To Save Money, State to Scale Back Drug Abuse Programs for Ex-Convicts.

Because of budget cuts, the state will curtail its substance abuse programs for ex-convicts living in New York City and its suburbs by month's end, despite research indicating that such programs help reduce recidivism. The elimination of about $8.6 million in contracts between the Department of Correctional Services, the Division of Parole and nonprofit groups that provide the drug counseling is a tiny drop in the $1.1 billion that Gov. David A. Paterson has cut from the state's annual spending since March. About 2,700 parolees participated in the programs over the last year, and many who work on smoothing prisoner re-entry worry that cutting the programs could land hundreds of them back behind bars. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]