Alamosa Chieftan - Tipton Offers Help on SLV Drug Use

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By Matt Hildner

The problems brought on by the abuse of heroin and other opioids may be too big for a single fix but Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., zeroed in on at least two courses of action following a Tuesday forum on the epidemic.

After touring the Alamosa County jail and hearing from a host of county officials, he pointed to what he called an unfunded mandate that strips county jail inmates of Medicaid coverage and veterans of health care benefits and leaves county government to pay for their medical bills.

"As the sheriff pointed out to me, the majority of the people in there are because of heroin and opioid abuse," Tipton said.

But Tipton also vowed to focus on finding a way to boost education and prevention.

"The goal needs to be to not have people start," he said.

Alamosa County Commissioners Darius Allen and Mike Yohn both bemoaned the impact of opioid addiction and how it's able to crowd out the county budget.

Allen linked the epidemic to the growth of the county's food stamp funding, which amounted to $6 million last year.

"It's putting tremendous stress on all our taxpayers," he said.

Yohn noted that the pending addition of a new wing on the county jail would not solve the cycle of behavior brought on by addiction.

"It has to be prevention," he said. "Once they get in there, that cycle is hard to break."

Alamosa County already has been given state funding to launch a prevention effort using a program called "Communities that Care."

"This doesn't happen overnight," said Ann-Marie Peterson, of the Alamosa County Public Health Department." This is a good long-term solution from a public health perspective."

But Yohn and many others noted that the San Luis Valley is hampered by the lack of an in-patient treatment program for drug addiction.

Chief Justice Pattie Swift said the 12th Judicial District, which takes in all of the valley's counties, has been overrun with cases involving heroin and finding treatment is a problem that is exacerbated by the stripping of Medicaid funds.

"One of the problems we're all dealing with is the lack of available bed dates," said Alamosa County Deputy Attorney Chris Friesall, who noted that the wait can last up to six to eight weeks.

Kristina Daniel, chief operating officer at San Luis Valley Behavioral Health Group, pointed to hurdles with licensing, finding trained staff and the probability that such a facility would not be self-sustainable.

"It would have to be subsidized," she said.

The impact of the opioid epidemic even forced Congress and the White House to momentarily overcome the capital's gridlock, passing a package of bills in July.

"That was not an end but a beginning point," Tipton said. "We passed the package of legislation with no belief that the work was done but it was a start," he said.

Tipton will be hosting another meeting on the topic at 9:30 a.m. today at the Robert Hoag Rawlings Public Library.

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