Hawaii County will receive $489,000 in 2023 as part of a nationwide opioid settlement, followed by $110,000 annually until all funds are exhausted.
The funding comes from the state’s $81.4 million total, which will be distributed over the next 18 years as a result of several settlements.
The initial county funds will go toward setting up a detox center, expanding the mental health counseling program at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, and supporting the Hawaii Island Fentanyl Task Force.
“One of the things I learned as a prosecutor is that we’re never going to arrest our way out of this situation,” said Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth during a press conference Thursday. “The $489,000 is not a lot of money, so we thought, how are we going to use this, and one, we need to really look at treatment.”
The first phase of funding will go to the Big Island Substance Abuse Council, or BISAC, and the development of a potential detox center in Hilo.
“Right now, if we need to send someone, we send them off island for detox,” said BISAC CEO Dr. Hannah Preston-Pita. “I have seen first-hand how addiction has really taken control of our community, but I have also seen on the flip side how treatment really works for people.”
Preston-Pita will work with Roth to secure a location, including one potential space for renovation across from the Hilo Courthouse.
“It is a central location in Hilo,” Preston-Pita said. “It will take, we’ve estimated, about $1.4 million to start up the facility.”
She said the project could start in six months.
Additional funds for the facility are being sought from Gov. Josh Green and from the statewide settlement total.
“We’re talking to the governor and the state about using some other funds,” Roth said. “And the state is agreeing with us to also put some of their funds together from that settlement to treatment that we’re looking at, in particular, a detox facility.”
The detox facility will be a separate project from the health care kauhale project in Hilo that Green has previously mentioned.
Staffing for the center could come from UH-Hilo.
“Our masters in mental health counseling program at UH-Hilo is the only masters in mental health counseling program in the state,” said Dr. Charmaine Higa-McMillan, who heads the program. “We have 20 students that we can accept each year, and since 2005, we’ve graduated nearly 200 students from our program.”
UH-Hilo officials hope to use some additional funding to add a certified substance abuse counseling program. CSAC licensure was previously offered at Hawaii Community College, but later moved to the Leeward Campus on Oahu.
“We think our program is well-positioned to be able to not only train high-quality mental health counselors, but to also be able to add a concentration in substance abuse counseling so we can meet this need,” Higa-McMillan said.
The Hawaii Island Fentanyl Task Force also will receive future funding. The group provides educational support for students and hosts a variety of community meetings and workshops about the dangers of fentanyl.
“Eighty percent of adolescent deaths in America from overdoses today are due to fentanyl,” said Dr. Kevin Kunz of the task force. “There’s one overdose death in Hawaii County every 11 days, and in terms of the state at large, there is one overdose death every 34 to 36 hours. This is a crisis for our state and all the communities.”
Email Grant Phillips at gphillips@hawaiitribune-herald.com.