Addressing the money committees of the state Legislature yesterday morning, Kaua’i Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste asked for $1,560,000 for Kaua’i-based, residential drug-treatment facilities. Speaking before chairs and members of both the Senate Ways and Means Committee and House Finance Committee,
Addressing the money committees of the state Legislature yesterday morning, Kaua’i Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste asked for $1,560,000 for Kaua’i-based, residential drug-treatment facilities.
Speaking before chairs and members of both the Senate Ways and Means Committee and House Finance Committee, Baptiste asked for $1 million for an adult transitional residential treatment facility, and $560,000 for an adolescent residential treatment facility.
“An adolescent residential treatment facility and a transitional residential treatment facility are our priorities,” he said.
“Providing treatment for illegal drug users and addicts is many times not enough. Often these individuals find that they are unable to acclimate themselves to healthy and productive lives — no skills, no job, no place to live,” said Baptiste.
“Following drug treatment, many will soon turn back to drugs. A transitional residential treatment facility is necessary as the support mechanism for those coming out of prison or another drug-treatment program, to help these individuals get back their lives,” Baptiste told members of the committees.
“This facility will provide support tools such as job training, help in developing parenting skills, and finding a permanent place to live. This facility will also support those individuals needing continued treatment,” he said.
The two facilities would be built in the next two to three years, said Roy Nishida, county coordinator for the anti-drug initiative.
The first, and probably the first to built, would be an adolescent residential treatment facility, he said. The proposed drug-treatment center for is being planned on the old Kauai Humane Society site in Hanapepe.
State Department of Land and Natural Resources officials have already awarded the county a right-of-entry permit, so county workers can go onto the site.
“We went through the first hurdle,” said Nishida, adding that there are many more to cross, including acquiring planning permits, and finding a qualified person to run the center.
Construction may begin as soon as within a year, if funding can be secured and other considerations are solved, he said.
The transitional residential treatment facility, which does not yet have a proposed site, would treat people coming from jail and from drug treatment.
“It (would be) one-stop shopping,” Nishida said. “Sometimes people, when coming out of prison or rehabilitation, have no place to go.”
The center would provide job training and other skills to re-acclimate patients into the community, while providing them with a safe environment and additional drug treatment, he said.
That project is probably two years from construction, Nishida said.
Making his case for funding for an adolescent residential treatment facility, Baptiste told members of the money committees, “We ask for your support, once again, for our youth.
“Support (is needed) in our efforts against ice, or crystal methamphetamine, and other dangerous and illegal substances. The County of Kaua’i is in dire need of an adolescent residential treatment facility,” he stressed.
“There is currently no such facility on our island, forcing youth in need of treatment to leave the island, their homes and their families.
“An important aspect of treatment is the supportive influence that family members can provide,” he continued.
“An adolescent residential treatment facility for our county would allow Kaua’i’s youth to remain on their home island throughout their treatment, and would also permit their families to be included in the treatment process.
“Our youth are truly the future of Kaua’i — we would be doing a disservice to ourselves not to provide for those needing treatment the best possible opportunity to develop themselves into clean and productive members of our community,” he added.
“Over the past year, my administration has used an unconventional yet successful approach in an effort to bring government and the community together,” Baptiste said.
“Through the Ka Leo O Kaua’i process, our communities meet monthly, set their own priorities, and work right along with the county government — in partnership — to address their issues.
“In community after community, one priority remained consistent. From the youngest voices to those of our kupuna, the scourge of crystal methamphetamine has touched so many lives,” he said.
“It is an epidemic unlike any we have faced before. I commend each and every one of you, as leaders, for guiding the charge within your state and individual communities,” he said.
“The partnership needed must be all-encompassing, stronger than we’ve ever seen before; a partnership that stands united, strong and committed, with a single voice; a single voice amplifying a single message: enough is enough,” said Baptiste.
“Each partner, whether attending summits, sign-holding, mentoring a single child, or in this case providing funding for much-needed facilities, must commit to this effort.
“I’ve watched you, as legislative leaders, travel across the state, listening to what is needed: legislative changes in law, viable programs, as well as facility needs demand your attention this legislative session,” he told committee members.
“To address the communities’ concerns for this growing problem, we appointed an anti-drug coordinator to oversee the county’s anti-drug efforts in partnership with federal, state and community agencies and organizations.
“Through a series of drug summits, several priorities related to anti-drug efforts were identified,” including needs for the treatment facilities, he said.
He also asked for state help for infrastructure items including new solid-waste facilities, sewer-system upgrades, and a new fire station in Kapa’a.
