Feb. 8--CHARLESTON -- Delegate Tom Louisos never met a tax he liked -- until now.

Abandoning his long-held resistance to any form of tax increase, Louisos has joined a bi-partisan effort to raise the tax on beer as a means of generating money to finance a drug treatment program.

"We have a problem in West Virginia," Louisos, D-Fayette, said Monday, as the bill was offered in the House of Delegates.

"I'm really not for any increase in taxes. What we have is a drug problem in West Virginia. We need a way to try to rehabilitate these people, so that they can come into society and not be the problems they have been in the past."

The issue arose last week when Delegate Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur, delivered an impassioned plea, recalling how his own son became addicted to drugs, but after a three-year struggle, is now on the mend.

Hamilton is calling for a tax on each barrel of beer, tantamount to about a one-penny hike per can or bottle.

"It's a way to try to solve this problem," Louisos said.

"I don't know if it will work or not, but we have to try to do something. It's a tax I think we can afford."

Louisos laughed at being reminded he has consistently opposed any form of higher taxes in his long career as a delegate.

"But we have such a problem out there," he said.

"I think if we're going to spend money, we ought to say where it's coming from. It's irresponsible to say we'll just take it out of general revenue, or wherever we can get it. This is a dedicated tax for a certain thing."

Hamilton indicated that the beer tax likely would generate about $7.6 million for the special rehabilitation fund.

Backing up the Republican lawmaker's tax last week was another Democrat, Delegate Barbara Hatfield of Kanawha County, who said many lives are being destroyed in West Virginia by drugs.

"We can test everyone in the state, but unless you have the treatment program, it's not going to do any good," she said.

Louisos said the growing pressure of crowded jails and prisons is another consideration for making a serious effort to get inmates unhooked.

"What I understand is about 80 percent of the people in prison -- men and women -- is drug-related," the delegate said.

Louisos estimated that most of the burglaries in his home district of Fayette County are linked to addicts stealing valuables to sell and then purchase illegal drugs.

"If we can solve this problem -- and it's a tremendous problem -- we could really save a lot of dollars when we have to put them in prison," he said.

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