European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 18, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Doing something about drugs by Jules Loh associate Pressi f the goal is to reach Iho top become an expert in your Field and be quoted Kevin Mceneany is living evidence that the place to Start is on the Bottom rung but no Tower. I started lower than lha Bottom rung he was saying the other Day from an armchair in his office on Manhattan s West Side. His desk groaned with paperwork and for the moment he ignored the Button lashing on his Telephone. The picture of a Busy successful executive. Also the picture of health. He is a big Man with a Broad lace and a Broad Grin with Bright Brown eyes and thick Brown hair. He has a big voice which he Lowers rather than raises of make a serious Point. Reaching the Bottom rung he says his voice Tow. Was what saved my  Mceneaney is the senior vice president and the director of clinical services for Phoenix House and was one of its first customers. Phoenix House with Headquarters in new York runs the largest residential drug treatment program in America. At a time when according to the polls. The drug problem has shoved aside even the Federal deficit As a cause Al National alarm. And when everybody especially office soothers has an opinion on what to do about it. Kevin Mceneaney is doing something about it. Usually 12 or so hours a Day. There Aren 1 enough hours in the Day for us to meet the demand he says. To Don t have the time the facilities the stall. There s Only so much we can co this time last year our admissions office averaged 80 people a week. Now we re seeing to to 150. These Are Lor interviews that take Aboul two hours to takes that Long to decide what Sorl of program the applicant needs. We have about 400 on the waiting list and in keeps growing Phoenix House is not alone. New York state s 24 slate supported rehabilitation centers report that they Are Al 110 percent capacity and some applicants face four month wails for treatment. One Odyssey House in new York City closed admissions recently Lor the firs i time in its 20-year history. But the numbers Are not the on a problem Mceneaney says. Tho larger problem is the flow. I mean it we Don t have a bed for you we can get More Beds or lil you into the program All Day. Every Day and you can sleep someplace else. Bui that does t solve the problem. Ii complicates it. The problem is the Row people lowing in and flowing out " the Low problem As Mceneaney explains is yet another frustration facing Many rehabilitation centers across the land confronted with the sudden Rise in drug abuse. Phoenix House is not a shelter he says. We Are a sell help ins dilution for people who want to change their lives. If we simply opened the doors we d be turning the place Over to a Bunch of people acting like drug addicts. Then we would Tail. It takes Aboul a month if we re Lucky for a newcomer Here to get rid of negative values 1o Loam to gel up Early clean his room accept the criticism of the others Here believe it participate in this therapy. That won t happen unless about 70 percent of our population Are far enough along to where they Are emphasizing positive values. It the population gets too heavy with newcomers with negativism it becomes too much for is others to handle see what i mean it s the How. We have to keep a balance. If we Don to we re spinning our wheels. What i m proud of in this crunch is