Pubdate: Tue, 25 Jan 2005
Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY)
- -7231.html
Copyright: 2005 The Courier-Journal
Contact:  http://www.courier-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97
Note: Source rarely prints LTEs received from outside its circulation area
Author: Alan Maimon
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

E. KENTUCKY TO GET 2 DRUG-TREATMENT CENTERS

Project Funded With $1.5 Million From U.S.

PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- Targeting an epidemic of abuse of prescription and 
illegal drugs, two treatment centers will open in Eastern Kentucky with 
$750,000 each in federal funding, officials said yesterday.

The centers in Pike and Clay counties are expected to provide residential 
treatment for about 170 people who now linger on waiting lists or have to 
travel out of state or some two hours to Ashland, officials said.

After the money is used to set up the centers, they will depend on grants 
and private donations for future funding.

"We have a significant shortage of drug treatment facilities across the 
state, especially here in Eastern Kentucky," U.S. Rep. Harold "Hal" Rogers, 
R-5th District, said during a ceremony at Pikeville College.

Chad McWhorter was 21 when he fatally overdosed on OxyContin last July. His 
father, Charlie McWhorter, said in an interview that the Clay County 
facility in Manchester, which will be named "Chad's Hope Center" in honor 
of his son, would give hope to those struggling with addiction.

"I've lost my son, but I can still help somebody else," said McWhorter, who 
was at the second announcement later in the day in Manchester. "We're 
determined to do that."

The severity of Eastern Kentucky's drug problem has drawn $24million in 
federal money over the past three years for the anti-drug task force 
Operation UNITE. The task force attacks the problem through law enforcement 
and organizing citizens groups to coordinate education and treatment.

Rogers said efforts to curb drug abuse must be accompanied by better access 
to treatment. "The law enforcement part is working," Rogers said. "But 
treatment is the toughest area. It costs the most money, and it's a 
long-term solution."

About 1,500 alleged drug dealers have been arrested following 
investigations by Operation UNITE, which stands for Unlawful Narcotics 
Investigations, Treatment and Education.

But existing treatment facilities in Eastern Kentucky have less than 10 
percent of the capacity needed to meet the demand, Rogers said.

The Centers

The new Pike County treatment center in Ashcamp will be in a building 
formerly occupied by the Kentucky Youth Academy, a private juvenile 
detention center that was shut down by state regulators in 2001.

The planned 75-bed facility in Manchester has yet to be built. The $750,000 
will help pay for construction, Rogers said. Both centers are expected to 
serve people from around the region.

Dick Steinberg, president of WestCare, a nonprofit group based in Las Vegas 
that will operate the center in Ashcamp, said the facility would likely 
open within a few months and start with 20 beds. Future plans will focus on 
expansion to 96 beds, Steinberg said.

WestCare operates treatment facilities in five other states and the Virgin 
Islands. Steinberg said the group is also looking at opening a facility in 
Estill County to serve Central Kentucky.

Gary Johnson, a Pikeville lawyer, and his wife, Anita, donated the building 
in Ashcamp for the treatment center.

"We see this as a good investment in the future," Anita Johnson said at the 
Pikeville announcement.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the Manchester facility is scheduled for May 
2, the first anniversary of an anti-drug rally in Clay County that drew 
3,500 people.

Visions of Eastern Kentucky, another nonprofit group that is composed of 
concerned citizens, will operate the Manchester center, Rogers said.

The Manchester and Ashcamp centers are separate from the state's plan to 
create 10 drug- and alcohol-abuse centers around Kentucky.

Evidence Of Problem

Pike Circuit Judge Eddy Coleman, one of many judges in the region who has a 
swelled docket because of drug-related cases, said treatment would ease the 
burden on the court system.

"You have to have an alternative for people who are engaged in criminal 
behavior because they have a drug problem," Coleman said.

In Pike County, the only treatment option for addicts is a 10-bed 
detoxification facility at Pikeville Medical Center, said hospital CEO 
Joann Anderson.

Mike Haney, clinical coordinator for an outpatient drug treatment program 
at Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital in Ashland, said many people who attend 
the hospital's programs come from areas hours away, including Pikeville.

State Sen. Ray Jones, D-Pikeville, said he often gets calls from residents 
desperate to find drug treatment closer to home. "I've had to tell them 
there are no treatment facility beds in Eastern Kentucky," Jones said. 
"That's something that has to change."

Pat Trujillo, whose 28-year-old son, Chris, battled an addiction to 
prescription drugs before committing suicide three years ago, said the 
announcement of the new facilities came too late.

"It's such a big problem around here, and treatment really is the last 
resort," said Trujillo, of Pikeville. "The only place they can really clean 
up this mess is in the courtroom."
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