Harris: Statewide rehab campus proposed for opioid settlement funds

The substance abuse and mental health problem we are facing will continue to grow until we find an aggressive, comprehensive solution that has proven success and long-term benefits for this community.

The opportunity we currently find ourselves in will never be made available again. It would be an absolute disgrace if those in charge of distributing these opioid settlement funds didn’t make the utmost use of this opportunity. With the influx of money, I am proposing that we take $25 million off the top to create a statewide campus for detox and rehab, and a residential treatment community. With the 32 acres of state-owned property on White Oak Road, we could create a campus-style center that could provide a path to recovery for hundreds and be a shining example of how to put these funds to direct use in the fight against addiction.

It is not effective or efficient to continue to piecemeal these funds out to nonprofits in the hopes that these individual programs will somehow solve the problem. They will not. We cannot continue to do what has continued to not work. We have the state-owned land, we have the influx of the money needed, we have many agencies and counsels to partner and support such a project, and we certainly have the population in need of these services. Considering the amount of money that Delaware will be receiving, $85 million-plus, $25 million is not even a third of what will be coming in.

We can do so much more to provide support and maintenance for those who have had the chance to find serious and effective recovery through a long-term program such as this.

It is in the power of the lieutenant governor’s office and the Prescription Opioid Settlement Distribution Committee to decide.

Sue Harris

Dover

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