Pubdate: Sat, 13 Aug 2005
Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY)
Copyright: 2005 The Courier-Journal
Contact:  http://www.courier-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97
Author: Roger Alford, Associated Press
Note: Only publishes local LTEs
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

NEW VOUCHERS TO COVER COST OF DRUG TREATMENT

Federal Funds Aid Eastern Kentucky

LONDON, Ky. -- Government vouchers would pay for treatment for
low-income addicts in drug-ravaged Eastern Kentucky under an
initiative unveiled yesterday. The vouchers, paid for with $1.6
million in federal funds from the anti-drug organization UNITE, will
be good in either public or private treatment centers and can be used
only by people who couldn't otherwise afford treatment, said U.S. Rep.
Harold "Hal" Rogers, R-5th District. "It's no secret about the
epidemic we face," Rogers said. "It's certainly the most devastating
scourge that I've seen in my 25 years in Congress." The federally
funded UNITE program has resulted in the arrests of about 1,500
street-level drug dealers during the past two years and confiscation
of $4.5 million worth of drugs, Rogers said.

To conquer the problem, however, treatment is vital, said Dale Morton,
spokesman for UNITE.

"You can arrest people to keep them from using drugs for a period of
time," Morton said. "You can educate them and try to keep them from
getting hooked on drugs. But to be able to help people who need
treatment is a key component of what UNITE is all about."

The vouchers are especially important in impoverished communities of
Eastern Kentucky where many people can't afford treatment and may not
survive the waiting list to get into public treatment centers, said
Joe Neikirk, executive director of Chad's Hope Center, a faith-based
treatment center that is under construction in Manchester.

"It's going to give many folks an opportunity for rehabilitation that
they didn't have before," Neikirk said of the voucher program.
Although the vouchers are only for people from Rogers' congressional
district, they can be used at any treatment center that has an opening
across the state, or even out of state, to give addicts quicker access
to treatment. "I think it's tremendously important for indigent
clients," said Mike Sewell, regional director of substance abuse
services for Cumberland River Comprehensive Care in Corbin.

"It gives an awful lot of hope to people who previously had none."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin