A PRIME OPPORTUNITY

The mind of a crack addict is like "a beautiful piece of pottery that's
been smashed into a thousand bits."

Consultant Jim Van Hecke evoked that powerful image in Sunday's News &
Record, in making a case for a state-of-the-art substance abuse treatment
program in Guilford County.

Those shattered pieces can be put back together, "and that person can be a
productive, tax-paying citizen again," said Van Hecke, president and CEO of
a Tryon nonprofit institute that trains substance abuse and mental health
professionals. But, as stated by experts and addicts alike in last fall's
News & Record series on crack's devastating impact, a local long-term
residential treatment center is a critical part of the solution.

Such a facility could be as close as the site of the Guilford County Prison
Farm, according to a study Van Hecke is preparing for the Guilford County
Substance Abuse Coalition. His report, soon to be submitted to the
coalition's board, is expected to recommend establishing a residential
drug-treatment center on land that now is part of the 806-acre farm near
McLeansville.

Several existing factors make the idea, which has won early support from an
unlikely couple of commissioners -- Skip Alston and Linda Shaw -- well
worth considering.

The News & Record series showed that a continuing crack epidemic in the
county costs taxpayers tens of millions of dollars each year.

Jailing those charged with crack-related crimes accounts for a major chunk
of those costs: more than $7.2 million, or about half the county's jail
budget, Sheriff BJ Barnes said. Inmates charged with such crimes make up
nearly half the population of Greensboro and High Point jails. Numerous
studies show treatment significantly reduces repeat drug- and
alcohol-related offences, thus lowering prison costs.

County leaders have wrangled for years about how best to use the prison
farm, and a drug-treatment center potentially offers an ideal fit. Not only
does the site have ample space, but it also already houses a population
that could better prepare for life beyond bars with access to treatment.
Inmates at the state's only county-run prison farm are nonviolent
offenders; many have drug-abuse problems, and they currently operate the
farm while learning agricultural and other skills.

Curiously, Barnes told the News & Record he's not sure a residential
treatment center and the prison farm site are such a good match. "I'm not
sure it's going to meet with the approval of the folks out there," he said.
But since the farm and its inmates have been longtime fixtures in
northeastern Guilford County, it's unlikely a residential drug-treatment
center there would be any more controversial than the farm, and could be
less so.

Funding such a facility raises more compelling concerns and questions.
Durham's TROSA, or Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers -- a
treatment program that raises much of its operating budget through
patients' employment in TROSA-owned businesses -- is one model. Guilford
County has the foundation and, with government and community support, a
prime opportunity to build one of its own.