At the Tuesday, July 21, County Commissioners Work Session, Drug and Alcohol Commission (DAC) Executive Director Rick Kastner presented the Commissioners with a series of regular contract renewals and agreements for the current fiscal year. Kastner also took the opportunity to discuss the serious funding challenges that the DAC is currently facing. Due to “decreases in funding from both State and Federal allocations,” Kastner explained, the DAC has been forced to radically decrease its provision of rehabilitation treatment services.
The Drug and Alcohol Commission exists to “provide high quality prevention/education programs and treatment services for uninsured and low income citizens.” Most of these uninsured individuals could be called the “working poor”—those who earn their own living, yet do not draw enough income to afford a stable lifestyle or health insurance premiums.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Kastner described the extent to which certain DAC programs have been cut:
“We’re trying to keep open detox because the person…could literally die in the detox process….We also try to keep outpatient clinics open, because it’s relatively inexpensive per client, and so we can afford to typically keep our outpatient clinics open. But, unfortunately, for the treatment in between detox and outpatient—our residential programs—we’ve had to discontinue placements through my office for the past seven or eight months. We’re continuing the freeze on placements, and if cuts [proposed in Harrisburg] go through, we may never place another person in halfway house or rehab again—at least in the near future.”
Kastner expressed that the State budget debates have brought DAC rehab services into greater jeopardy than ever before: “I think it’s well-known that Harrisburg is having difficulty passing a State budget, and it looks like the Drug and Alcohol field will experience anywhere between a 10% and a 35% decrease in our treatment dollars.”
Commissioner Craig Lehman asked Kastner how these potential State funding cuts could affect those Lancastrians in need of DAC services. Kastner replied, “They will definitely end up in the state prisons, the county prisons. In the last five years, the state prison population has gone up as the Drug and Alcohol budget has gone down. You can see the chart: They actually criss-cross, one going up, one going down.” Kastner mentioned that studies have shown that every dollar spent on Drug and Alcohol services can save society seven dollars in prison and hospital expenses.
Putting dollars and cents aside, Kastner directed attention to the human face of the funding problem. Regarding those in need of DAC rehab services, Kastner said, “They’re not going to go away, and they’re not going to get well, unless we give them treatment.”
For more information about the shortfalls in Lancaster County’s working poor rehab funding, read NewsLanc’s exclusive interview series with Rick Kastner.
