Reno needs full funding for new detox program: Cooper-Schroeder

Lyndi Cooper-Schroeder | Reno Gazette-Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Prisons Loosen Resistance on Addiction Meds American correctional institutions are slowly loosening resistance to giving inmates medication for their opioid addiction. The U.S. Department of Justice says nearly 300 of the nation's 5,100 correctional facilities offer the medications. (Aug. 7)

An open letter to my fellow Nevadans, judges, federal, state and local officials:

For the past three years, our little dog Teddy and I volunteered Thursday mornings at the WestCare detox/triage center in downtown Reno. It closed without warning a few months ago due to lack of funding. This is a loss that negatively affects our whole community, not just the human beings who need services, and the staff who try to meet their needs. Unless you love someone who is an addict or alcoholic, you may think that ”they” are just losers and somebody else’s problem. They are not. These people are our daughters and sons, our brothers and sisters, our neighbors and our friends. They are us.

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We need an affordable and accessible detox center near downtown Reno and Elko and Fernley and Battle Mountain and Lovelock and Lake Tahoe and everywhere else in our state. Detox centers save lives. Detox centers that use a medical model provide a safe place with support for people who desperately need a hand up. Without a detox center, the few hospitals which offer substance abuse treatment charge right around $20,000 a week. And then our addicted friends need rehabilitation after that. It’s neither cheap nor easy. But it costs less than the unrelenting expenses connected to law enforcement, medical bills, social services, unemployment and homelessness. Together, we have the power to help change lives if we choose to.

Detox is the first step towards clean and sober living. Doctors prescribe and nurses administer medicine to help ease withdrawal symptoms. Social workers offer encouragement and referrals for continued help. Often those with addiction issues don’t get what they need because of the horrors involved in going through withdrawal. A clean and decent detox center gives folks a place to stay for a few days and offers a second (sometimes a third or fourth) chance. Detox centers help our fellow citizens clean up and improve our communities.

As we all know, Nevada has long been near the top of national lists in regard to the number of people who struggle with addiction to alcohol, drugs or both, as well as those who deal with mental health challenges and suicidal feelings. We need serious funding at the local, state and national level to deal with these issues that frankly end up hurting all of us.

As mentioned above, Teddy and I happily spent our Thursday mornings with those going through pain, nausea, delirious tremors and exhaustion. We just hung out with our brothers and sisters at the downtown Reno detox center. We played Yahtzee and Scattergories and Cranium to help ease their suffering, and begin leading a normal, healthy life. A doggy on your lap always helps! Sometimes we cried. But more often we talked and laughed, just like everybody else. Every time, we shared hugs and hopes.

In the meantime (as a retired teacher and journalist), I’m volunteering with the Northern Nevada International Center and walking, knocking and talking to help get good people elected to public office in our Nevada. But if you will share my pleas with those who have the power to effect change and improve lives by helping fully fund a positive new detox program, then I will help by doing what I love: spending time with our friends and family who need our support in their work toward sobriety.

Please let your legislators, judges, administrators, members of Congress, city council members and county commissioners know that we need their support and that everybody matters!

Lyndi Cooper-Schroeder is a Reno resident.