The standard public anxiety about a Drug Treatment Center DTC attracting crime to the neighborhood is not borne out by the data.
“Drug treatment centers are a public health need; they are as necessary as urgent care centers and emergency departments,” says Furr-Holden. “Our research shows that DTCs do not impact communities any more than other commercial businesses. Moving forward, communities should work with researchers, policymakers, and DTCs to have an honest dialogue regarding placement of this needed resource.” John Hopkins Magazine 2016
The results indicate that substance-abuse-treatment facilities reduce both violent and financially motivated crimes in an area, and that the effects are particularly pronounced for relatively serious crimes. Science Direct.com June 2018 *
Violent crime associated with drug treatment centers is similar to that associated with liquor stores and is less frequent than that associated with convenience stores and corner stores. National Library of Medicine January 2016
- High Relapse and Drop-out Rates: Critics point out that patients often leave treatment early, leaving them stranded in the local area without resources or housing.
- Concentration of Risk Factors: Those who relapse, particularly when leaving treatment early, often have limited job skills or criminal backgrounds, increasing the potential for, or public perception of, crime.
- “Enabling” Behaviors: Some families refuse to support addicts who drop out, leading those individuals to remain in the area surrounding the treatment center.
- Public Safety Concerns: Residents may fear that increased foot traffic from clients struggling with addiction correlates with increased petty crime or loitering near residential areas, notes a and. [2, 7, 8]
- Location Choice: Studies have shown that the crime rate around treatment centers is not necessarily higher than around other commercial establishments, such as convenience stores.
- Treatment Effectiveness: Properly implemented treatment programs can decrease crime and improve public health.
- Housing First Approach: Evidence suggests that providing stable housing reduces both homelessness and substance use faster than programs that require sobriety first.
- Resource Necessity: Experts note that drug treatment centers are essential public health resources, similar to urgent care clinics. [7, 8, 9, 10]
Baltimore Facebook Posts… 12/2021
Has a community successfully objected to a recovery program?
Titles are generated by AI from Meta
Need an answer to this: my community is being inundated with recovery houses, treatment programs, sober living houses, assisted livings, medication dispensing and recovery programs. Is there a community in the City who has successfully objected to and have had a program/center not come or removed? And how…? At this rate, we can’t be *that* addicted that we are saturated…
