Media Collage for CRC Lehigh County Center For Recovery Grand Opening
Video from WFMZ 69 News:
Radio from WAEB News Talk 980
Lehigh County opens new drug and alcohol center
Facility in Salisbury Township will serve people with addictions, mental illness.
The Morning Call
April 15, 2013
By Margie Peterson
Lehigh County's new drug and alcohol treatment center is a stone's throw from the county's work release prison — a constant reminder of where addicts are likely to end up if they don't get help.
Former Clinton Administration Drug Czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey (Ret.) brought that message home Monday at the grand opening of the Lehigh County Center for Recovery, a public-private partnership that specializes in treating people with the dual diagnosis of addiction and mental illness.
The $4.5 million 31-bed in-patient facility, run by CRC Health Group/White Deer Run, is on Riverside Drive in Salisbury Township, adjacent to Walking Purchase Park.
McCaffrey, who is on the national CRC board of directors, said a chronic addict left untreated will cause more than $48,000 a year in damages to the community, whether it's from break-ins or traffic accidents or other expenses; incarcerating one person costs roughly $25,000.
The United States is not going to arrest its way out of the problem, he said, which is why prevention in the form of education and treatment makes so much sense.
"From the taxpayers' perspective, this is one of the most sensible, far-sided investments imaginable," he said. "This is a huge gift to public safety in the Lehigh Valley."
Pennsylvania Drug and Alcohol Programs Director Secretary Gary Tennis, a former prosecutor, also emphasized the connection between crime and drugs, saying 80 percent of crime can be linked to untreated addictions.
Until now, Lehigh County residents with drug and alcohol addictions had to leave the county to find an in-patient detoxification and rehabilitation center. From July 2010-June 2011, about 900 county residents did just that, according to Tom Muller, the county's director of administration. If the new center develops a waiting list, county residents will get preference, he said.
The treatment, which costs $203-$250 a day depending on what is provided, will be covered by the state-provided Health Choices fund, Muller said.
Muller credited leaders from the county Drug and Alcohol office and CRC Health/White Deer Run for their determination to open such a center, despite years of setbacks.
In the past decade the county has looked into putting a treatment facility in such spots as Sacred Heart Hospital, on the campus of Allentown State Hospital and a former school in downtown Allentown. But cost issues and "Not-In-My-Backyard" or NIMBY attitudes of would-be neighbors stymied the project, Muller said.
Other than the work release prison, the treatment center's nearest neighbors are the fish in the nearby Lehigh River and other critters that inhabit Walking Purchase Park.
Most patients who check into the treatment center can expect about five days of detoxification and 22 days of rehabilitation, CRC staff said. In addition to spartan bedrooms with two twin beds each, the facility has four patient lounges, a dining room and kitchen, as well as counseling rooms and a family visitation center.
What distinguishes this facility, officials say, is its focus on treating people with dual diagnoses of addiction and mental health. CRC officials described the treatment as a progressive, effective, and highly individualized program.
Of the roughly 24 million people nationally who have chronic substance abuse disorders, at least 9 million have dual diagnoses.
Addiction principally overlaps with mental health disorders such as mood disorders, anxiety disorders, bipolar and schizophrenia, said Jerry Rhodes, chief operating officer of CRC. The for-profit CRC is the largest treatment provider in the country, with 144 facilities treating about 30,000 patients.
Asked if America is winning or losing the drug war, McCaffrey said that in 1979, 13 percent of the population were drug users and now it is 7 percent. But one alarming trend is the recent changes in drug use among teens.
"For 14 years, adolescent drug use went down," he said. "In the last four years, it's gone up."
He said parents, teachers, coaches and ministers have to talk to kids about the dangers of drugs.
If a chronic addict enrolls in treatment, attends Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings and takes weekly drug tests, there's an 80 percent chance the addict will curb their addictive behavior, even if they aren't cured, McCaffrey said.
Morning Call reporter Samantha Marcus contributed to this story.
JUST SAY NO TO POT LEGALIZATION
Former Clinton Administration Drug Czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey (Ret.) on public momentum in favor of legalization of marijuana:
•"It is a disaster…Ten years from now we're going to see a dramatic increase in chronic addictions because of this misguided push."
•"Another 17 states have legalized medical marijuana… We say that medicine has to demonstrate clinically reliable impact or you can't get it… There is zero belief that smoking pot, which is a carcinogenic, has any medical benefits."
•"Go and ask a hospital emergency room physician… they will tell you they have 9th graders coming in the door with severe paranoia, they'll tell you the number one cause of an adolescent being in drug treatment is marijuana."
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Newsmaker Q&A: Gen. Barry McCaffrey
The Morning Call
April 27, 2013
By Samantha Marcus
Barry McCaffrey is a retired U.S. Army general who served as drug czar under President Bill Clinton from 1996 to 2001. McCaffrey is on the national board of directors for CRC Health Group, which on April 15 celebrated the grand opening of the Lehigh County Center for Recovery, a public-private partnership that specializes in treating people with the dual diagnosis of addiction and mental illness. The $4.5 million 31-bed in-patient facility is on Riverside Drive in Salisbury Township
Q: Why is the Lehigh County facility important? How does it fit in with the national drugstrategy?
A: By addressing co-occurring disorders, substance abuse and mental health, the facility deals with a major unmet need locally as well as nationally. The federal Department of Health and Human services reports that 23 million people need but do not receive alcohol or substance abuse treatment, and of those, 9 million have mental health issues as a co-occurring disorder. These are huge numbers. In Pennsylvania, nearly one million need but do not receive substance abuse treatment, and approximately 400,000 have co-occurring disorders. The Lehigh County Center for Recovery will be a national model facility, both by addressing the co-occurring disorders and by creating the unique public-private partnership by Lehigh County and CRC Health Group/White Deer Run, the country's largest behavioral treatment provider, The County showed tremendous foresight in meeting a serious need that will ultimately save thousands of dollars from crime and health costs.
Q: Does drug/alcohol treatment work?
A: Most studies show that for every dollar spent on treatment, you save seven dollars that would otherwise be spent on health care, imprisonment, and lost productivity. In addition, treatment reduces criminal recidivism by half to two-thirds. A prison in Birmingham, Alabama did not have to be built after the city offered a treatment program. Treatment works. It saves lives, money, and families, stops criminal activity, and lets people go to school or work and be tax-paying, productive citizens. SAMHSA (the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) says that twenty million Americans are now in recovery.
Q: What would you say to a person grappling with addiction? What advice do you have?
A: Get help. And to families and friends, please urge the person to get help and make the calls for them if they agree. Call the Lehigh County Center for Recovery's toll-free number 855-256-3285, or the local number 610-814-7750. If you are from further away, you can go to websites or call 877-637-6237. Remind abusers that if they don't get help, the alternative may be jails or death. There is graphic proof of the prison alternative at the Lehigh Center-- you can see the county prison across the yard, with the work release program participants often standing against its wall. You can get help here, or wind up there.
Q: How has your position on treatment versus enforcement evolved?
A: As the Commander for SouthCom-- all US troops and US military operations in Latin America -- I worked with the governments in those regions to cut drug trafficking, and I saw first hand the devastation in crime and personal lives ruined by drugs. Even earlier, when I served in Vietnam, I saw the devastation that drugs did on many of our troops. Now, our military is working to be drug free, and I know how much better off we are. When I served as the nation's Drug Policy Director, I was proud to increase treatment programs. With a comprehensive drug policy program -- treatment, education, prevention, law enforcement, and foreign policy -- we reduced youth drug use by 33%. There is no "either-or" on treatment and enforcement-- you need both.
Q: What happened to the War on Drugs? Did we win?
A: First, it's not a war-- you don't wage war on your own people. It's a collective effort to address a health issue, much like cancer or diabetes. Since the 70s, we have reduced regular (monthly) drug use from 14% to 8% of the population. If you reduced any other serious problem in America -- illiteracy, hunger, illnesses -- by almost half, we would say we have succeeded. At the least, we have taken a major step forward collectively as a nation. People are uninformed even if well intentioned to say the effort against drugs is failing. We have taken a major step forward in the effort, but we must do so on an ongoing basis to help each new generation.
Q: Do you support the legalization of marijuana? Why or why not?
A: It is a disaster. Ten years from now we're going to see a dramatic increase in chronic addictions because of this misguided push. Another 17 states have legalized medical marijuana. We say that medicine has to demonstrate clinically reliable impact or you can't get it. There is zero belief that smoking pot, which is a carcinogenic, has any medical healing benefits. It just stops you from getting the real treatment you might need. Go and ask hospital emergency room physicians. They will tell you they have 9th graders coming in the door with severe paranoia; they'll tell you the number one cause of an adolescent being in drug treatment is marijuana. In addition, the legalization movement is a terrible message for parents who want their kids not to use drugs.
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Lehigh County Center for Recovery opens
WFMZ 69 News
April 14, 2013
It's the first of its kind in the Lehigh Valley.
A treatment center that focuses on drug addiction and mental illness at the same time.
The Lehigh County Center for Recovery opened its doors in March.
The 31 bed facility puts patients through detox, a personalized sobriety program and addresses their mental health needs.
Law enforcement officials say the center could also have an impact on crime in the Lehigh Valley.
"A year from now it will be fascinating to see the impact of putting a few hundred people through this facility rather than locking them up in the county jail that is going to be the payoff," said former U.S. Drug Policy director Gen. Barry McCaffrey.
McCaffrey says the program used at the center could become the national standard.
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Drug and Alcohol Recovery Center Officially Opens in Lehigh Valley
Easton Patch
April 15, 2013
By Tom De Martini
The official opening of the $4.4 million Lehigh County Center for Recovery means that Lehigh Valley residents can seek treatment close to home for drug and alcohol addiction.
Lehigh County officials and a former member of the Clinton administration cabinet took part Monday in officially opening the new Lehigh County Center for Recovery in Salisbury Township.
Area residents will no longer need to go out of the Lehigh Valley to obtain drug and alcohol rehabilitation services. The new center currently houses 17 inpatients and has been open for about three weeks.
The Lehigh County Center for Recovery, located at 1620 Riverside Drive in Salisbury Township and adjacent to the county work-release prison, is a 31-bed, co-ed inpatient detoxification and dual-diagnosis program facility.
Kerianne Williams-Pollinger, the center's intake director, said the program is not limited to Lehigh County residents. "Anyone can call and come in for an assessment," she said.
The facility is seen as a national model for co-occurring disorders involving substance abuse and mental health. It is operated by the Lehigh County-CRC Health Group and White Deer Run treatment center.
Tom Muller, director of administration from Lehigh County, said the task of finding a site and actually building the center suffered greatly from what he termed NIMBY syndrome.
"That's not in my back yard," he said. "We built this on county property. I want to thank Salisbury Township, manager Randy Soriano and the zoning people."
More than 9 million Americans suffer from co-occurring disorders of substance abuse and mental health issues, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA).
Retired four-star general and former Clinton drug czar Barry McCaffrey, the keynote speaker at Monday's ceremony, noted that society can't arrest its way out of the current drug and alcohol abuse problem.
"Every time you don't lock someone up, it's $25,000 saved," he said. "This is going to be a national model. People will spend less time behind bars and more time getting back to work. People who come here are desperate, sick and under arrest. In three days, they're clean and in 25 days they understand their illness."
McCaffrey noted that the county will soon recoup its $4.4 million investment in the detox center -- as a result of less incarcerations.
"We've got 23 million chronic substance abusers in the country," McCaffrey said. "In 14 years, we've had adolescent drug use go down and in the last four, it's gone up. Ask police officers, judges and ER doctors about the effects. They're devastating."
McCaffery said that nobody wakes up at age 25 and becomes an addict.
"It starts in eighth grade, when they've been binge drinking, smoking pot and taking Ecstasy," he said. "Ten years later, it makes a terrible difference for these kids."
McCaffrey also lambasted medical marijuana use and states that have legalized marijuana.
"It's a disaster," he said. "Five to 15 percent of Americans want to smoke dope. Washington and Colorado, in defiance of federal laws, legalized possession of small amounts of marijuana. Smoking marijuana hasn't any medical benefit. It's nonsense. You ask any ER nurse and they'll tell you the number one adolescent drug treatment is for marijuana."
Gary Tennis, secretary of the state's drug and alcohol programs, said 80 percent of crime is tied to drug addiction.
"Addiction and drug addiction hits one out of four families and, because of the stigma, the level of families suffering is enormous," he said. "Untreated addiction is the biggest cost driver to taxpayers."
The $4,428,000 price tag for the center was paid by state funds the county accrued from the Health Choices Reinvestment fund. No county property tax revenue was utilized to pay for the project.
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Detox Center Opening in Lehigh Valley
Patch.com
April 13, 2013
Former U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey will be among the VIPs participating at the grand opening of the new residential drug treatment center in Salisbury Township.
After years of planning, a new residential drug treatment center is set to open in the Lehigh Valley.
A group of VIPs, including former drug czar Barry McCaffrey, will be on hand for a ribbon-cutting at 11 a.m. Monday at the Lehigh County Center for Recovery, which will enable about 700 people a year with drug and alcohol problems to get treatment closer to home.
The facility at 1620 Riverside Drive in Salisbury Township will be run as a partnership between Lehigh County and CRC Health Group’s White Deer Run division.
According to a news release, the facility, which is state-funded, has been licensed by state authorities and will be an adult co-ed, inpatient, detoxification, rehabilitation and dual diagnosis program.
McCaffrey said in the prepared release:
"Pennsylvania has made great strides but still has some 900,000 people who need but do not receive drug and alcohol treatment, according to Health and Human Services and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The public-private partnership with Lehigh County is an outstanding strategy to address the treatment gap and restore people to productive lives."
Lehigh County Executive Bill Hansell thanked the state Legislature for its "foresight in providing the crucial funding."
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Lehigh County Center for Recovery grand opening planned
The Express Times
April 14, 2013
By Precious Petty
Slated to open Monday in Salisbury Township, the Lehigh County Center for Recovery will be a national model for how to treat people struggling with substance abuse as well as mental health problems, officials said.