Idaho lawmakers weigh $3M in drug prevention and treatment proposals 

Idaho lawmakers will weigh whether to fund several drug-prevention and treatment projects, totaling over $3 million, through the state’s endowment fund from tobacco lawsuit settlement money. 

The legislative Joint Millennium Fund Committee, which oversees the endowment, heard 10 proposals Friday for use of the settlement money, which must go toward drug and alcohol prevention. As of Sept. 30, the fund’s balance was nearly $43.5 million — however, some of the previously approved projects hadn’t yet been funded, according to Senior Budget and Policy Analyst Janica Bisharat. 

The committee is focused particularly on youth prevention and cessation in approving use of the fund for projects. 

“I am laser-focused on prevention,” committee co-Chair Sen. Van Burtenshaw, R-Terreton, said Friday. “I have three deaths in my family already, and two or three more that are getting close. I’ve seen abuse. I’ve seen the problem, and as long as I have this position, I’m gonna focus on that. And that’s the focus of our group here is prevention.” 

The committee did not decide on its recommended projects to fund. The funding would need final approval from legislative budget writers on the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee during the legislative session, which begins in January. 

Here are the proposed projects lawmakers heard Friday: 

Recovery Idaho asks for $32,780 to create a certification process for recovery centers  

The nonprofit Recovery Idaho sought just under $33,000 to create a voluntary accreditation program for recovery centers statewide. Recovery centers provide treatment for drug and alcohol addiction and also often provide additional support for clients in treatment. 

“The problem right now is that the recovery community centers throughout the state are very well intentioned, but there’s a fair amount of variation and maybe not enough tracking of what exactly happens and what those outcomes are,” Andra Smith Hansen, a Recovery Idaho board member, told the committee members.

Recovery centers provide support to adults, but many of those adults are parents, Smith Hansen said, and better outcomes for those adults can lead to better outcomes for their children. 

The money would be used to work with recovery centers statewide to develop standards, a process for accreditation and standardized metrics to evaluate outcomes. 

Foundation for the Idaho Conference on Alcohol and Drug Dependency seeks $28K to help train workforce 

The Idaho Conference on Alcohol and Drug Dependency has held a yearly conference for more than 40 years for behavioral healthcare workers, but participation is lagging and workers statewide aren’t always able to travel to the Treasure Valley for the conference, according to Leah Kalk, a board member of the foundation. 

The foundation is seeking $28,000 for scholarships for healthcare workers statewide to travel to the conference and earn required continuing education credits.  

Rep. Marco Erickson, R-Idaho Falls, who works in youth prevention, said he’d attended the conference multiple times. 

“Part of going to ICADD is you get to network, and as a professional in that space, you’re learning the skills that you’re going to take back to your community,” Erickson said.

Command Point Training Group asks for $45K for online teen drug prevention 

John Gonzales, a former Meridian police officer and supervisor of the school resource officer program, said there’s a need to send kids to a prevention class that’s easier to access.

Gonzales proposed using $45,000 to create a statewide, online class for teens who get cited for using tobacco, alcohol or other drugs or for parents who want to sign up their kids. He said it would be 4.75 hours of self-paced classes about Idaho’s laws, health and consequences of substance use. It would also include a live, online discussion-based session for teens and optional resources for parents in English and Spanish. 

The money would fund development and start-up costs for the program, as well as about 18 live-sessions for around 350 teens in the pilot year of the program. 

“We come back another year only if the evidence shows it’s worth continuing what we have started,” Gonzales said. 

River of No Return Recovery Center asks for $150K to keep services in Lemhi, Custer counties 

River of No Return Recovery Center, located in Salmon, is hoping to keep its doors open to serve an area without other options, according to the center’s co-founder and Executive Director Annie Stokes. 

The center opened in January with the help of opioid settlement fund money from Lemhi and Custer counties, she said. That money is nearly spent, Stokes said, and the center is seeking additional funds to keep its doors open and programs running until other grants and funding sources can be found. 

The center provides peer support for treatment, transportation to inpatient treatment and court hearings, parenting classes, women’s groups and GED classes, Stokes said. 

“We are working to support the whole person, not just their addiction, but their family, their education, their parenting, their health, and their future,” she said. 

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Change House Inc. seeks over $623K to open McCall recovery program for pregnant women, mothers 

Jada York, founder and director of recently established Change House, asked for $623,300 to help fund the first five months of a new treatment program for pregnant women and mothers. The money would go toward two months of training, three months of clinical care and housing for participants in McCall.

“The goal of our program is simple: decrease overdose and substance abuse rates, decrease foster care placement due to parental substance abuse, and increase family reunification through a family-centered approach with a focus on women and youth health,” York said.

She said Change House would provide access to medical care, childcare, children’s behavioral health services, life skill classes, parenting classes and educational opportunities. After the five-month period that the $623,000 would cover, York said the organization would bill Medicaid and seek other grants that are only available to established programs, she said. 

Boise State University’s Idaho RADAR Center seeks over $71K to disseminate educational materials 

Leah Kalk, who also presented for the Foundation for the Idaho Conference on Alcohol and Drug Dependency, sought $71,382 to print and distribute educational materials on prevention, cessation and treatment resources through Boise State University’s Idaho RADAR Center.

The center has been a clearinghouse for drug and alcohol awareness resources since 1991, Kalk said. However, organizations that used to provide free resources for distributions, such as the U.S. Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, stopped printing its materials around 2020, she said. 

The money would go toward a student employee and the costs to format and print materials to create a stockpile that can be sent to organizations that request them, she said. 

Idaho Boys & Girls Clubs ask for $1.6M to scale youth prevention activities 

Mark Kuhnhausen, executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Kootenai County, said the statewide system of clubs hopes to use just over $1.6 million to serve more kids and add to its drug and alcohol prevention programs. 

“This investment allows us to strengthen our system that is already working,” Kuhnhausen said. 

The money would go toward evidence-based prevention programs, mentoring, promoting healthy lifestyles, social-emotional learning and family engagement, he said. 

He said the organizations plan to seek matching investments from local communities to double the money from the Millennium Fund. 

Razor’s Edge Boxing Club seeks $500K to serve more East Idaho kids 

Razor’s Edge Boxing Club needs a bigger facility to support kids in East Idaho through boxing classes, during which instructors promote “a substance-free lifestyle and discuss the risk of alcohol, tobacco, vaping, and drug use.” 

The Idaho Falls facility is not large enough to meet the need, said coach Dustin Irelan. He said the organization plans to implement a structured substance use prevention program for different age groups four times a year. 

“We’re not simply asking for support to expand a boxing gym, we’re asking for support to expand access to a positive youth development program that promotes healthy choices, mentorship, and substance use prevention,” Irelan said. 

Recovery Community Alliance of Idaho asks for over $267K to create statewide recovery office 

Recovery Community Alliance of Idaho asked for $267,615 to create a statewide resource for recovery centers for technical support, workforce development, data collection, and to bring national standards to local community centers, said Executive Director Tara Arp. 

“Our goal is to help Idaho’s recovery organizations build the foundation they need to thrive long after the initial investment,” Arp said. 

The Center for Hope seeks $30K to expand educational programs to more East Idaho families 

Andra Smith Hansen, who also presented for Recovery Idaho, said the East Idaho-based Center for Hope wanted to expand its existing education program. It is a 10-week session the organization hopes to “beef up.” 

“We’re hoping that we can use this investment to reach both parties by building a parent’s capacity to create a better home, a stronger financial foundation, and increase their communication and parenting skills,” Smith Hansen said. 

The programs would go toward parents in treatment court, a diversion program for people with certain convictions to avoid jail-time that focuses on substance use treatment, or in community reentry after they leave a prison. 

The program would serve Bonneville, Butte, Clark, Custer, Fremont, Jefferson, Lemhi, Madison and Teton counties. 

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Courtesy of Idaho Capital Sun