SCORE BIG AGAINST ADDICTION

Alcohol and drug abuse are crucially involved in a vast sweep of
human misbehavior. The costs are epic.

We know a lot about the successful treatment of substance abuse. It
is beyond reasonable doubt that every dollar invested in containing
abuse pays for itself many times over in reduced health and crime
costs, not to mention the relief of individual and family suffering
and the salvage of wrecked lives.

Today, Lee County commissioners are poised to make just such an
investment, setting the stage for a quantum leap in the commitment
our region makes to combating substance abuse.

They should be encouraged to approve $2 million in capital funds to
help Southwest Florida Addiction Services build an expanded
detoxification and outpatient treatment facility on four acres
donated by the city of Fort Myers on Evans Avenue. County staff
recommends the SWFAS contribution as a one-time exception to the
county's policy of not providing capital funding to nonprofits. With
the county money, SWFAS will be able to use $1 million in federal
funds, and will have about $5.5 million of the $8 million to $10
million needed for the center. The county commitment will mean the
center gets built, says SWFAS Chief Executive Officer Kevin Lewis.

It is badly needed. Right now, Southwest Florida has 1 detoxification
bed per 25,000 adults; 1 per 10,000 is recommended. The new 40-bed
center, plus a 12-bed facility in Charlotte County, will get the
ratio down to a respectable 1 per 11,000 adults in the region.

Among other benefits, the new center will allow more troubled addicts
to be placed in treatment instead of jail, a progression fiercely
supported by law enforcement officials.

Intimately connected to the center's prospects is a $3.6 million
appropriation pending before the Legislature for a proposed social
services triage center, which would help fund substance abuse
operations as well as other mental health and homeless services. We
need to push again for that, but first, let's get the local effort in place.