New drug-treatment facility sought in southern Utah County

PROVO — The time for needing two — or maybe even three — county-government sponsored drug treatment facilities in Utah County is here.

In fact, depending on to whom you speak, it's been here for a while.

According to the Utah County Department of Substance Abuse, the top five cities with the highest percentage of admittance into the county's drug treatment program are all in southern Utah County.

While that doesn't necessarily mean southern Utah County has a bigger drug problem than northern Utah County, it does mean the southern cities have a need for a closer drug treatment facility than Provo, says Richard Nance, director of Utah County's Department of Substance Abuse.

"What (the statistics) say to me is, I think it's very important for Utah County to look at providing easy access to substance abuse treatment in the southern part of the county, somewhere around Spanish Fork or Salem, or somewhere that's fairly centrally located and easy to get to," Nance said.

From 2001 to 2006, Spanish Fork, Payson, Springville, Goshen and Salem had the highest percentages by population of residents seeking treatment with Utah County's substance abuse programs. Close behind Salem are Santaquin and American Fork, but the percentages are consistently so much higher in the southern cities they beg the question — why?

One possibility, says Nance, is that drug abusers who live in more expensive northern Utah County may be more likely to seek treatment from private facilities or travel to Salt Lake City clinics.

"Substance abuse is a disease that results in severe economic distress," Nance said. "There are very few people you find with a severe addiction that own a million-dollar home in the river bottoms. They don't start out in poverty; they end up in poverty."

The relationship between poverty and drug addiction is one reason Nance is advocating building a second general admittance, nonresidential drug treatment facility in south Utah County.

"Eight-nine percent of these people (who need drug rehabilitation treatment) are economically at or below the poverty line," Nance said. "That means that transportation is a really important consideration to take when you're considering a substance abuse program."

According to Utah County Commissioner Steve White, the county has been looking for the past seven or eight months to purchase property to build a drug treatment facility in southern Utah County.