City leaders and the state Attorney General are coming together to provide more resources and expand addiction treatment services in South Dakota’s largest cities.
The targeted effort aims to pool resources from the national opioid settlement to provide more treatment options on either end of the state.
It’s a move supported by South Dakota Attorney General and Congressional candidate Marty Jackley.
“Today is my opportunity to do something positive and bold that’ll make a difference," Jackley said. "When I look at addiction, it’s a tragedy today. Not something that can wait until tomorrow. So, today we’re announcing an initiative that I support as Attorney General wholeheartedly to address addiction throughout South Dakota with an emphasis in Sioux Falls and Rapid City.
In total, South Dakota is expecting $79 million over an 18-year timeframe.
Sioux Falls mayor Paul TenHaken said it’s a chance to support old programs and create new ones.
“We have existing programs that we can pour gas on to continue to grow the treatment options and the services that are available to those who are suffering from addiction," TenHaken said. "Dollars are needed with the topic of addiction to make sure we’re providing people with the help that they need.”
Rapid City mayor Jason Salamun said it boils down to one matter.
“We started talking about it – what drives a lot of the public safety challenges that we have? That is addiction," Salamun said. "That is substance abuse.”
Many studies have shown that additional treatment options are more effective solutions to addiction compared to additional policing.