Q: How can I get help for my addiction problem?
Answer: If you are 18 years of age or older, a DC resident and can prove it, APRA is ready to offer help to you.
Come to either of our two entry points for help. During business hours, come to the main Central Intake Division (CID) office, located on the second floor of 1300 First Street, NE (just south of the two-story McDonalds at the corner of First Street, NE, and New York Avenue, NE). The nearest METRO stop is Union Station on the Red Line. Sign in on the interview sheet found on the desk in the Central Intake Division (CID) Waiting Room. You will be called for screening in the order in which you signed in. Be prepared for the process to take quite some time-you may want to bring some reading material with you, or a Walkman with headphones.
APRA's other intake site is open 24 hours a day. It is co-located with our Detoxification Facility, located on the campus of DC General, in Building 12. You can get there by METRO - DC General is a stop on the Orange and Blue METRO lines. If you have used recently, you may be taken into the Detox facility on the spot, if there's room. More likely, they will do some preliminary paperwork and a physical exam and then tell you to go to the main CID facility at 1300 First Street, NE, the next morning. Any paperwork they do on you will be sent to 1300 First Street, NE, in the morning.
To be admitted into an APRA treatment program, you must be able to show that you are a DC resident. A DC driver's license or nondriver's identification card is acceptable proof, as is a lease agreement or utility bills in your name sent to you at your DC address. A bank statement is also acceptable.
Because of budget cuts over the past several years, APRA has had to cut back on its programs. As a result, if you are a heroin user who has never been in treatment before, you may be placed on a waiting list. If you have been on methadone before, you may be able to get into Minimum Services while you wait for a slot at one of the methadone maintenance clinics to open up. (The distinction is drawn because your body's reaction to methadone is known. There is little medical risk in simply giving an experienced patient methadone at or close to a blocking dose until a place opens up in full treatment. Because those in Minimum Services receive no other treatment services until a slot opens up, APRA prefers to limit Minimum Services to persons already familiar with heroin use treatment; full treatment from the beginning is imperative for new patients.)
If your problem is alcohol or nonnarcotic drugs, it will be faster to place you, because the caseload per patient is legally higher for counselors not dealing with heroin use. You may need to go into Detox first. As there is a relatively rapid turnover of patients in Detox, you can expect to go to Detox quickly for medical detoxification before going on to abstinence treatment. Two things that are not taken into consideration for placement are the patient's ability to pay, and the patient's status as a criminal justice client or a volunteer client. Payment is on a sliding scale, ranging upward from $1.00 a day, to the going rate locally per patient.
Persons involved in DC's criminal justice system must go through APRA's Criminal Justice Division screening before going to CID. The Criminal Justice Division is located at 70 N Street, NE. The number there is (202) 727-0202. Efforts will be made to place a client in treatment as quickly as possible when patients face jail time if not placed quickly. Nevertheless, you should know that due to the considerable waiting list, even criminal justice clients may have to wait a while. It is best to keep the criminal justice system (judges, courts, Board of Parole, and others) informed immediately when a delay before entering into treatment occurs. Also note that this system may change in some important aspects when the federal government takes over the placement of felons, and parole is no longer involved in felony cases. In such cases, you will be informed about options for treatment.
