Prepared remarks: Hope in the Valley Opening (July 11, 2024)
I am honored to join you today for this an incredibly meaningful and significant event. Today demonstrates what can happen when so many in a community come together to address a critical need.
Congrats to all here who worked hard and effectively to make this a reality, including Alamosa County Administrator Roni Wisdom, the Alamosa County Commissioners Lori Laske, Vern Heersink, Arlan Van Ry, and the Region 18 Opioid Settlement Governance Council. In particular, let me acknowledge Paul and Kim Reed, and Justin Riley, and thank them for the passion and commitment they bring to this project. I know that many other local leaders and compassionate residents also paved the way for this occasion. Your work will save lives.
I am always inspired by the San Luis Valley. In 2022, I came to this site when the plan for this facility was just forming. It’s wonderful to be here today to celebrate a successful project. During my earlier visit, it was clear that the vision for an inpatient treatment center would meet some the region’s most critical health and safety needs. But of course, this journey began earlier. I want to reflect on just a few of the stories that bring us to this important day—and on the importance of the work ahead.
In 2017, I came to the San Luis Valley as a candidate to serve as Colorado’s Attorney General. One of the first meetings I had was with Sheriff Robert Jackson. At that point, the opioid crisis was devasting this community. The Sheriff told me that his jail was in crisis, with 90% of those incarcerated struggling with opioid use disorder.[1] And, he added, he has no tools to help them. As he said, “if we had a 100-bed rehab facility here, that would be huge.” At that point, moreover, there was not Medication Addiction Treatment available in the jail or any local in-patient drug treatment facility. Since that conversation, I dedicated myself, like others here have, to tackling an unsustainable situation–people struggling with addiction and ending up in jail, only to leave and return jail yet again as part of a cycle of addiction.
This deadly and tragic cycle can be told in numbers—and we have lost more Coloradans to drug overdoses in the last three years than ever before—but the even more painful and powerful story is about the real and lasting impact on our kids, our siblings, our friends, and our communities. As so many of us painfully know, those who leave jail without treatment and a path to recovery are over 100 times more likely to die of a drug overdose than an average person.[2] And, by contrast, providing Medication Addiction Treatment reduces the risk of death from any cause by 85%, and the risk of death from an overdose by 75% in the weeks following release.
The statistics around treatment for those in jail who are struggling with addiction tell only part of the story. The injustice of this situation became even more clear to me as I got to know victims who lost loved ones to this crisis. I met Trisha when she, along with other parents, came to visit with me about what more we could do to address this crisis. Based on the work following that meeting, we fought for a law that requires that everyone who is incarcerated in a local jail have access to treatment while in jail as well as an effective hand off to a provider when they leave. In the case of Trisha’s son Keith, drug treatment could have saved his life. Keith was in a jail that did not, at that time, have any treatment options. And when he was released, he asked to be admitted into a drug treatment program. But he was told there were no slots available. Trisha welcomed him home, and to prevent him from ordering drugs, took his phone. With access to an online video game, however, he was still able to order opioids—and he died of an overdose.
I continue to think about—and tell—Keith’s story when reflecting on the importance of making opioid drug treatment available in Colorado. His story, and others just like it, are heartbreaking. As I have worked to address Colorado’s opioid crisis, I recognize that this work is fundamentally about saving lives. Had Keith had access to drug treatment, he would likely still be with us. His mom, Trisha, did all she could to advocate for him; we as a society failed them both.
A second story I would like to tell of the San Luis Valley is the one around how we approached setting up a model of managing the over $750 million and counting, that Colorado is on track to receive because of lawsuits that we brought against Big Pharma and others responsible for fueling the opioid crisis. Our premise for this model was that the overwhelming amount of the funds—90% to be precise—would be spent at the regional and local level. With every dollar reported transparently in a public online database. But whether the Valley would be its own region was an open question. To answer that question, many in this room, including Aaron Miltenberger, made the case for the Valley standing on its own. To be honest, I was concerned about whether the Valley had enough critical mass to pull off managing its own region. It is crystal clear to me now that those concerns were misplaced. In fact, the Valley is a model for the rest of the state.
The reason that the Valley is a model for our state in addressing the opioid crisis is a story about leadership. When the Valley was established as a separate region, I asked Aaron who he believed would lead the region well. He did not hesitate to recommend County Commissioner Lori Laske. For those who know Lori, you appreciate how special she is. Not only did she invest a tremendous amount of time into organizing the region’s opioid response, but she continues to help develop best practices for our state. Most notably, she ensured that those with lived experience and who were in recovery would be an important part of developing the Valley’s opioid response. At our statewide opioid abatement conference last summer, Lori highlighted the voices and perspectives of those with lived experience and who are in recovery, and other regions took notice. And both Lori and Aaron are helping to lead our state, by serving on the statewide Colorado Opioid Abatement Council, providing essential input and oversight of the Regional Oversight Committees and the spending of the state infrastructure grants.
Many have suggested that luck is the residue of good planning. Lori had worked with others in the community, including her fellow county commissioners, to scope out where a drug treatment center could be established – which ended up being the site we are at right now. But she needed to find the right partner and leader to operate such a treatment center.
Just when we needed them, Kim and Paul Reed, two people driven to support others in recovery, entered the picture. They told me that they were interested in giving back by supporting a drug treatment center and were particularly interested in the Valley. Together with Lori and others, they forged a powerful plan. Ultimately, that plan came together, and I am proud it includes investment from the opioid settlement funds secured by my office. Last year, the Colorado Opioid Abatement Council awarded Hope in the Valley one of the first grants from the statewide infrastructure share. Nearly $200,000 in grant funds went toward completing this facility. It is truly inspiring that we have arrived at this special day to celebrate the opening of Hope in the Valley.
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It is often said that the opposite of addiction is not sobriety; it’s connection. It is also clear that Americans are facing a connection crisis that underlies not just the opioid crisis, but our youth mental health crisis. What we need, therefore, is more community and more connection. That is part of why this project is so meaningful; it represents not only hope in the Valley for those struggling with addiction, but it is another example of how the Valley comes together to support one another. The building of the Sky Hi complex and the way in which the community has stood together—such as when you all stood side-by-side to oppose the threat of a scheme to take precious water from your agricultural economy—also represent that spirit at work. Your resilience and dedication show us what “our better angels” look like and what can happen when community leaders come together to solve problems.
Thank you all for being a model for Colorado and our nation, in opioid response and in how you show up for one another. You continue to inspire my belief in a promising and positive future. When I am asked about the future and whether we can overcome our challenges, my answer is: absolutely. And my answer is also—look to the Valley.
[1] Sheriff Jackson later told that same story to Colorado Public Radio. https://www.cpr.org/2018/03/29/colorados-opioid-crisis-fuels-alamosas-jail-overcrowding/
[2] The landmark study on point is https://perma.cc/L49X-7MZ7