Mayor pushes quicker creation of new sobering center in Tucson

A committee that spent five months conjuring ways to use about $8 million from a settlement to help Tucson combat the effects of the opioid epidemic has come up with seven steps and potential funding levels that can be pursued.

Those are:

• Youth prevention, $1.5 million;
• Peer navigation services and support, $1.5 million;
• Transitional wraparound support, $1.5 to $2 million;
• Law enforcement co-response, $1 to $1.5 million;
• Continuation of mobile medical assisted treatment, $300,000;
• Innovation projects, $755,000;
• Sobering Center implementation plan development, $100,000 to $250,000;
• Continued staffing to support contracting and overdose prevention services.

The initial funding for the effort comes from the One Arizona Agreement, a 2021 settlement against major opioid distributors that was doled out to Arizona’s 90 cities and 15 counties to combat drug use in their communities.

Locally, funds have been pooled between Pima County, Marana, Tucson and South Tucson, with each jurisdiction represented on the settlement committee. The committee has been tasked with researching and identifying top priorities.

These priorities were identified and presented to the City Council recently by Dr. Theresa Cullen, the Pima County health director.

Cullen said through lots of research, surveys and interviews the committee narrowed down their 12 priorities to seven, then focused on spending required for each initiative.

What started as a $5 million budget quickly turned to an $8 million budget when they realized how much it’s going to take to get proper initiatives off the ground.

Mayor Regina Romero fixed her attention on one recommendation: Creating a sobering center that would provide a long-term living and care environment to help people get their lives on track.

“This is an immediate need,” Romero said. “It’s an absolute immediate need.”

Cullen described the proposed center as a “warm handoff for individuals in need of sobering, withdrawal, med management and access to peer navigation.” It will not be a quick in-and-out process for patients. The goal, Cullen said, is to provide people with additional support and services to facilitate better chances in recovery.

Each jurisdiction’s committee members named this action a priority.

But funding the committee recommended for a sobering center was less than any other proposal.

Romero said she was “disappointed” by that.

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On the back of declaring opioid abuse a public health crisis in December 2023, Romero said she’s been carefully considering what options would best serve Tucson and surrounding communities, and at what cost.

“There’s such little money attached to this concept,” Romero said of establishing a sobering house. “We have one opportunity and finite resources with the opioid settlement funds and really question why we are not accelerating a sobering center implementation and attaching more funds to it.”

Cullen said that knowing the cost of this effort is an impossible task.

“One hesitation, I think, has been that we don’t know what (dollar amount) to put to that (sobering center initiative). I think if we do our due diligence we can accelerate this to try to get back with a number of what the cost will be, whether that’s $1.5 million, or $3 million, or $4.5 million,” Cullen said, promising to come back to the board with additional assessments to move the project along at a quicker pace.

Romero asked that the Board of Supervisors reassess the plan, and focus more time and funding on the “gaping hole” that is a sobering center in Tucson.

“I am not an expert and the cities have never had to respond to this issue in the way that we’re dealing with it now,” Romero said. “And so we are learning on the fly. I want to make sure that I am a good partner to Pima County, but they need to be a good partner to the city of Tucson, as well, and attend to this issue and we have the money to do this with the opioid settlement.

“So, I don’t pretend to know how we’re going to do it, but I know that we can and it needs to be done quickly.”

Romero pointed out the empty Mission Annex building next to the Pima County jail as a potential site for a sobering center.

And while she’s recognized the need for other forms of prevention, “the most urgent piece to trying to resolve a few issues at the same time (is a sobering center). We absolutely need to move at breakneck speed to create a safe center in our community and then take this money and make it happen.”

It’s a need residents are asking for, she said, and a need that the committee can’t sit on and study for any more time.

Romero’s reaction to the committee’s suggestions wasn’t necessarily a bad one, says Pima County Supervisor Matt Heinz.

“Look, we’re not going to get everything happening on day one,” Heinz said. “This isn’t a rejection saying burn it down and start all over. The council and the mayor want to see an accelerated timeline for a sobering facility” and that’s workable, he said.

“It’s very complicated. We’re not going to fix it, the mayor is not going to fix it, no one government entity is going to fix it. We are getting together and pooling our resources to make sure we have that coordination and public discussion on how to proceed.”

Romero has asked Cullen to come back within 30 days with a more clear idea on the needs required to create a sobering house so the project can get underway. The program is expected to serve between 10-15 people initially and expand from there.