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Boretski boosts Hazleton Area girls basketball to division-clinching victory

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Western Pa. lawmaker introduces bill to legalize recreational marijuana

In a perfect world, you wouldn&#8217;t need them.In the real world, they are critical necessities.We&#8217;re talking about addiction treatment and rehabilitation centers.Local officials last week hailed the opening of one in the Back Mountain &#8212; the Dallas Detox and Inpatient Treatment Center.Usually, these places aren&#8217;t named so bluntly and the true intent of their work is hidden behind a few euphemisms. (Think Marworth or Clearbrook Manor.)No matter what they put on the sign out front, however, the services they offer are sorely needed in today&#8217;s opioid-riddled society.&#8220;I can&#8217;t share with you how elated we are to have you with a presence in our local backyard,&#8221; said Luzerne County Drug and Alcohol Director Steve Ross at the center&#8217;s recent open house.Ross went on to praise the operator of Dallas Detox &#8212; Pyramid Healthcare Inc. &#8212; which his agency has a long history of working with. He called the company &#8220;proactive and forward thinking.&#8221;We know what you are thinking at this point, and we&#8217;ve read some of the cynical comments submitted by readers on our website.And we know it&#8217;s only logical to question what it might say about the current state of Northeastern Pennsylvania when a company has not only deemed it appropriate to invest in a new addiction site here, but local officials laud the move as &#8220;incredibly paramount.&#8221;But we are way past the point of trying to put on appearances, people.The opioid crisis is here and everywhere else, and folks are literally dying every day.We agree with the county officials, including District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis, who showed up at the open house to publicly embrace the new site in Dallas Township. It will provide residential treatment for men and women, and it offers 80 beds for residential treatment and 20 for detoxification.Think not only of the lives this place could save in a county that has been annually setting new records for fatal overdoses (166 in 2018), but the other impacts if it proves to be even just somewhat successful at preventing addicts from relapse.As the DA wisely pointed out, about 80 to 90 percent of county crime is in some way connected to &#8220;some type of addiction.&#8221;So, we wish the treatment professionals in the Back Mountain well as they launch their fight to give addicts a sober way forward.If they are successful, society as a whole will benefit.The center&#8217;s debut also got us thinking about another such site being proposed in the village of Harding in Exeter Township.We are not taking sides in that fight. And we understand and see the merits in both sides of the argument.We know living in the same neighborhood as an addiction treatment center is not anyone&#8217;s ideal, but you cannot discount the need for such centers and the important work they are attempting to accomplish.If not in Exeter Township at the former Sarah J. Dymond Elementary, another rehab site will mostly likely be popping up somewhere else within the confines of the county in the not-too-distant future.That township&#8217;s zoning board will take up the matter Monday, Feb. 11, and we expect to hear that night from a lot of passionate residents.It&#8217;s certainly their right to sound off.Sadly, though, we are getting to the point where these centers have to go somewhere, like it or not.All of us are already paying a price for the opioid mess. At least the nearby presence of professional treatment offers a glimmer of hope for addicts and their families. &#8212; Times Leader<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Here are some of the beds available at the new Dallas Detox and Inpatient Treatment Center. The Dallas Township site will provide residential treatment for both men and women. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL020219drug3.cmyk_.jpg</photo0><caption0>Here are some of the beds available at the new Dallas Detox and Inpatient Treatment Center. The Dallas Township site will provide residential treatment for both men and women. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>

Our View: Addiction treatment centers an unfortunate reality of our times