Center a blessing
Editor, The Commercial:
An opioid treatment center beside Trinity Episcopal Church is by thoughtful opinion a blessing to us all and should not be opposed for reasons noted below. Disseminating blessing is our business. Every citizen should join hands to make Pine Bluff safer and more prosperous. Here is a valuable opportunity.
Of course, at first the idea is scary. The mind-boggling increase in drug trade (500-600% in recent years) has resulted in destruction of our children, families and neighborhoods.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
But far from being bullies in this, Trinity Church compassionately promotes an assured well-lit, secured facility with professional security 24/7 which will do much to stabilize this area.
A 2018 study by Pinkerton Protection and Security found that substance abuse treatment (SAT) facilities inhibit neighborhood crime and undermine financial motivation for serious criminal activity.
Treatment centers tend to make supply lines more difficult, reduce numbers involved, and thus diminish users. The study proposes that expanding access to SAT significantly reduces crime rates. The foregoing summary is taken directly from the article “Perspectives in Crime’ on Pinkerton’s site with scholars and statistics listed for articles.
Johns Hopkins University also cited earlier research in its 2016 Politics & Society journal, concluding that treatment centers improve vulnerable neighborhoods.
Too many of our sons and daughters are destroyed by deadly drugs, and the whole trade is a blight on Pine Bluff. Let us eagerly support efforts to save our community. If some want the process of notification to be amended, deal with that issue as policy for all, this and every other project. There is so much to be gained by being open and careful when it comes to improving our home.
The Rev. Jess Reeves,
Pastor, Trinity Episcopal Church,
Pine Bluff