Funds for treatment needed in Pike
Editorial
July 14, 2007

Since Gov. Ernie Fletcher called a special session, the General Assembly has been in the news a lot lately.

That's gotten us thinking about our legislators, and some things we'd like to see done.

One issue we at the News-Express would like to see tackled in January, when the regular session begins, is drug treatment funding in Pike County.

As a recent News-Express article explained, the WestCare Kentucky drug abuse treatment facility in Ashcamp has empty beds - despite the rampant drug abuse problem plaguing this area.

WestCare Director Erdil Looney reported at a recent UNITE Pike meeting that “people are begging to get into” the organization's Ashcamp facility, but WestCare can't financially support staff needed to care for additional residents.

The 92-bed facility, licensed for 72 beds, has funding available for staff to support only 45 clients and has more than 200 people on the waiting list.

When WestCare sought to open the Ashcamp facility, it began with around $1.5 million in state and federal funds that has since been depleted. For this fiscal year, the state legislature funds $482,000 for WestCare and it costs about $1.2 million to operate the facility to serve clients in 45 beds.

So first, we need more state funding. We understand there isn't an unlimited amount of money, but this is a matter of life-and-death importance.

Second, we need our federal lawmakers to chip in and get us some money for drug treatment. In particular, residents who care about this issue should contact U.S. Rep Hal Rogers, who has made fighting the drug problem a focus of his attention through the UNITE program.

This isn't just about doing the right thing, either.

There are very practical financial and societal benefits from investing in drug treatment.

For example, according to the National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study (NTIES), there are substantial reductions in criminal behavior and arrests after treatment: selling drugs declined by 78 percent; shoplifting declined by almost 82 percent; and assaults declined from nearly 50 percent to 11 percent.

As well, according to NTIES, treatment appears to be cost effective, particularly when compared to incarceration, which is often the alternative. Treatment costs ranged from a low of about $1,800 per client to a high of approximately $6,800 per client, while a study by the American Correctional Association gave an estimated 1994 cost of incarceration as $18,330 annually.

The fact is, the opposite of proper funding is the amount of drug addicts trying to cope with this problem on their own.


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