Pubdate: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT) Copyright: 2005 The Billings Gazette Contact: http://www.billingsgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/515 Author: Ed Kemmick, staff writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) STATE SEEKS SOLUTIONS TO METH PROBLEM As early as next fall, the state Department of Corrections is hoping to become a big player in the treatment of methamphetamine addiction. Not everyone is convinced that is a good thing, but department Director Bill Slaughter sees it as something that needs to be done. The state is asking private contractors to submit proposals by Jan. 10 to build a lockdown meth treatment center, with 80 beds for men and 40 for women. Among those preparing a proposal is David Armstrong, administrator of Alternatives Inc., a prerelease center in downtown Billings. He's hoping to house the 40 female meth offenders in a building that would also house an expanded number of prerelease offenders in Billings. The state's request for proposals allows contractors to design separate centers for men and women. With meth being involved in the crimes of more than half the women in prison in Montana, and in something like 35 percent of the cases involving male prisoners, 120 beds seems like a bare minimum, Slaughter said. "What we're trying to avoid there is simply piling people up in prison just because a community program was not available to them," he said. He said the department wants to treat meth addiction in hopes of getting offenders out of the cycle of committing crimes and going to prison over and over. Treatment is more expensive than incarceration, he said, but it will result in a huge savings if people are steered into law-abiding lives. People sentenced to the meth treatment center would also go for nine months, much less than some standard prison sentences. The 2005 Legislature authorized a 40-bed meth-treatment prison, but before the plan was put out for proposals, the Department of Corrections tripled its size, using money allocated for regional prisons and counties that hold state inmates in county jails while they await an opening in a state prison. Mona Sumner, chief operations officer of the Rimrock Foundation, an addiction-treatment provider in Billings, is critical of the plan. In general terms, she said, the state would be better off spending money on treatment programs administered by agencies and contractors with proven records, not giving the money to contractors whose expertise is in corrections. People are treated most effectively if they can be diverted into treatment before they're sent to prison, she said. "If we don't do that, we will not incarcerate our way out of our drug addiction problem," she said. "We're putting our money in the wrong end of the funnel. It's a no-brainer, except nobody's talking about it." Sumner also objected to Corrections' plan to use the "therapeutic community" model - what she called "the latest, one-size-fits-all model" - at the meth prison. It involves a round-the-clock regimen that emphasizes the inmate's responsibility to his treatment family. That form of treatment can be effective for certain types of people, particularly those who are extremely anti-social, Sumner said, but that is a specific diagnosis that does not apply to most meth addicts. In the case of female addicts it is even less applicable, she said. Sumner said the basis for any successful treatment is establishing trust between counselors and clients. In a prison program, it is difficult to build trust because the patients will be afraid that information they divulge will be used against them, she said. "A punitive setting doesn't promote a therapeutic setting," Sumner said. "They think that by hiring someone who's a licensed addictions counselor, that somehow makes a program." Slaughter said you could talk to addictions counselors all across the country and you wouldn't hear a consensus on what is the most effective form or treatment, but the therapeutic community model is highly regarded. And it has already worked at the state hospital in Warm Springs, where a program based on that model has been treating alcoholics since 2000. Warm Springs Addiction Treatment and Change was set up to treat and supervise offenders after their fourth and subsequent DUI felonies. The 140-bed facility offers a six-month program. When it opened, Slaughter said, the department would have been happy if 50 percent of the offenders successfully completed the program. "We're 72 percent successful," he said. "I'm sorry, Mona. We ought to have a parade." A new state law will allow judges to sentence people convicted of their second and subsequent meth-related felonies to the new treatment prison. Because of the nature of meth addiction, the program was expanded to nine months, rather than the six months at Warm Springs. Slaughter said the therapeutic community model relies on a lot of peer pressure, forcing inmates to live in a family-like setting and deal with details of family life. But exactly how the program is run is open to adjustment, he said, and the department is willing to consider whatever works. Again, though, he said, the department is impressed with how well it has worked with DUI offenders. "It's been very successful in a very tough population," he said. Sumner said Rimrock is not submitting a proposal for the meth treatment prison because it doesn't want to be forced to use the state's preferred treatment method. She said it was also clear to her, after speaking with Corrections officials, that their intention all along was to contract with agencies like Alternatives Inc., with which it already has a relationship. "Do you ever talk to someone who you know doesn't want you? That's what this was," she said. Her biggest concern is that the Legislature, having spent so much money on treatment through the Department of Corrections, will think it has done enough, ignoring the needs of other addiction-treatment programs. Slaughter said he would still like to work with the Rimrock Foundation and similar entities. A request for proposals is by its nature an invitation to talk about various possibilities, he said, and the state would like to hear Rimrock's ideas. "The more people that answer our RFP, even if they just want to come in and discuss how we want to do this, the better," he said. Help available If you or somebody you know is looking for help in overcoming an addiction to methamphetamine, here are some numbers to call: Indian Health Board of Billings: 259-3920 Journey Recovery: 254-1314 Rimrock Foundation: 248-3175 Montana Chemical Dependency Center, Butte: (406) 496-5400 - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin