DRUG TREATMENT

Fruit Valley work-release center could bring more problems than
solutions

Clark County needs more drug-treatment programs. But it's not at all
clear that Clark County needs the drug-treatment program proposed by
Pioneer Human Services of Seattle.

County commissioners Craig Pridemore and Judie Stanton are expressing
skepticism about the proposal, which would put a combined drug-
treatment center and work-release program for federal prisoners near
the county's existing inmate work center in Fruit Valley.

Skepticism is justified. The commissioners -- including Betty Sue
Morris, an early supporter of the idea -- cannot allow any new drug-
treatment initiative to hurt existing, successful efforts. And the
commissioners must make certain that a new facility results in more
help for more local residents who have substance-abuse problems,
rather than just importing problems from elsewhere.

As envisioned, the Pioneer program would consist of a 60-bed federal
"comprehensive sanctions center," a work-release facility that offers
counseling for federal prisoners approaching parole. As The
Columbian's Erin Middlewood reported Sunday, the nonprofit group,
which operates a similar facility in Seattle, would also offer drug
treatment to county inmates in exchange for a break on the lease of
the Fruit Valley facility.

That treatment, Pioneer officials say, could consist of 40 inpatient
beds or an outpatient program. The former might address the greater
need; currently there is no residential drug-treatment program for
adults in Clark County.

But there's a reason for that: lack of funding. And it seems unlikely,
in a time of recession and budget cutbacks, that the county could find
the resources to fund in-patient treatment without taking from an
existing program.

Pioneer insists that, using some combination of federal grants and
state rebates, its center would make economic sense for the county.
But such gifts have a way of turning into financial obligations. And
if Clark County is going to embark on such a project, it must take a
long-term view.

Then there's the question of those 60 federal prisoners. Pioneer
officials say many of them would have come from Clark County
originally and could be expected to return here; with counseling, they
say, those ex-cons will stand a better chance of becoming productive
members of society.

But locating a federal work-release center here will surely mean more
ex-cons than Clark County would get otherwise. There's nothing
inherently wrong with that: As a community, we should welcome anyone
who is willing to contribute to our quality of life rather than
detract from it. But those former federal prisoners will be competing
with current county residents for scarce jobs. Some won't find them.
And that will mean additional stresses on already overburdened local
social services.

Perhaps Pioneer Human Services can develop a proposal that addresses
these concerns and makes the Fruit Valley treatment center a deal
worth pursuing. But that proposal isn't on the table yet.