Do your members of Congress, local state lawmakers, or candidates for public office support addiction treatment on demand? Do they think locking addicts up is the answer to the drug problem? Do they even believe addiction is a treatable disease?

Even people who consider themselves advocates for addiction treatment and recovery often are hard-pressed to answer such questions. But New Jersey voters have a one-stop information resource on who stands for or against them on critical public-policy issues regarding addiction: the state's chapter of the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence (NCADD-NJ).

NCADD-NJ has been extremely proactive in using the Internet and other communications tools to keep the public informed about state government activities, legislation, and candidates' opinions during election season. Last year, for example, NCADD-NJ sent detailed surveys to hundreds of candidates for state office, including Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jim McGreevey (who replied, and incidentally won the election), Republican Bret Schundler (who didn't reply), and independent candidate Bill Schluter.

NCADD-NJ's candidate survey includes questions about the disease theory of addiction, effectiveness of treatment, demand versus supply reduction, legalization of drugs for recreational or medicinal uses, the current state of New Jersey's treatment system, approaches to youth prevention, and parity coverage for addiction.

"While researching for the development for the candidate survey, we found that surveys by alcohol and drug addiction treatment and prevention advocates were very rare," said John Hulick, NCADD-NJ's public-policy director. "In fact, we could find only one other group -- Friends of Recovery in New Hampshire -- that even ventured down this path."

Fewer than half of the candidates replied, but those who did expressed surprisingly strong support for the disease concept, demand-reduction strategies, using tobacco settlement funds for drug prevention and treatment, and parity coverage for addiction. "In structuring our candidate survey, we used the instrument not only as a way to gauge where candidates stood on issues of concern, but also as an educational tool," noted Hulick.

NCADD-NJ posted the results of the survey online as part of its comprehensive "Decision 2001" electoral guide, which also included a downloadable 12-page primer with general information on voting and the electoral process, along with a legislative scorecard. The latter graded current members of the New Jersey legislature based on their support or opposition of four key bills: drug-court expansion, funding for a treatment program for drunk drivers, requiring parental consent for student surveys, and a measure that would make it harder to site methadone programs in residential areas.

Advocacy at NCADD-NJ is an ongoing process: Hulick may track dozens of pieces of legislation while lawmakers are in session, but a handful are earmarked as priorities and receive the bulk of attention. Here, too, NCADD-NJ considers the Internet a critical advocacy weapon, circulating action alerts by e-mail and utilizing the online tool CapWiz to generate letters to lawmakers in support of addiction and recovery issues. Last year, more than 500 e-mails were sent to legislators by NCADD-NJ supporters using CapWiz' forms, which make it easy to identify your local representatives and send custom or prepared messages, according to Hulick.

NCADD-NJ also posts news stories on addiction from New Jersey newspapers online, in addition to a national news stream provided by Join Together. "We pride ourselves on being the Join Together Online of New Jersey," said Hulick.

Thanks to funding from some of New Jersey's leading addiction-treatment providers, NCADD-NJ is blessed with a full-time public-affairs staff, including Hulick, a policy assistant, a communications specialist, and a public-information officer who prepares the agency's bi-monthly newspaper, "Perspectives." The unit is also responsible for drafting NCADD-NJ's position statements on key issues and defining themes that the organization wants to stress when interacting with the press and public.

Hulick himself spends much of his time in the state capitol meeting with lawmakers, their staff, state agency officials, and supporters of treatment and prevention. "The process is about 95 percent relationships," said Hulick. "I find most people shy away from politics because they don't understand it, and they forget that elected officials are there to serve us."

Another major piece of his job is drafting legislation on behalf of supportive lawmakers. "You can identify problems, but don't leave it to the legislators to solve; tell them how to solve it," said Hulick.

NCADD-NJ also acts as the fiduciary agent for Friends of Recovery New Jersey, a grassroots advocacy organization that receives seed money through the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment's Recovery Community Support Program.

While the group has a small core of about 65 active members, Hulick said Friends of Recovery is an important partner in NCADD NJ's advocacy efforts. "They bring people other than professionals to the table and put a positive face on addiction," he said.

For instance, Friends of Recovery members were on hand last September when a proclamation was read at the New Jersey statehouse in recognition of Recovery Month. "They demonstrated a presence in the legislature, a visual acknowledgment in a public way that recovery happens," said Hulick.

National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence - NJ, 2333 Whitehorse-Mercerville Rd., Hamilton, NJ 08619; 609-689-0599; e-mail: info@ncaddnj.org, www.ncaddnj.org.