Three Things To Read This Week

1. New Safer Cities Polling On Sobering Centers

To gauge public support for Sobering Centers as part of a city’s public safety infrastructure, Safer Cities recently conducted a national survey of 2,503 registered voters. 

First, we defined sobering centers as facilities “that give people who are intoxicated a place to sober up until they are not a danger to themselves or others that provide a safe place to receive medically-assisted detox, mental health treatment, peer support and aftercare.” These centers, we explained, “help alleviate pressure on emergency rooms and keep people who don’t pose a safety risk out of jail.”

We then provided participants with “reasons for implementing sobering centers as a public safety policy” that a city might consider, and then asked them to tell us “how convincing, if at all” each of those reasons are. Here are the three most persuasive arguments: 

• +59 Net Effective (77% to 18%): “Intoxicated people are often a threat to themselves and others, and require constant attention if they’re brought to jail to sober up. That creates an additional burden on jails and drains resources from other parts of law enforcement budgets. Sobering centers can more effectively address challenges related to intoxication.”

• +55 Net Effective (75% to 20%): “When someone reaches the point where they’re so intoxicated that they’re being arrested, it’s likely that they have other underlying issues that need to be addressed. If their issues go unaddressed, they’re likely to repeat their behavior and end up back in jail, costing taxpayers valuable law enforcement resources. Sobering centers connect people with the help they need and make cities safer by freeing up law enforcement resources.”

• +50 Net Effective (73% to 23%): “Putting people in jail for intoxication is a poor use of law enforcement resources. Every dollar spent processing and jailing someone for intoxication is a dollar that could be better spent by police solving serious crimes. Sobering centers are a more cost-effective way of dealing with intoxication.”

2. Sobering Centers Are “Relieving Strain On Hospitals And Jails.”

• The City Of Albuquerque Launches “Long-Awaited Medical Sobering Center… The Only [One] In New Mexico,” Kevin Hendricks reports for The Paper. The center, staffed with medical professionals “who triage and monitor intoxicated individuals that arrive by emergency medical services until sobriety is achieved,” will provide “24-hour care for those struggling with addiction [and] connection with longer-term substance use resources…[to] recover from intoxication and relieving strain on hospitals and jails,” the newspaper noted. 
  
  The center “has beds, recliners, and private rooms for decompression” and “will serve up to 50 people at a time and up to 18,250 people annually.” The facility takes walk-ins and allows first responders to drop off intoxicated people to receive care quickly so that responders can get back on the streets faster.
  
  Why A Sobering Center? The city produced a helpful study which examined Sobering Centers from around the country, budget and staffing considerations, and how these centers function best. City researchers concluded that “Sobering Centers are an innovative way to address [the] pervasive problem [of intoxication]... that more and more communities across the country are using to meet the needs of the people they serve.” The entire report is worth reading for any local leader interested in launching a Sobering Center, but here are the key findings:

  • Hospitals And Jails Aren’t Built For This: “Treating conditions related to alcohol and substance intoxication further stresses hospital emergency departments… many individuals circle through the system as many as 10 times or more in a year with no safety net in place to get help and end the revolving door effect…. members from both the medical and criminal justice systems are increasingly concerned about jail and hospital overcrowding due to public intoxication.”

  • Frees Up Law Enforcement Resources: “The Sobering Center approach is intended to help individuals with low acuity intoxication from overcrowded emergency departments and jail to a safe place to gain sobriety and to access links to treatment, housing and other unmet social needs… In Albuquerque, it can take up to two hours for an APD officer to book an individual into MDC [jail]. In addition to saving booking time, the proposed Sobering Center provides a safe place to sober over jail.”

  • Cost Savings: “Over the past three years, [the fire department] alone responded to 43,094 substance-related intoxication and overdose incidents, at an average cost of more than $1.3 million a year… The benefits of implementing a well-planned Sobering Center far outweigh the costs associated with not addressing the issue. Communities have shifted cost savings from emergency response to operate a Sobering Center.”

  • A Gateway To Recovery Instead Of A Revolving Door: “A Sobering Center can address the immediate clinical needs of persons experiencing intoxication… while also meeting broader needs by creating access to case management, treatment, and social resources…. while clients sober safely and are introduced to services that meet their social, behavioral, medical, and hygiene needs.”

Momentum For Sobering Centers Across The Country:

• In Washington State—Sobering Centers Opening In Both Seattle And Spokane. For The Seattle Times, Jayati Ramakrishnan reports on the new permanent sobering center opening this year in Seattle “aimed at providing a space for people to recover from substance use intoxication, and get connected to essential services to aid in their recovery.” The facility can “serve up to 40 people at a time… [and] will also connect people with services like substance use treatment and housing assistance to help them with ongoing recovery.” For KXLY, Derek Strom reports on the new sobering center opening in Spokane, that will “provide immediate treatment for those struggling with addiction… from unnecessary hospitalizations and [booking at] the Spokane County Jail.” People can be brought to the facility by a first responder or walk in “regardless of what symptomology or substance they're on, receive an immediate assessment, withdraw from that substance and they're referred up into inpatient care.”

• The City of Austin Invests In “Major Expansion Of Sobering Center Downtown.” For KVUE, Melia Masumoto reports on the $1 million upgrade to the city’s lauded sobering center that will add a second floor of beds that gives people waiting to enter a rehab program a quiet, longer-term space to stay for a few days, one separated from the first floor where acute treatment is accessed, to aid in their recovery effort, “without taking up space in emergency rooms or jails.” Ashlyn Branscum, the development manager for the sobering center, explained to the news station that the upgrade was needed for the next phase of recovery because on the first floor “there are like folks who have actively been engaging in some of these [substances],” so the second floor gives people a chance to further their recovery, “making the decision to stop some of this behavior.” 

• In Portland, While A New Sobering Center Is Being Built Leaders Roll Out “Sobering Stations.” For KOIN, Joelle Jones reports that county leaders announced“13 new soberings stations, 24-hour beds [that] will help increase access to recovery services for people suffering from substance abuse disorder… while the permanent sobering center, with up to 50 withdrawal management stations, is slated to open in the Fall of 2027.” Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards, who championed the interim sobering stations program, explained to the news station that this provides immediate access to treatment while the larger center is being built and “offers law enforcement more opportunities to refer people [“experiencing acute intoxication”] to treatment instead of jail…”

3. Research Finds Sobering Centers Are “Excellent Alternatives For Care… While Simultaneously Reducing Healthcare Costs.” 

For the scientific journal, the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, physicians at the Department of Emergency Medicine at Detroit Receiving Hospital in Michigan published the findings of an extensive review of the body of research on Sobering Centers to better understand these centers and their contributions to the communities that have established them. The physicians main conclusion: Sobering Centers are “excellent alternatives to the emergency department for care of acutely intoxicated patients… and are safe, relatively inexpensive, and may facilitate more aggressive connection to resources such as longitudinal rehabilitation programs for the acutely intoxicated patient.”

The full research is worth reading, but here are the topline findings: 

• A Public Safety Tool, Not Only A Public Health Tool: Researchers noted that the Houston Recovery Center “decreased annual public intoxication jail admissions from 20,508 to 835 over a five-year period… Importantly, they were able to enroll 23% of the sobering center’s patients in the longitudinal Partners in Recovery program.”

• Sobering Centers Slash Costs: Researchers found that “the average cost per single visit at a sobering center was $264.18 compared to an average ED cost per visit of $2820.61… A budget impact analysis estimates that by diverting 50% of alcohol visits from US EDs to sobering centers, the US could save between $230 million to $1 billion. Even with a diversion rate of just 10%, estimated US national healthcare savings are approximately $100 million.”

• Patients Don’t Only Sober Up, They Are Connected To Services That Help Drive Longer-Term Stability: Researchers found that “centers have also been used as a connection point to refer patients for alcohol addiction treatment, housing assistance and other community resources… One study noted that up to 20% of ED visits for acute alcohol intoxication were by homeless patients… Patients with alcohol use disorders who are homeless have an 8.5 times higher odds of becoming ‘super-users’…”