Guilford County has been conducting a major effort to fight opioid addiction and other drug addiction and substance abuse in the county, and now Guilford County has put its money where its mouth is in that fight.
County leaders have approved the purchase – subject to everything checking out in the due diligence period – of a former a nursing home building at 1411 Lee’s Chapel Road, which county officials plan to use as a drug rehab center.
The exact plans for the property haven’t been ironed out yet, but the fight against drug addiction in Guilford County is part of a larger battle against homelessness, which is also a key priority for the county’s government these days.
The building sits on 3.8 acres of land that the county is also buying as part of the deal. The county is paying roughly $3.4 million for the facility and the land.
On Monday, August 7, Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston said he and other county leaders are currently receiving input from interested parties to help determine exactly how the new drug treatment center should be set up and should operate. However, he added that it will certainly be a “long term treatment center,” which he said is something the county has needed badly for a long time.
The Board of Commissioners has been lamenting the lack a sufficient number of long-term beds for drug addicts for the last two decades, and, since that discussion began, just after the start of the century, this is one of the biggest moves the county has made. The county has had facilities for short term care for substance abuse patients but there’s a consensus among county leaders and county health officials that the key to permanent help for these people is in long term stays.
I thought that’s why the county bought the closed school on East Bessemer Avenue
Wonderful!!! We need a DRUG REHAB building in every section of Greensboro. Drugs are way of life today here. Get rid of ALL the police and lets party. Oh! Be sure to raise our tax again real soon.
Another pig in a poke. Skips so ignorant, he has no clue what it will cost to make this a rehab facility or the cost to convert an antique school building into a homeless shelter but costs be damned it is not his money anyway. Full speed ahead.
We recently hired a person to oversee the county efforts to deal with the addiction issue in a serious way. So it makes sense to add beds to what Guilford County already operates at the Daymark location. I’ve seen opioid addiction up close. It is tough to get good treatment unless you have a lot of resources (or maybe great insurance). There is a great demand and few good options available to most people. If you hear from our Dir of EMS (Jim Albright) your eyes will be opened by the depth of this issue. For all the waste our taxes go to, I am glad some of it is going to this. It is very worthwhile.