KEEP the Hinemlu Ohala Para Enteramenti or HOPE Recovery Center open, Chief Prosecutor Chester Hinds said.
“I know they might stay open for at least another month, maybe two months…but shutting them down will be a blow to the treatment community in the CNMI. I want to stress…how important HOPE center is in the treatment community,” Hinds added.
He is advocating for an expansion of the HOPE center, and is optimistic that policymakers will do the right thing.
The CNMI government, however, is facing a financial crisis, according to the new administration.
The HOPE Recovery Center is under the Substance Abuse, Addiction and Rehabilitation program of the Office of the Governor. The center houses a number of individuals providing therapeutic and rehabilitative services for persons recovering from substance abuse and addiction.
According to Hinds, as one of the Superior Court Drug Court program partners, the HOPE facility provides a safe place for individuals dealing with addiction.
“Individuals can walk in and get treated — they don’t need to be referred by the Drug Court program,” Hinds told reporters on Thursday afternoon.
“It is a safe place to get treatment, because sometimes people’s homes are not a good place for them — there are a lot of triggers, and sometimes people have no home to go to. HOPE gives them that safe place to be while getting treatment, dealing with their addiction and triggers so they don’t have to go back to the criminal justice system. I think people out there in the community don’t understand that addiction and people dealing with addiction should be treated as a priority even though there’s is no money coming out of it. But it will help the community because we don’t want the crime rate to rise — we don’t want people dealing with addiction out there and having no place to go.”
He added, “We don’t want to put people in jail for small offenses. Majority of individuals…are charged for possession or trafficking of a small amount of controlled substance — less than a gram. It’s really just to sustain their addiction…. The drug court program gives them the tools to be able to survive without getting jailed, because addiction does not go away — it’s a lifelong situation. The program gives them tools to deal with their addiction, get a job, and become productive members of society.”
He said if HOPE shuts down, there will be more people on the streets not getting their addiction treated.
“We will then see methamphetamine use rise, and I want to say right now, meth use is not going away…it needs to be treated, we need to be expanding the treatment program and not closing [it]. We see the number of cases that comes in, and the number of cases stems from drug use…from addiction issues…. The majority of our cases have something to do with addiction, and if we close HOPE and other treatment facilities are overwhelmed on island, then we are doing a disservice to the community. We’re going to see more crimes, and they will be something that we have to deal with on a daily basis,” Hinds said.
Chester Hinds
