JAIL PROJECT FOR HEROIN USERS URGED

Health Officials Seek Inmate Treatment Site

County health officials, a deputy state's attorney and drug counselors
urged the Carroll commissioners yesterday to develop what officials
believe would be the first heroin treatment program for inmates at a
Maryland detention center.

"We would like to expand services at the Carroll County Detention
Center to include an eight-bed unit for heroin users 18 to 25 years
old," Howard M. Held, director of addiction services for the county
Health Department, told the commissioners. "This unit would provide
treatment 20 hours per week for up to six months, and would include
programs not only during the day, but also at night."

The detention center offers inmates substance abuse treatment nine
hours a week for up to three months, but has no program designed
specifically for heroin addicts.

The number of inmates 18 to 25 years old who reported using heroin
more than tripled in one year, from nine in fiscal 1999 to 33 in
fiscal 2000, which ended June 30, according to county health records.

"We seem to believe that these young people are often committing their
first set of crimes, are often in denial about their drug problem and
are often in need of a longer treatment program than we currently
have," Held said. "The purpose of this program would be to extend
treatment and the intensity of treatment."

The detention center is among 10 in the state that receive funding
from the Maryland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration to provide
substance abuse treatment, said Ray Miller, chief of treatment
services for the state agency.

"To my knowledge, the detention centers that do substance abuse
treatment do not have heroin-specific programs," Miller said. "The
Baltimore City jail, through a methadone program, will medicate
inmates while they're incarcerated and help get them into (treatment)
when they're released, but that's the extent of it."

Held's comments were echoed by Deputy State's Attorney Tracy A.
Gilmore and public defender Judson K. Larrimore, who said long-term
treatment is the key to success in battling heroin addiction.

"Thirty percent of my files indicated active heroin users who are 18
to 25 years old," said Larrimore. "Right now, there isn't anything for
us to do for them. No one is satisfied with our resources. Would I
like to ask for 12 beds? Sure I would, but I think eight beds is going
to make a difference because every one of those kids will be jerked
out of their peer group and given treatment."

The program would be run by Carroll County Health Department and cost
about $ 170,000 in the 2002 budget year, which begins July 1, Held
said. Most of that money would be used to hire staff - two full-time
therapists, a social worker, an addictions counselor, a secretary and
an administrator. Health officials hope the state will pay 50 percent
of the program costs.

After listening to the proposal, Commissioner Donald I. Dell
questioned whether the county should consider creating an institution
with as many as 300 beds for heroin addicts, rather than trying to
piece together treatment with a program at the jail and other outside
services.

"We're really just spinning our wheels if we don't think about the big
picture and get our arms around it," Dell said.

The commissioners said they will discuss the proposal during their
review of the Health Department's budget requests in the next few
weeks. The deadline to apply for state funding is April 30.