Latest news with #drugrehab
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Albuquerque to spend $4.5M in opioid settlement funds on addiction recovery projects
Jun. 1—Members of the Albuquerque City Council and the mayor's office came together Wednesday to mark the signing of legislation that allocates portions of the historic opioid settlement — one of the largest in history to be doled out to local governments. Mayor Tim Keller signed legislation that enables $4.5 million from opioid settlement money to fund three Gateway Center projects, all meant to alleviate drug use and homelessness in Albuquerque. "People who need treatment and addiction help, the most in need, will now have a home and we'll actually be able to open this very shortly," Keller said while at the soon-to-be-opened Medical Sobering Center. According to the legislation, this money goes to three projects. The largest allocation, $2.25 million, was designated for the Medical Sobering Center, which will provide space for up to 50 individuals to recover from severe intoxication and is set to open in later this summer. Another $1.4 million was allocated to the First Responder Receiving Area, a facility where police and other first responders can transport individuals in need of drug and mental health services outside regular hours. Lastly, $950,000 is allocated to Gateway Recovery, a city-owned community of 46 tiny homes where individuals recovering from addiction can reside and receive treatment for a year. In all, Albuquerque is set to receive about $80 million over the next 18 years. That money must be used to remediate the effects of the opioid epidemic, per the settlement agreement. All the money stems from a settlement after local governments across the country sued pharmaceutical companies for overprescribing opioids. The resulting settlement, which followed hundreds of deaths in New Mexico, led to a windfall of funding for local governments. More recently, rates of fatal overdoses have decreased two years in a row since 2021, when the number of deaths peaked at 1,029 deaths, according to data compiled by the New Mexico Department of Health. The same data set also said that fentanyl was involved in 65% of overdose deaths in 2023, the year with the most recent available data. "We created a world of people that were addicted to opiates," said Jennifer Burke, executive director of Serenity Mesa Recovery Center. "And when they couldn't get their opiates anymore, fentanyl was there waiting for them." However, decisions about how to allocate the money led to a split between some council members and the mayor's office. The mayor's office sought additional funding for Gateway services, while the council proposed distributing the funds to nonprofits that support individuals experiencing addiction. The council's plan followed dozens of meetings between councilors and Bernalillo County commissioners. "It was a period of about two years to go through this process of getting community input, finding out how those funds should be used according to the community — which is what they were for — and then coming up with a plan," Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn said. That same plan also allocated funds for the mayor's office, which the council later allocated toward the three projects celebrated on Wednesday. However, despite the reconciliation and the bill signing, councilors and the mayor sought to convey a message that the work was not over. "We are at the precipice," Councilor Nichole Rogers said. "We are right there, and things like this (Medical Sobering Center) coming online are just going to help us really meet people where they are and connect them to the help so that they can get to self-sufficiency."
CNN
3 days ago
- Health
- CNN
Fire in a drug rehabilitation center in violence-plagued Mexican state kills 12, authorities say
A fire in a drug rehabilitation center in the violence-plagued Mexican state of Guanajuato killed 12 people and injured at least three others, authorities said Sunday. The fire broke out early Sunday in the town of San Jose Iturbe, where the municipal government said it was still investigating what caused the deadly blaze. 'We express our solidarity with the families of those who have been killed while they tried to overcome addictions,' the municipal government said in a statement, adding that it will help to pay for the funeral expenses of those killed. Mexican media outlets reported that the victims of the fire had been locked up inside the rehab center. Mexico's privately run drug rehabilitation centers are often abusive, clandestine, unregulated and underfunded. They have been the targets of similar attacks in the past. The industrial and agricultural state of Guanajuato has for years been the scene of a bloody turf battle between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and a local gang, the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel. Guanajuato has the highest number of homicides of any state in Mexico. Mexican drug gangs have killed suspected street-level dealers from rival gangs sheltering at rehab facilities in the past. In 2020, gunmen shot to death 27 people at rehab center in another city in Guanajuato, Irapuato. In 2010, 19 people were killed in an attack on a rehab center in Chihuahua, a city in northern Mexico. More than a dozen other attacks on such facilities occurred in the decade between those massacres.
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Drugs 'ruined our lives' as calls made for support in Wales
Warning: this article refers to drugs and drug taking throughout More funding is needed to support centres in Wales helping people with addiction, sector leaders have service user at Penrhyn House in Bangor, Gwynedd, which helps people battling addiction said they were now 90 days sober from cocaine thanks to its help, describing the centre as a "life-saver".Figures show the number of people in Wales who were referred to recovery services has decreased over the last two years, but the chair of a cross-party Senedd group said the figures were not a fair reflection of the struggles in Welsh government said it was investing more than £67m to improve support services and to reduce the number of future drug-related deaths. But a Penrhyn House leader said a long-term investment plan was needed to keep people from relapsing. The facility has offered guidance and support to people dealing with substance and alcohol addiction over the last 10 years as well as helping individuals in the Wyn Griffith, 35, from the Caernarfon area, said he had been fighting a cocaine addiction for 17 years after he started taking the Class A drug as a teenager. "I suppose as a youngster I enjoyed it," he told Newyddion S4C."Soon after, at the age of 21, I realised I had an issue with it - I couldn't stop and my friends could stop."It was extremely bad, I didn't have any life at all and I was just locked in my room all the time. Sometimes I'd be crying on the way to pick it up but I'd still use it."It broke my family up." Arwel is now 90 days sober and said coming to Penrhyn House had changed his added: "It's been a life-saver for me, it's changed my life around in a short space of time and I can't thank the place enough."As a couple, Mark and Elen are are also on a similar journey but have now successfully been sober for more than two years."We took amphetamine for about 12 years and it ruined our lives and had a massive impact," said Elen, 35."I didn't sleep, I couldn't function properly and I was always ill."Mark, 47, said the addiction was "stupidly hard"."It would be all day, everyday… make some money... go get some more drugs... it was just constant". Describing their experience, they also said Penrhyn House and the North Wales Recovery Communities (NWRC) network, which supports people to keep sober, had been a House is operated by the NWRC, which received £94,420 from the Welsh government-funded North Wales Area Planning Board for 2025-2026."This is my second home," said Mark, talking about the centre."You come here and everyone is on the safe recovery path as you."Mark said without the centre he would not have been able to become sober, adding: "Literally the best thing I ever did was walk through that door." Penrhyn House has helped hundreds of people get clean and stay sober since service is 80% self-sufficient with its funding but its director of operations James Deakin said more needed to be done to fund services helping people with their added staying sober was the "hard part" for many. Figures published on Wednesday by the Welsh government showed the number of referrals made to drug and alcohol treatment agencies in Wales had fallen overall over the last two years. There were 7,370 referrals from October to December 2022, rising to 8,124 from January to March 2023, compared to 6,658 from October to December Peredur Owen Griffiths, chairman of the cross-party Substance Use and Addiction Group in the Senedd, said the figures did not reflect the true picture across said while it was good the numbers were decreasing, questions needed to be asked about why, adding: "Are there less services?"Are people not being signposted to these services?"From speaking to people in the sector they are busier than ever and that to me means people are still suffering." A Welsh government spokesperson said every drug related death was "a tragedy". "We currently invest more than £67m to improve support services for those affected and reduce the number of future deaths, including more than £8.8m for support services in north Wales," they said."Our approach to tackling drug misuse encompasses prevention, treatment, and recovery support, focusing on improving health outcomes and overall reducing harm."They added the Welsh government was working with health boards, local authorities, Public Health Wales and police to reduce the harm caused by drug and alcohol you are affected by any of the issues raised in this story, support and advice is available via the BBC Action Line.
