Faith-based rehab backed
LANCASTER - Climbing aboard a train engineered by President George W. Bush, California Assemblyman George Runner will introduce a bill allowing religion-based drug programs to obtain funding now denied by the state.
On Friday, Runner, R-Lancaster, said he would join Assemblyman Tim Leslie, R-Tahoe, in pursuing approval of Assembly Bill 1508.
The bill is intended to address the disparate way the state chooses to use or not use, to fund or not fund, religion-based programs that treat people addicted to drugs or alcohol, Runner said.
"The fact is, the state is incredibly inconsistent - at times they will use a faith-based organization and other times they won't use one," he said. "Their reasoning for doing it oftentimes deals with this traditional idea that somehow they cross a line of separation of church and state."
Instead of limiting the funding of programs that help people, the state should be expanding it, Runner said. "Here, we're talking about the issue of drug rehabilitation. But it certainly goes on to a lot of other issues; it can include homeless solutions, it can include education solutions - there's a lot of ways for us to reach out into our community."
Under AB 1508, the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs "may not require a religious organization to alter its form of internal governance, or to remove religious symbols, as a condition of receiving funds" in order to receive funding for substance-abuse programs that in all other ways meet the state's requirements.
Essentially, the bill would not allow the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs to deny funds to drug programs that require participants to attend religious services, Bible-study classes or other faith-building functions.
Because the department has the power to deny funds, some addicts are prevented from choosing religion-based treatment programs, Runner said.
"It's not so much the state going ahead and contracting with a (religious) organization as much as it is giving an individual a whole choice of options out there, so that they can individually choose which option they believe will help them be the most successful" in overcoming their addiction, he said.
"It seems to me very obvious that we want to give them every chance of success we can, and if that means they choose to go ahead to an organization that is faith-based, then they ought to be able do that," Runner said.
Changing the state regulation is particularly important in light of the November approval of Proposition 36, which provides for drug treatment instead of incarceration after July 1 for people convicted of non-violent drug-possession crimes, he said.
Because of that change, the number of people directed into drug treatment will far exceed the current capacity of state and locally run programs, he said.
A request for comment drew no immediate response from representatives of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that is critical of President Bush's attempts to direct taxpayer money to the community programs of faith-based organizations.
Joining Runner in announcing the bill were representatives of two local religion-based drug and alcohol programs: Byron Pederson, David DeBose and Cecil Swetland of the multi-denominational Circle Center Network; and Tom Newfang of the non-denominational Christian-based Live Again Recovery Program.
Those allowed to choose their own programs stand the best chance of recovery, Runner said.
Religion-based programs achieve greater success than other types of recovery programs because they "transform" people rather than "reform" them, Pederson said.
Drug and alcohol addicts "are a product of what society is anyway, in the last 20 years," he said. "We have a big part to play in the success of how people are raised and how people are taught these days, so we might as well invest in something that works."