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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, MAY 30, 2016 5A Life: ‘Our priorities seem a little skewed’ Continued from Page 1A tion drug and heroin abuse dant and inexpensive treatment “It makes me wonder what across the nation, in February options, addicts would still need would’ve happened three proposed devoting $1.1 billion to be asked one fundamental months before he got arrested over two years to expand treat- question: Why did they turn to if we could have helped him ment and prevent overdoses. drugs to begin with? get into treatment,” Kathleen The president wants to increase “A lot of drug treatment pro- said. patient access to buprenorphine, grams don’t necessarily delve Instead, Vincent and his a medication used to treat opi- underneath and deal with the mother were struck by the oid disorders, and make men- underlying issues,” Inhofe said. limited options available in tal health and substance abuse “Most of these people need the county for addicts without treatment comparable to med- therapy. Once you go through means. ical and surgical beneits for detox, you’re physiologically Although both outpatient people in Medicaid, the health done with the addiction. It’s the and inpatient treatment are insurance program for the poor emotional and mental problems available, most inpatient treat- and disabled. that caused the seeking out of ment facilities require private In April, Gov. Kate Brown that particular Band-Aid in the insurance, which the unem- signed a bill into law that will irst place that need to really be ployed Vincent didn’t have. help doctors in Oregon use the ixed.” Private inpatient care is Prescription Drug Monitor- Asked why he irst took up pricey — “anywhere between a ing Program database to drugslag as a teenager, Vincent said couple of hundred dollars a day patients who might be suscepti- he was a “young, dumb kid” to a couple of thousand dollars ble to drug abuse. who would try anything put in a day,” said Rory Gerard, who The Oregon Health Author- front of him. sits on the county’s Human ity reported that prescription But Kathleen also suspects Services Advisory Council as Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian painkillers were involved in that the death of her oldest son, the mental health and addiction Jerrica Ratzlaff-Gilbert wipes a tear away during her brother Vincent Davidson-Gilbert’s more drug overdose deaths than Mark, in a car accident at 19 representative. sentencing Friday. any other type of drug in 2013. — when Vincent was 11 and “These people, they’re The state has ranked among the Devin 13 — precipitated both barely scraping by and buy- applying for the Oregon Health has no resources,” she said. severe addiction — to the point highest in the nation in the non- boys’ later drug use. Devin, ing their drugs,” Kathleen said. Plan when he was jailed. “It’s so infuriating.” that you’re being incarcerated medical use of prescription pain who has overdosed several “They don’t have $6,000 to pay Had Vincent enrolled in the Gerard noted that Astoria over and over again — they relievers. times, is in an outpatient pro- for treatment.” plan, he would still have faced has several marijuana shops but don’t stay clean long enough gram in Arizona. Clatsop Behavioral Health- another problem: There are no no inpatient beds for low-in- to engage in any kind of treat- Underlying issues Though devastated that Vin- care is the sole treatment center inpatient facilities in the county come addicts ready to clean ment, so it’s just this vicious Davidson-Gilbert knows he cent will soon return to prison, in Clatsop County that accepts that accept it. themselves up. cycle,” she said. must be held accountable for Kathleen said she is grateful he insurance through the Oregon “If you are poor in this com- “Our priorities seem a little Long, who helped develop his actions. His crimes, though didn’t end up fatally overdosing Health Plan — often the only munity, and you need an inpa- skewed,” he said. “I’d love to the position last year, meets not drug-related — he wasn’t as a number of young men and insurance option for low-in- tient treatment program, you see that tax money that they’re with interested inmates shortly caught selling or possessing, for women have recently. come Oregonians. have to leave the community,” going to hit on the pot shops go after their booking, evaluates example — are drug-associated, If Vincent could have given However, the agency has said Inhofe, who works with to drug and alcohol treatment in them, determines what their the sort of misdeeds addicts per- himself advice six months ago come under heavy ire lately indigent clients. our community.” treatment needs and goals are, petrate when their lives go into — or to anyone tempted to use for shortfalls in mental health A person who ventures out- Gerard said that, if a per- and creates a transition plan free fall. — it would be to “try to ind any treatment and drug and alcohol side of the county for treatment son wants help, it can be with them. She gives the plan Inhofe said the criminal jus- resource you can.” dependency services. will likely face waiting lists for made available. “It may not be to their attorney, who presents tice system has “criminalized “Find something that you Clatsop Behavioral Health- facility beds. locally. You may have to travel. it to the court. The information the mental health disease of care about, to freaking want to care employs numerous treat- “You can’t do anything for And you’ve got to be dogmatic may inluence how the inmate’s addiction.” change what you’re doing at that ment providers, but most are them until a bed opens up — about it.” sentencing is carried out. “Not directly,” she said. “But time,” he said. “Even if every- not licensed. Rather, they work possibly in Bend, possibly in Typically, though, that’s not A court may, for exam- the effect is that people who thing’s going bad, there has to be under the supervision of some- Pendleton, possibly in Eugene,” what addicts are about. “They ple, postpone an inmate’s sen- have addiction issues end up something good in your life, that one who is licensed. she said. want to use,” he said. “It really tencing and grant a conditional serving time in prison because you can look forward to, instead In other words, the agency When Gerard worked for falls back on the family.” release to receive treatment. of what they do to feed their of just drugs and alcohol. Or doesn’t have enough providers Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare, The goal is to reduce recidivism addiction, what they do when being in prison.” with the right level of creden- which refers clients to inpatient Hoping for treatment rates, though Long said the pro- they’re under the inluence of His choices haunt him. “I tialing to offer adequate treat- facilities, some people waited This week, Vincent will gram is still too new to know their addiction.” don’t know why I didn’t just go ment, Gerard said. months for a bed. be transferred from Clatsop whether this is happening. Even in a world with abun- ind another job.” The upshot for patients, “Even though you may County Jail to Coffee Creek A comparable service according to Temojai Inhofe, want treatment, you may have Correctional Facility in Wil- doesn’t yet exist for inmates at Vincent’s attorney: “They’re the money for treatment, you’re sonville. He will undergo vari- Clatsop County Jail. assessed by people who do going to be waitlisted,” he said. ous tests and get assigned to a Vincent and Kathleen hope not necessarily hold the quali- Addicts with children have prison where he will serve the the prison he is sent to will, in a ications to assess them. They it particularly rough, Inhofe majority of his sentence. few years, deem him eligible for are then treated by people who said. The children may get Because he is locked up, a treatment program in the inal don’t necessarily hold the qual- placed in foster care while Vincent is clean. But, since his stretch his sentence. iications to treat them.” their parents seek treatment arrest, he hasn’t had access to “I just hate the idea of him Addicts who need profes- in another county. With wait- the kind of drug and alcohol losing ive years without him sional treatment the most — ing periods often lasting 90 or treatment that he and family getting any treatment,” she said. people like Vincent — may be more days, followed by a three- believe he needs to stay sober Oregon spends about the least likely to get it. month treatment program, the over the long run. $30,000 a year per inmate, process may keep them sepa- In Tillamook County Jail — according to 2013 data from the Waitlisted rated for a long time. where Vincent was briely held state Department of Corrections. NEWS TALK FOR THE COAST Vincent and his family had “We’re looking at six because the beds at the Clatsop Kathleen thinks that money P ro v iding live a nd local n ew s co verage every da y decided that what he really months out, after their chil- jail were maxed out — inmates would be better spent on drug Y ou could see it ton igh t, re a d a bout needed was inpatient treatment, dren have been removed, that with addiction issues can work treatment as a means of crime it tom orrow o r h e a r it live NOW ! a 24/7 care environment where they’re not in any kind of posi- with a jail transition specialist prevention.

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