Ground broken for drug rehab center in Madison County

Lawmakers and anti-drug officials broke ground on a drug rehab program in Madison County Wednesday, saying they hope the drug rehab will help free drug users “from the jaws of addiction.”

The Liberty Place Recovery Center will sit off Main Street in East Richmond. It’s part of Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s Recovery Kentucky initiative, which will create 10 drug rehab programs throughout the state.

Fletcher blamed alcohol addiction and drug addiction leading contributors to homelessness and domestic violence. Drug rehab efforts and stronger enforcement can help reduce those negative effects of drug addictions on the state, he said.

“This drug rehab program is about taking those individuals who are caught in the jaws of addiction and who have been overcome with substance abuse and giving them a renewed hope of overcoming that and grasping something better in life,” Fletcher said at the ceremony attended by about 70 people.

The Liberty Center — a $4.6 million complex that will treat about 100 women at a time — is scheduled to be running in about a year.

Work on five of the 10 drug rehab programs already has started. Those five are in Henderson and Boone counties and in Hopkinsville, Morehead and Harlan. A ground-breaking is scheduled in Paducah Dec. 5.

Drug rehab programs also are planned for Erlanger, Campbellsville and Owensboro.

The addiction treatment programs will be patterned after Lexington’s Hope Center and Chrysalis House. Each community, which had to apply for a rehab center, decides whether the single-sex centers are for women or for men.

Program participants get shelter, support and training in daily living skills. The centers’ construction and operation are paid for mostly with state and federal money.

For those of you looking for drug rehab or addiction treatment in your local area, go to www.recoverycopnnection.org or call 1-800-511-9225 a national helpline for the treatment of drug addiction and alcoholism.