Summit County’s addiction services board has hit a snag in its efforts to fill in the gaps in treatments to deal with a surging problem of opiate addiction and overdoses. The Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board recently received just two proposals for transitional housing, a crucial link between detoxification and residential treatment. Each was restricted by gender, and more expensive than anticipated. With limited local funds, the board must continue to make smart decisions about how it spends until the crisis abates.
The ADM board now is working to build a complete range of care by contracting with outside agencies. It is boosting funding for detoxification, increasing space from 18 beds to 28 beds. The next link is transitional housing, providing a safe environment for addicts until space opens in a residential treatment facility.
There currently is no transitional housing, creating the risk that, after detoxification, addicts will return to an environment where a relapse is likely to occur, despite services such as group therapy and education.
Meanwhile, the board is funding an increase of 20 beds for residential treatment (now at about 100 beds) and studying whether to increase funding for post-treatment, now at 54 beds, which gives support that is sometimes necessary for addicts to stay clean. Plans also are underway for a referral hot line that next year would link callers with available services across the system, increasing efficiency, and for working with local governments to assemble quick-response teams to follow up on overdoses.
The proposals for transitional housing ranged from $308,000 to provide just eight beds, all for women, to a high of more than $943,000 for 30 beds for men. Jerry Craig, the ADM board’s executive director, says the county needs space for both sexes. Adding to detoxification and residential treatment services, key priorities, will cost about $2.4 million a year, already straining the board’s commitment to draw $3.2 million from reserve funds.
That amount cannot be sustained year after year, without passage of additional local property taxes or an influx of funds from the state and federal governments. Additional funding from the Statehouse and Washington remains uncertain, although Ohio House Democrats, among them state Rep. Greta Johnson of Akron, are gaining support from Republican colleagues for a resolution pressuring Gov. John Kasich to declare a state of emergency, opening the way to a more coordinated state strategy and releasing needed money to first responders, law enforcement and health agencies.
To its credit, the ADM board appears headed toward renegotiations with the two agencies that made proposals for transitional housing, Legacy III and Oriana House, or even seeking additional proposals. As acute as the opiate crisis is, it is important for the board to weigh carefully expenses as it builds out a complete, balanced system of care. Spending too much in one area risks straining others, losing the continuity necessary to restore addicts to productive lives.
The board is right to use annual contracts with outside agencies to plug the gaps in care, creating a system that is not only comprehensive but flexible. With the addiction crisis projected to begin abating next year, the ADM board cannot afford to create a system with built-in, continuing costs.