INC NEWS - An epidemic in Durham
pat carstensen
pats1717 at hotmail.com
Sun May 28 08:56:10 EDT 2006
I am posting this for Melvin. Regards, pat
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Dear neighborhood leaders,
Durham Board of Commissioners (Chambers) Wednesday 31st at 9:00 -12:00 A.M
Together we worked very hard to address the social ills of our
communities. Most of us know that we must do more to save the human capital
lost by Substance Abuse. The Durham Center are telling us that we have
19,200 Durham County citizens are addicted to drugs or alcohol A Durham
County Epidemic. It's time to do something new and bold. The way we have
always done things has not worked. We are the only major city in North
Carolina that doesn't have a (14-30 day) In-patient Drug Treatment Facility.
For every $1 dollars invested in treatment, there is a $12 dollars saving in
reduced health-care cost, drug-related crimes, and criminal justice system
cost. The cost of not doing what we can is shared by all taxpayers. Please
come and add your voice for increase spending. A taskforce (Durham Substance
Abuse Advisory Committee) has worked for two years and has adopted and
presented to the Durham County Area Board of Mental Heath a report call
Substance Abuse Ten Year Plan. Our Area Board of Mental Health will ask for
an increase spending for Substance Abuse on Wednesday before the Board of
Commissioners. We support the plans goals to do the following:
Goal 1- Stimulate a Recovery Culture within the Durham Community.
Goal 2- Adapt Durham's nationally-recognized System of Care (SOC) framework
to the substance abuse service delivery system.
a. Creation of a comprehensive and integrated substance abuse continuum
of easily accessible and timely community-based services based on national
standards of best practice
b. Development and maintenance of a service continuum with coordinated
strategies for addressing co-occurring medical and mental health issues.
c. Inclusion into this continuum of a "no wrong door to treatment"
policy, with access to services that is accurate, engaging and timely to
correct the current situation in which too few individuals and families
access needed services and a 66% no-show rate exists for those that are
scheduled for services
d. Sufficient funding to subsidize a dramatically-under-funded system
resulting in the capacity to offer a full range of services for individuals
with addiction and substance abuse issues
e. Establishment of a System of Care framework and a system that is
seamless across service agencies to correct the current service system that
is underdeveloped and fragmented between public, private and self-help and
core services
f. Development of programs designed to competently address the
co-existing medical, psychiatric and social (housing, employment, etc.) to
needed consumers
I serve on the Area Board and we need your help and support. Again, for
every $1 dollar invested in treatment, there is a $12 dollars saving in
reduced health-care cost, drug-related crime, and criminal justice cost.
Please come and add your voice for increase spending. Drug use is associated
with a variety of negative consequences, including school dropout, poor
judgment that leads to crime, violence, and unplanned and unsafe sex. Two
year after bring this problem before the Durham County Board of
Commissioners, the best public treatment for Substance abuse is still at the
Durham County Jail. Please send this information to your network, call our
County Commissioners and come and give your voice to this important work.
The Durham Board of Commissioners will consider the Area Board of Mental
Health budget asking for more money for Substance Abuse Wednesday 31st at
9:00 -12:00 A.M. ...A Durham County Epidemic.
Your Servant
Rev. Melvin Whitley
2614 Harvard Ave
Durham NC 27703
(919) 596-9691 - Home
(919) 308-2844 - Cell
tellmelvin at nc.rr.com
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