  So even if you are dealing in drugs that is not enough to stop the 
flow of taxpayer money going to that individual. I would like to try to 
explain that one to the American taxpayer.
  The protections that are supposed to exist in the program have 
failed.
  Congress required that drug abusers and alcoholics comply with two 
requirements in order to get disability and SSI benefits:
  They must have treatment and have a third party, either a friend, 
relative, or an institution manage the payments on their behalf.
  Both of these protections have failed.
  Up until last month, the Social Security Administration had set up 
programs to monitor and enforce the treatment requirement in only 18 
States. In fact, 26 States had never had an agency approved by SSA to 
monitor treatment.
  Fewer than one-third of the approximately 250,000 drug addicts and 
alcoholics are even required to get treatment or have someone else 
collect their benefits for them.
  Of the $1.4 billion in benefits flowing to drug addicts and 
alcoholics on the SSI and disability programs, only $320 million of 
these payments are even covered by these protections. So, over $1.1 
billion in payments are exposed to widespread abuse--with no controls 
in place.
  There are widespread problems in the collection of payments by third 
parties on behalf of the drug and alcohol abusers--in fact, we found 
cases where the bartender, the local drug dealer, or another addict was 
appointed as the guardian of the payments.
  Mr. President, this simply cannot be allowed to continue, that we are 
making payments directly to local bartenders, or to other drug addicts 
to collect the money who then go out and buy more alcohol and more 
drugs. It is an intolerable situation. Soon I will be introducing 
legislation that I think we can take corrective action very quickly and 
very simply to stop the flow of money going to this type of abuse.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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