Anchorage, Fairbanks detox centers close beds for opiate addiction

Alaska’s only residential detox facilities for opiate addiction have closed its beds, according to the Alaska State Opioid Treatment Authority.

Due to a federal regulation change, Anchorage’s 14-bed Ernie Turner Center operated by the Cook Inlet Tribal Council and Fairbanks’ 16-bed Gateway to Recovery Detox Center operated by the Fairbanks Native Association are not accepting new patients for withdrawal from opioids. Beds remain open for detox from other substances, like alcohol.

Bradley Griggs, the State Opioid Treatment Authority, said the Ernie Turner Center made the decision this week. He said the beds cannot remain closed.

“Detox is a very serious and very essential service to what we provide in the state. With the increase of opiate use throughout the state, if we have designated beds for opiate detox, it is essential that we keep those online,” Griggs said during a phone interview Friday.

Both treatment centers used a combination of the medications Tramadol and Zyprexa for opiate detox. Griggs said the protocol was to have physician assistants administer them. But according to federal regulation, only a medical doctor certified with the Drug Enforcement Administration is allowed to do that in a detox setting.

“That’s the big deal here,” Griggs said. “It really raises the cost and the protocol for our providers.”

At an average daily rate of $365, Griggs said the state provides the two facilities $3.6 million a year for detox services. That figure includes detox for opiates and alcohol.

Tramadol, a synthetic opiate-like substance, was marketed in the U.S. in 1995 as a pain medication, according to the DEA. In 2012, 3.2 million people in the U.S. 12 or older used tramadol for nonmedical purposes. In August 2014, DEA classified Tramadol as a schedule IV controlled substance.

“As the state opioid treatment authority, I’ve reached out to my colleagues in the Lower 48 and we’re hoping to gain some information from them on how they’re dealing with this — if there has been a pause in treatment services for detox, what they’re doing to minimize that pause so they can get these beds back online,” Griggs said.

He said it’s crucial to have beds available when someone facing addiction is motivated to seek treatment.

Christina Love is a recovery coach in Juneau, where there is no detox facility for opiate addiction. She refers at least two people a month to the facilities in Anchorage and Fairbanks. When somebody went to her Thursday night needing to detox, Love called both detox centers and was turned away.

“Unfortunately for the person I was working with, that window of opportunity is really small,” Love said. “If there aren’t any detox options then it’s just a matter of time before another option becomes available to them that keeps them in that life.”

Love is also a person in recovery. She went to Gateway to Recovery Detox Center for opiate and other substance abuse in 2012, and her medication involved Tramadol.

“One of the greatest barriers to recovery is the withdrawal. You feel like you want to die. Not just the physical thing, but the anxiety. You are just so mentally and emotionally broken, to be able to have any vision for your life is impossible. It’s incomprehensible demoralization,” Love said.

She described being on the floor, throwing up, defecating on herself during detox.

“You think death would be easier than this, using would be better than this. You can’t imagine how this is the better way,” Love said. “But with some of the medically assisted detoxes, the medication they provide makes it bearable.”

No one reached at Cook Inlet Tribal Council or the Ernie Turner Center was able to comment on the detox program. Director of Recovery Services Rebecca Ling did not return repeated phone calls for comment on Friday.

Gateway to Recovery Detox Center closed its opiate detox beds April 14, said Perry Ahsogeak, the Fairbanks Native Association’s behavioral health director.

He said it was during an ongoing program review when he realized the detox center, which serves people from all over the state, was not compliant with federal law.

“It was felt that until we complete this review that we should shut down our program,” Ahsogeak said on the phone Friday.

Of the 16 beds in the detox facility, only two are designated for opiate addiction. Ahsogeak said those beds are always full and the center gets multiple calls a day asking for availability. He said using Tramadol and Zyprexa to wean people off opiates was “effective.”

“It meets the needs of the people,” Ahsogeak said.

He said Gateway to Recovery Detox Center does not have any medical doctors on staff; only physician assistants and nurse practitioners.

“We’re looking at what our options are and to make sure we have all the protocols in place,” Ahsogeak said.

He said he hopes to look at reopening the beds for opiate detox by end of May.

• Contact reporter Lisa Phu at 523-2246 or lisa.phu@juneauempire.com.