The abuse of heroin is having a devastating effect on our local communities.  Especially impacted are America’s veterans, many of whom face serious challenges when they return home, including substance abuse problems.

Enter Senator Rob Portman’s Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which is designed to ensure that federal resources are provided to evidence-based treatment and recovery programs that are working on the local level.  In an effort to provide additional help to veterans, the bill authorizes the Attorney General to award grants to Veterans Treatment Courts.  These courts help veterans break the cycle of drug abuse through a program of rigorous treatment and personal accountability. 

Yesterday, Senator Portman visited with Columbus-area veterans to discuss how they can better fight the heroin epidemic and other substance abuse challenges impacting Ohio veterans.  The Columbus Dispatch highlighted the visit:

For veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, going to jail can be a major roadblock in their recovery. Yet, for many who turn to drugs and alcohol in an attempt to self-medicate, that’s exactly where they end up.

“I’m a stubborn person,” said Ryan Ellison, who did a tour in Iraq while in the Army. “ You send me to jail and all you’re doing is sending me back to the jungle. All these coping skills I’ve learned, they go out the window. I’m the type of person that you put me in there and all hell breaks loose.”

Speaking with U.S. Senator Rob Portman, R-Ohio, at a roundtable discussion at the American Legion in Worthington on Monday, Ellison, 31, of Victorian Village, said going through Veterans Treatment Court was one of the best things for him.

“They never gave up on me, and that’s something that put me in the right direction,” he said.

The court is a two-year program that offers mental health and substance abuse treatment to veterans as an alternative to incarceration. Those veterans also have to make regular court appearances and are subject to random drug testing.

Ohio currently has 17 Veterans Treatment Courts, but Portman said he hopes to boost that figure through a bill he helped co-sponsor a year ago.

For more information on this issue, read Sen. Portman’s recent op-ed in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on the heroin epidemic here.

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