Senator McGuire announces $4.8 million Opioid Addiction House Center

A full house of about 240 people came to the town hall meeting hosted by Senator Mike McGuire and 4th District Supervisor Virginia Bass at the Sequoia Conference Center in Eureka on Tuesday, November 14. Also in attendance were Humboldt County Sheriff Honsal, and Eureka Police Chief Steve Watson.

In his opening speech, McGuire spoke of the opioid crisis in America as the worst in America’s history and he said Humboldt County has been hit harder than many areas. He offered the following statistics. Humboldt County has

  • 5 times the mortality rate compared to the statewide average when it comes to opioid addiction
  • 2 times higher hospitalization rate for opioid overdoses than the rest of California
  • Between 80% and 90% higher prescription rate for opioids than the rest of California

Then he offered solutions. “We’re proud to be announcing a 4.8 million investment in the opening of a results-driven new opioid addiction health center here in Humboldt County in the coming months,” he said. This will be run by Aegis Treatment Centers, LLC. based out of Canoga Park, California. The Center is to open within 12 to 18 months from now, according to the Senator.

Below is a video of McGuire’s address in which he also spoke of needle disposal sites being set up.

Senator McGuire stated, “While there will be challenges ahead, together, we can do this.”

Later, 4th District Supervisor Virginia Bass spoke about needle disposal sites being set up in areas within the County that have yet to be determined.

Aegis Treatment CEO Alex Dodd was part of the panel and made a presentation about Aegis Treatment Center’s 31 Clinics in California, with 660 employees, 250 councilors, and 25 doctors along with 60 nurses. The company’s mission statement is to “help our patients gain the skills and confidence to lead drug free lives…” Dodd stated that using a combination of treatment and medication is best.

EPD Chief Watson spoke when the public in attendance brought up the issue of the influx of used needles being found in Eureka and in Humboldt county. He stated,

We have met twice so far with Harm reduction programs in the county, Department of Health and Human Services, City of Eureka, City manager and himself…We learned there was some practices that changed in the last couple years that may have contributed to the huge influx of needle use in our city including for a time…going to a needs based distribution of needles away from a one-for-one type model…We secured some promises or agreements for some changes in current practices…If followed up on, I would expect a result fairly dramatic reduction in the number of needles in town.

Below is Watson’s full response via video.

More meetings like this one will be scheduled after the beginning of the New Year.

Facebooktwitterpinterestmail

Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules

Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

16 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Taurus Ballzhof
Guest
Taurus Ballzhof
6 years ago

Thanks. Just do something about the people!

Rehab is just the start…

shak
Guest
shak
6 years ago

Aren’t they a little bit behind the times? The entire northcoast, not just Humboldt, has turned to drugs and od’s. http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article56168810.html
I wonder what the stats were before the timber, tourism and fishing industry collapsed.

OMG!
Guest
OMG!
6 years ago
Reply to  shak

Good point, shak. That caused many more problems than just lost jobs. That led to lost wages, depression, drug use, alcohol use, homes lost and taken over by people moving here, broken homes, homelessness and crime. Terrible what our communities have turned into.

shak
Guest
shak
6 years ago
Reply to  OMG!

Yes, OMG, very much so. To top it off, the state’s officials have discovered that there isn’t enough money in the budget to cover their fancy dinners, campaigns, pensions, raises, travel expenses, underground shelters, and whatnots, due to their increases in taxes while decreasing the jobs that provided them the luxuries they’ve become accustomed to. This is why they’ve turned to foreigners to bail them out for a day or two.

Anon Forrest
Guest
Anon Forrest
6 years ago
Reply to  shak

Shak, I know that when Big Timber was happening in Fort Bragg, it was considered a world-class (?) Speed Capitol. When Timber took off for bigger forests, the loggers were left holding the bag… of speed.

shak
Guest
shak
6 years ago
Reply to  Anon Forrest

AF, you’ve lumped all loggers into one big bag of speed for a generalization. Is that principled?

Skeptic
Guest
Skeptic
6 years ago

So they invited the public to a public meeting, only to announce the presence of a company opening something. That seems more than a little bait-and-switchy.

I read the email invite, there was no mention the meeting would be hijacked for private gain.

G-MAS
Guest
G-MAS
6 years ago

It’s a start. And at least they know we have a serious problem that’s the first step. I hope they do what they say

hmm
Guest
hmm
6 years ago

4.8 million dollar gift to an LLC that runs methadone clinics for profit.

local observer
Guest
local observer
6 years ago
Reply to  hmm

how much have we given to airlines over the last decade to come here but then pull out after learning it was a bad decision? we spent more money on one section of the bay trail (5.1 million). how much did we give Danco for the Town Downer? I would assume that this facility, which we need, is in the mid 8 digits and they will need to accept Medicaid. we don’t even have an dentist in Humboldt capable of removing wisdom teeth that takes Medicaid.

Honeydew Bridge C.H.U.M.P.
Guest

Why not locate this in North Korea?

fuckwalterwhite.com
Guest
fuckwalterwhite.com
6 years ago

So…. is this going to be the safe-injection site?

Sam
Guest
Sam
6 years ago

What a joke.
Why not address the real issue here?
Like #HACHR and their lack of transparency and responsibility in adding to the discarded needles?
This meeting was a waste of the tax payers time and gave us no assistance for the immediate future.

Anon Forrest
Guest
Anon Forrest
6 years ago

Thank you for writing this. It’s spot on.

shak
Guest
shak
6 years ago

Productivity is a key principle to a happy life, whether it’s music, art, literature, clothing, transportation, housing, nourishment, it’s all important. Those who can’t produce soon fall into a state of being only a consumer. A consumer of goods that was created off of someone elses own time, energy, money, and skills. We become thieves. This has a devastating affect on self and on those we have to steal from. Even if we don’t steal from others directly, we vote through a ballot to have the state steal for us. If others protest the act of theft, our vote for stealing from them has a built in enforcement program. You protest theft, you are cuffed at the point of a gun and tossed into a cement cell.
Consumerism without productivity equals welfare and dependence upon the State. This is how we build a state of self declared “victims”. Being a victim of your own ballot choices is a hard one to own up to, especially when you know you are responsible for sending men with guns to arrest Joe Blow who couldn’t afford to register his work car & pay the fines tickets for using his unregistered car to get to work and back.
Eventually we run out of producers.
There should be a law against declaring “there should be a law”. Actually, there is, it’s called the Constitution.
There is absolutely no constitutional authority to forbid a person from being productive, yet we are constantly bombarded with laws that do just that. You want to open a lemonaide stand? Get a city permit, state permit, federal permit, environmental permit, hazard permit, fda approval permit, first. If you’ve gotten this far, enjoy your pennies that will also be taxed if you spend them or save them or leave them to somebody in your will.
None of this is American.
I agree, there is probably a multi-million dollar contract somewhere in this crisis.

anonymous
Guest
anonymous
6 years ago

There was talk in Eureka about opening a methadone clinic back in the ’80s and ’90s but it was just us junkies then, not everybody, so there was no incentive to pay millions to a private limited liability corporation for one.
Glad I gave up waiting for it to happen and just got clean instead.