ADDICTS MAY GET TREATED AT FARM

A study commissioned by the Guilford County Substance Abuse Coalition is
expected to call for the establishment of a long-term residential center
for addicts on land that is now part of the Guilford County Prison Farm.

The study, being prepared by consultant Jim Van Hecke, envisions a
residential treatment center where addicts could live for one or two years
- -- far removed from the lure of drugs such as crack cocaine or
methamphetamine -- while learning a trade and relearning how to function in
society.

Van Hecke is president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit
Addiction Recovery Institute in Tryon, which trains substance abuse and
mental health professionals.

Van Hecke will submit his report to the coalition's board within the next
few weeks.

"If that's one of the recommendations, that's something we would push for,"
said George Coates, the coalition's executive director.

The coalition hired Van Hecke in April, a few months after it accepted
Greensboro Mayor Keith Holliday's request to explore ways to eradicate
crack cocaine in the community. A News & Record series published in
November showed that Guilford County remains in the grip of a 20-year crack
epidemic that costs taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a year.

Van Hecke said substance abuse cost North Carolinians about $3 billion a
year 11 years ago. That cost has rocketed to $10 billion a year. And, with
the epidemic of crystal methamphetamine pressing closer and closer to
Guilford County, the cost is poised to go higher. Law enforcement officers
and drug experts say the drug is more addictive than crack cocaine.

Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes estimates that almost half the inmates in
the Greensboro and High Point jails are charged with crimes associated with
their crack habits. He estimated that the county spends more than $7.2
million -- about half his jail budget -- to house them.

Many people interviewed for the newspaper series -- including mental health
professionals, substance abuse counselors and addicts themselves -- said
the county's most critical need in its battle against addiction was a
long-term residential treatment center.

Ultimately, Guilford County commissioners, who allocated $5,000 to pay for
Van Hecke's study, would approve or disapprove the use of the 806-acre
prison farm in the northeastern part of the county as a site for the center.

The prison farm site already has some support from two unlikely allies on
the board.

Democrat Skip Alston and Republican Linda Shaw, who have clashed to the
point of throwing water and cursing in the past, each said they like the idea.

"I think it's a fantastic idea," Alston said. "It's already county-owned
property. I can't see why anyone would be against it."

"I wouldn't have a problem with that at all," Shaw said. "It's 800 acres.
If it will help us in this fight, and we certainly need help, I'm for it."

Prison farm inmates, all non-violent offenders and many of them with drug
abuse problems, operate the farm and learn skills such as agriculture,
cooking, woodworking and small-engine repair.

Van Hecke said the prison farm would be an ideal place for a long-term
residential treatment center.

He described it as becoming a major component in a "state-of-the-art"
substance abuse treatment program in Guilford County.

"I was very impressed," he said.

Impressed with the possibility, too, is the prison farm director, Capt.
Eddie Maness, of the Guilford County Sheriff's Department.

Earlier this month, Maness joined Van Hecke and several Substance Abuse
Coalition board members on a trip to Durham to tour TROSA, or Triangle
Residential Options for Substance Abusers. The two-year residential
treatment program is considered a model for other communities.

The approximately 300 substance abusers in TROSA, many of them crack
addicts, receive counseling, health care, job training and education
assistance. They also work jobs in several moneymaking ventures that help
support TROSA, including a catering company, a masonry business and a
commercial moving company.

A TROSA-like facility is "certainly feasible" at the prison farm, Maness said.

"We kind of do right now what the people at TROSA do," he said. "We have
the foundation, and we have the land."

Barnes, though, said he's not sure the prison farm is the right place for a
long-term residential treatment center.

"It's probably doable," Barnes said, "but I'm not sure it's going to meet
with the approval of the folks out there."

There might be problems in transporting addicts to and from the center, he
said.

Alston suggested that Barnes sounds less than enthusiastic about the idea
of a long-term center at the prison farm because commissioners rejected his
proposal in 2003 to build a practice golf range at the farm and open it to
the public.

"Maybe we can build a Putt-Putt course," Shaw said.

Van Hecke would not speculate on what a TROSA-like facility might cost or
where the money would come from. He noted that much of TROSA's operating
budget -- about $6 million a year -- is raised by its residents through the
businesses they operate. It also receives government grants and foundation
money.

Van Hecke said Guilford County has many excellent resources in the ongoing
battle against substance abuse -- including government-affiliated services,
and private and faith-based facilities.

"Programs such as Fellowship Hall, Mary's House, Malachi House, Caring
Services, Delancey Street, Christian Counseling and Wellness Center,
Alcohol and Drug Services, and numerous others are all excellent," Van
Hecke said. "But what is needed is more long-term residential care."

That's especially true for a crack addict, he said. A crack addict's mind
is like "a beautiful piece of pottery that's been smashed into a thousand
bits," he said.

"It can be put back together again, and that person can be a productive,
tax-paying citizen again," Van Hecke said. "But it takes time, and a lot of
it."

"I'd like to think the people of Guilford County can come together on
this," he said.

"This is something that everyone -- Republican and Democrat, black and
white, rich and poor -- can agree on. Guilford County can be a model here.
Let's do it. We don't want to wake up in 10 years and say, 'We had a chance
to do it, but we didn't.' "