DRUG FIGHT
increasing use of powerful and deadly fentanyl. Deaths are still being tallied but are expected to top 4,000 in 2016, a 30 percent increase over 2015, when Ohio led the nation.
The Republican governor had asked lawmakers to maintain the state’s $1 billion-a-year investment to battle drug addiction, most spent on expanded Medicaid coverage that has given many poor addicts access to services.
Under the House plan, most of the new investment, $130 million, would go toward treatment of addicts as well as additional support
for child-protection services and for grandparents and other family members caring for children whose parents cannot.
Responding to desperate pleas for more treatment beds, lawmakers propose expanding in-patient treatment and transitional housing, including a pilot project to use available beds in nursing homes for addiction treatment and detox.
“We’re exploring this nursing-bed pilot program because we have beds available, and this is a good example of what we are trying to do with existing infrastructure,” Smith said. Details of the test program have yet to be developed.
The House plan would direct: $20 million over the
biennium to expand residential treatment facilities or build new ones; $18 million to create regional detox centers; and $12 million for transitional housing.
Angela Sausser, executive director of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, said the additional $15 million a year proposed for helping children impacted by the opioid crisis is much needed.
“Ohio’s opiate epidemic is challenging the county children services agencies to provide essential services to our vulnerable children — the innocent victims. We have 1,400 additional children in foster care than just 6 years ago who have very complex, costly needs. We are challenged with having enough
foster parents to care for these children and unable to provide adequate supports to their kinship families,” Sausser said.
The aid, she added, “would be the first increase in state funding for county children services in over a decade,” and follows a 21 percent decrease in 2009 and flatfunding of about $45 million per year since.
In addition to investments in treatment, the House plan calls for $12.2 million for drug prevention and education, most notably development of a mobile app for smartphones and similar devices and a 24-hour drug hotline, both to link people with help quickly.
Too often, Smith said, those using drugs and their
loved ones don’t know where to turn.
“We want to make sure when people are ready and willing to get help and they make the call (that) there is someone with answers on the other end and we connect them with services,” he said.
The House plan also includes $19.4 million for expanded mental-health services, including pilot mental-health courts in Franklin, Cuyahoga and Warren counties. Similar to other specialty courts, the mental-health courts would provide mental-health services and recovery support to participating criminal offenders.