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Cops want to jail you but your not a criminal?
No problem!
Your insane!
Or an alcoholic in Alaska!
Arizona has laws like this Alaska law. The Secret Service used the law to jail a man who said he wished President Bush were deal for 6 months at Desert Vista Hospial in Mesa. Anchorage commitment center prepares to hold alcoholics by The Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The state law used to commit mental patients against their will is now being used to hold alcoholics at an Anchorage treatment center that held its grand opening Wednesday. The involuntary commitment provision has been allowed for years under state law, specifically Title 47, which is used to commit people for psychiatric treatment at the state mental hospital. But until this year, the state didn't provide any funding to force alcoholics or addicts to get sober. The Anchorage Daily News reports alcoholics are initially committed for 48 hours with a 30-day extension if ordered by a judge. Robert Heffle, director of the new Salvation's Army Clitheroe Center near Stevens International Airport, said six people are staying at the facility beyond the court-ordered 30 days for treatment. The Clitheroe Center began treatment services in July and detox in September, and Heffle said 11 people have come through the new unit. At the center's grand opening Wednesday, the Salvation Army presented State Sen. Johnny Ellis, D-Anchorage, with a plaque. He worked on the project for years, helping to piece together $1 million in state funding. Ellis said state Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Fairbanks, who chairs the finance subcommittee for corrections, was a key supporter and the state Legislature put partisan politics aside for the project. Melissa Stone, director of the state Division of Behavioral Health, said she used to run a private agency and was often frustrated in her efforts to save the lives of self-destructive alcoholics. The new project will need to be assessed and clients tracked to see if it works, she said.
Center takes on a sobering task as it opens for chronic homeless COURTS: Unit treats hard-core homeless alcoholics, addicts. By LISA DEMER ldemer@adn.com Published: 11/04/09 11:03 pm An experiment at the Clitheroe Center, one of the biggest and oldest substance-abuse treatment centers in Anchorage, will try to help hard-core homeless alcoholics -- even though they don't want help. The new specialized treatment unit at the Salvation Army center is for people ordered by a court to get help to save their lives or at least stop them from hurting themselves. The hope is that once they get sober, they will be able to make rational, healthy choices. The grand opening was Wednesday with the mayor, state lawmakers, city and state health officials and a swarm of reporters all there to check out the new unit near Stevens International Airport. The involuntary commitment provision has been allowed for years under state law, specifically Title 47, which is already used to commit people for psychiatric treatment at the state mental hospital. But until this year, the state didn't provide any funding to force alcoholics or addicts to get sober. State Sen. Johnny Ellis, D-Anchorage, worked on the project for years and said he saw the problems caused by public inebriates firsthand in his Fairview neighborhood. He helped piece together the $1 million in state funding. The Salvation Army gave him a plaque on Wednesday. Ellis said state Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Fairbanks, who chairs the finance subcommittee for corrections, was key to making the project happen. The Legislature put partisan politics aside for the project, Ellis said. "He and I were able to lock arms to try and do the right thing for people that the Bible and Jesus would call 'the least among us,' " Ellis told the crowd. Melissa Stone, director of the state Division of Behavioral Health, told the crowd she used to run a private agency and can remember being at wit's end trying to save the lives of self-destructive alcoholics. The new project will need to be assessed and clients tracked to see if it works, she said. "The people in the field do not take lightly the significance of imposing the Title 47 process," Stone said. "On the other hand, people in the field are witness daily to the destruction of drinking. Seeing people injure themselves as they're unable to walk or unable to stand. Seeing people belligerent. Seeing people huddled in urine," she said. People destroyed by alcohol. In the new program, people are initially committed for 48 hours, with extensions of 30 days or longer if ordered by a judge. Robert Heffle, director of Clitheroe Center, said the treatment services began in July and detox in September. So far, 11 people have come through the new unit, and six of them are staying beyond the court-ordered 30 days for treatment, he said. A week ago, one of the men now in the program was standing on a street corner with a sign, panhandling for booze money. He's now sober, Heffle said, and happy to be in a place where he's safe and warm.
Clitheroe Center re-opens to detox court-ordered inebriates The Salvation Army's Clitheroe detox center re-opened Wednesday. (Rich Jordan/KTUU-DT) Wednesday, November 04, 2009 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The Salvation Army's Clitheroe Center re-opened a specialized treatment program Wednesday to help alcoholics get clean. The detox program accepts chronic inebriates committed under court order. The involuntary treatment plan lasts at least 30 days, but the idea is to get people to stay until they make a full recovery. The goal of the program is to get drunken people off the street. The center accepted its first clients this summer. So far two people made it through treatment and several more are on their way. "This is the first step; we know that this is just part of the solution. We need to make sure that when people leave this facility that they're into an environment that is different than they came from or else they will just be coming back and that cycle will continue," said Mayor Dan Sullivan. The detox program closed down two years ago because it lost funding. Eight out of 10 beds are already taken. The center says it's clear there's a need for this kind of treatment center. Contact Ashton Goodell at agoodell@ktuu.com |