Thursday, July 28, 2016

Drug Treatment Access

One of the biggest problems right now in Berkeley County and Martinsburg West Virginia is that we have no treatment center right here.

Those of us who have been able to get our loved ones into treatment comes at the cost of families who have to send their loved ones hundreds of miles away. Our own son is five and a half hours away.

They tell us that there are still plans for a treatment center here and somehow fail to realize that talking about it and getting it done are two separate things. Each day we don't have anything here leads to:

1- Those who are dying while waiting on a bed.

2- Those who are dying while only needing a ride to the treatment

3- Those who are dying because there is no treatment center here.

4- New numbers of those who will try it for the first time.

5- The ages seem to be getting younger

6- The jail getting filled- many incarcerated are there because they are criminalized for the disease of addiction.

What don't our leaders get?

The Drug Policy Alliance writes:

"Drug law enforcement efforts receive ample funding each year while drug treatment options remain shamefully underfunded. Many people who seek help for their problematic drug use are unable to access treatment, encountering insurance barriers, months-long wait lists, or programs that don't meet their needs. Far too many people are only able to access drug treatment as a result of an arrest or criminal conviction"...

1 comment: