Commissioners consider how to fund chemical dependency services

Almost half of the youth 12th-grade and under in Yellowstone County have used alcohol during the last month.

That is among some of the statistics that the Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) provided to county officials with a letter asking them to designate where they want alcohol tax monies to go. The DPHHS is responsible for disbursing the monies earmarked for the provision of chemical dependency services in each county in Montana.

On Tuesday, Yellowstone County commissioners tabled the matter, pending a meeting with the impacted agencies to help evaluate where the money can be most effective.

We want to have a conversation to make sure the percentages meet the needs, said Commissioner Bill Kennedy.

In the past, the county has split the money 87/23 percent between the Mental Health Center and Rimrock Foundation. The funds are distributed three times a year and are used to fund programs aimed at curbing substance abuse, intervention and treatment service.

The data provided by DPHHS projected that in Yellowstone County, in the coming fiscal year, there will be 1,669 people between the ages of 10 and 17 that will need treatment for alcohol abuse, and 1,705 in that same category for drug abuse. Another 2,144 will need treatment for alcohol abuse in the 18-24 age category, and 1,079 for drug abuse. For people over 25 years of age, those who will need treatment number 16,457 for alcohol abuse and 6,147 for drug abuse. The numbers involve only individuals receiving 200 percent or less, of poverty level income, which is a State Block Grant eligibility requirement.

From July 2011 to June 2012 the State Block Grant funds paid for 1,857 hours of prevention services for at least 3,707 people in Yellowstone County. From 2011 through June 2012 there were 499 adults and 129 youths who received state-approved chemical dependency treatment service. Of that total, 90 were women with dependents.

The main drugs of choice, in Yellowstone County, are alcohol, 58 percent; marijuana, 18 percent; other opiates, 10 percent; methamphetamine, 10 percent; and all other illicit drugs, 4 percent.

Marijuana follows alcohol as the next drug most likely consumed by Yellowstone County youth, with more than 20 percent having partaken of the drug over the past month. Cigarettes and chewing tobacco are the next category of the most commonly used drugs over the past month. The average age of initiation in the use of drugs ranges between 10 and 16 years.

The report said that the number of youth in Yellowstone County who have engaged in binge drinking in the last two weeks is 8 percent of eighth graders, 21 percent of 10th graders and 29 percent of 12th graders.

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Commissioners consider how to fund chemical dependency services