REPORT SUGGESTS NEW METH TREATMENT FACILITY NEEDED

State lawmakers may be asked during the upcoming legislative session
to set aside millions of dollars for a new, medium-security treatment
facility in Norfolk for methamphetamine addicts.

The facility, which could cost upwards of $17 million to build, is
one of many things needed for the state to successfully combat a rate
of methamphetamine use that is higher than most of its neighbors,
according to a report by the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The
report, requested by state government, was presented to the state
Community Corrections Council on Friday. The council is charged with
finding ways to treat and supervise drug offenders instead of
cramming them in already bulging state prisons.

An influential lawmaker who is chairman of the council, Sen. Kermit
Brashear of Omaha, indicated the report and its recommendations,
including the call for a new treatment facility, will not gather dust.

"We have to begin implementation now," said Brashear, who is speaker
of the Legislature. Gauging support for such a facility was difficult
to do Friday, as lawmakers and even Gov. Dave Heineman had not had a
chance to look at the report. Heineman spokesman Aaron Sanderford
said the governor would read it over the weekend.

But the facility's estimated price tag and connection to an issue
that attracts sharp attention from the Legislature -- meth use --
could make the recommendation one of the hotter topics of the session.

An argument likely to reverberate through the Capitol and wherever
else supporters of a new treatment facility speak was sounded early
by a Norfolk senator.

"Long term, it's a way to save money," said Sen. Mike Flood. "It's
either $100 million on a new Tecumseh (prison), or take a crack at treatment.

"We addressed half the problem last year" by passing a law that has
put medicines containing meth ingredients behind store counters, "but
the issue left unanswered is what to do with the 80 percent of folks
who get meth from other places, are addicted and go to prison."

The principle investigator for the meth report, T. Hank Robinson,
said Norfolk was an obvious choice because the planned closure of the
Norfolk Regional Center would provide both land and employees for a
treatment center. Building a new facility with up to 250 beds from
the ground up could cost $15.8 million to $17.5 million, according to
the report.

Converting the existing regional center would cost less in the short
term -- up to maybe $3.5 million, according to Robinson -- but maybe
more in the long term because of the age of the building and other factors.

The need for such a facility, the report suggests, does not reflect
expectations of failure in the state's efforts to implement
community-based drug treatment and corrections programs as
alternatives to incarceration. Crafted by the council, the first wave
of programs is scheduled to start early next year.

"A group of offenders will always exist," the report says, "whose
resistance to treatment and recovery will outpace even the most
complete system of intervention services ... prior to incarceration
with the Department of Correctional Services."

Last year, more than 500 men and women with meth problems were put in
the department's custody. To enhance the use of a central meth
facility, the report says, the state could borrow concepts used by
drug courts that focus on treatment instead of incarceration.

Using the discretion they already have, judges could place drug
offenders who might otherwise land in state penitentiaries into the
Norfolk facility for treatment.

The facility, however, should not be a meth catch-all for
corrections, the report recommends. Inmates with meth problems who
are considered high-risk criminals needing maximum security
incarceration would not be sent to Norfolk.

Robert Houston, director of the Department of Correctional Services,
did not comment on the Norfolk recommendation specifically when asked
about it after Robinson's presentation. He said he had talked to
others about the Norfolk idea before only in general terms.

"I think this is a valid study. I think it's well-researched,"
Houston said. "There's a lot of discussion to come."

Reach Nate Jenkins at 473-7223 or njenkins@journalstar.com.

Recommendations

Recommendations contained in a new report on how to deal with
methamphetamine addicts in Nebraska:

* Legislative action and incentives to develop more meth treatment
professionals.

* Incentives for treatment providers to expand and develop localized
meth abuse treatment centers.

* Funding and legislative action to establish and staff 24-hour
reporting centers.

* Increase use of the McCook work ethic camp as a meth treatment facility.

* Create a centralized treatment center in Norfolk for prison inmates.

* Improve data collection related to effectiveness of meth treatment programs.

* Create an office to coordinate implementation of recommendations
and report to policy-makers on the progress being made.

Source: "Moving Past the Era of Good Intentions: Methamphetamine
Treatment Study," prepared by T. Hank Robinson for the Nebraska
Community Corrections Council.