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Major Cities in Arkansas with Drug Rehab and Treatment Centers:
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866-407-4380
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Drug Rehab Arkansas
is here to help people with drug and/or alcohol abuse problems in Arkansas. find treatment options. Due to our diverse networking system we can find a treatment option tailored to each individuals specific situation and needs. We are able to provide all phases of recovery included but not limited to, alcohol and/or drug intervention, drug and/or alcohol detox, in-patient treatment, out-patient treatment, short term treatment (30 days or less), long term treatment (90 days or longer).
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We design personalized treatment programs to provide each abuser with the greatest chance of a successful recovery outcome. Our comprehensive networking system works hand in hand with all of the drug treatment centers in Arkansas. At Drug Rehab Arkansas we know that each individual is unique and are treated as such. Deciding upon a treatment option in Arkansas, or anywhere can be a daunting task for any individual or family, we will guide you through each step of a comprehensive treatment plan for you or your loved one. We are determined in our mission, that every drug and/or alcohol abuser in Arkansas. that has a desire to change their life will be given a chance to recover from their addiction and we are dedicated to ensuring that they are given the opportunity to do so.
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We realize that each individual in Arkansas. is in a different financial situation and we will find treatment options for each individual regardless of their financial situation. No matter what your financial situation everyone will receive the treatment help they are looking for.
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866-407-4380
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Northwest Arkansas: Surplus of illegal drugsBENTONVILLE, Arkansas — There’s enough marijuana in Benton County, Arkansas sheriff’s detective Guy Howe’s evidence locker to fill eight 10-gallon trash bags.
A judge ordered the marijuana destroyed in 2000 once the criminal case was over and Howe, following the law, had petitioned prosecutors for a destruction order.
The marijuana is part of a backlog of old drug evidence that’s grown rapidly in recent years at the sheriff’s office.
Last month, three jail trusties helped themselves to the overflow, breaking into an evidence locker similar to Howe’s and stealing marijuana and methamphetamine, authorities said.
Sheriff Keith Ferguson has been working to shape up the agency’s evidence handling system since he took office in January. He’s moving control from several employees to one, implementing a computerized, barcode tracking system and — for the first time in a decade — conducting a central inventory of thousands of items. "The state crime lab says our [evidence] system is the sorri- est in the state," Ferguson said. "It’s been a mess over here for years. We’re working to fix it as fast as we can."
Ten years ago, the sheriff’s office destroyed old drugs somewhat indiscriminately: A deputy would haul the drugs to the Road Department property, dig a hole outside and torch the batch.
Several agencies in Northwest Arkansas still burn confiscated drugs outside. But by strict interpretation of state law, it’s an environmental crime to burn anything but yard waste outdoors.
With marijuana, methamphetamine and pills lingering from cases as old as 1997, the Benton County, Arkansas sheriff’s office has considered hiring a Missouri medical waste company to incinerate the old drugs. The service isn’t free. Such an arrangement would require a sheriff ’s deputy and evidence technician to carry the drugs to Missouri, then wait until they’re burned to ash. "It’s a bad idea," sheriff’s Maj. Gene Drake said. "We can’t disclose when we’ll make the trip for safety reasons. Having the company haul the drugs away isn’t an option, either. I’d hate to turn on the national news and see our stuff’s been sold out on the streets, and that’s how some company is making their buck."
UP IN SMOKE The sheriff’s office stopped burning drugs outdoors a few years ago, said detective Capt. Mike Sydoriak. A couple of times since, in a pinch, the agency has destroyed small amounts at the Tontitown landfill. "We’d have two [officers] stand there and watch the dozer run back and forth over it," Sydoriak said. "But what’s to stop someone from going out there later that night and trying to dig the stuff up?"
Springdale, Arkansas police destroy drugs by dousing them with diesel fuel and burning them outdoors. So does the Madison County, Arkansas sheriff’s office. "We don’t have an incinerator in Madison County," Capt. Robert Boyd said. "We burn the stuff in a burn barrel. Fire takes care of just about everything except cockroaches."
Springdale, Arkansas police burn old drugs about once a year in a barrel on city property, said internal affairs detective Mike Haney. The department resorted to outdoor burning after it was prohibited from burning in a hospital incinerator and at the city animal shelter. "I’d prefer a contained burning area, myself," Haney said. "Last time, we had some magnesium popping, and it put on quite a show. I didn’t particularly care for standing next to it."
The open burning of anything except yard waste is generally prohibited under state law, unless a waiver is granted, said Doug Szenher, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Quality.
Marijuana, while organic, doesn’t fit the criteria of yard waste, Szenher said. But it’s possible that burning marijuana growing in a field is legal if the burning is for land-clearing purposes, he said.
If someone were to complain to the Environmental Quality Department that a police agency was burning drugs outdoors, enforcement officers would investigate, Szenher said.
But the department’s technical staff doesn’t view the situation as a "major problem," he said. "If you take a piece of paper and burn it outdoors, technically, you’re breaking the law," he said. "But we aren’t in a position to enforce the law every time someone burns a piece of paper."
Szenher said marijuana and cocaine aren’t classified as hazardous waste. But methamphetamine could be, he said.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency classifies hazardous waste as having at least one of four characteristics: ignitibility, corresivity, reactivity or toxicity, said Dave Bary, an EPA spokesman.
Generally, hazardous waste must be disposed in one of three government-approved ways: in an incinerator, in a deep well or at a landfill after treatment.
Nowadays, it’s common for police to find partial or abandoned meth labs, consisting of household chemicals and cold pills. The chemicals officially become hazardous waste "once they’ve started mixing chemicals or the cooking process has begun," said Springdale, Arkansas police Lt. Mike Peters, formerly assigned to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Springdale, Arkansas police call the Fire Department for help distinguishing chemicals that can be safely stored and eventually destroyed from those that must be hauled off by hazardous clean-up crews, Peters said.
The Drug Enforcement Administration contracts with companies across the nation that respond to meth lab sites and haul off hazardous waste.
INCINERATORS IN DEMAND Most police in Benton County, Arkansas don’t have the convenience of destroying their old drug evidence in incinerators. But some once did. Drake said the sheriff’s office used to incinerate drugs at a Benton County, Arkansas hospital, but he wasn’t sure which one. "I think some things were thrown in that weren’t supposed to be, and the hospital didn’t want us doing it anymore," he said. Northwest Medical Center of Benton County, Arkansas, St. Mary’s Hospital in Rogers and Siloam Springs Memorial Hospital all canceled their incinerator permits in the past six years, Environmental Quality Department records show. "Hospitals don’t want the cost and liability," said Jim Ecker, Benton County’s environmental services director, speaking generally. "Incinerators used to be stoves with big smokestacks. Now they have to have multiple filters and scrubbers that ensure that harmful smoke doesn’t [escape]. It can cost millions of dollars to outfit an incinerator and keep it in compliance [with environmental regulations]."
The Washington County sheriff’s office burns its old drugs in Washington Regional Medical Center’s incinerator. The Fayetteville, Arkansas Police Department incinerates at the city’s animal shelter.
But it’s unclear if some aspects of these practices are permissible under the terms of permits issued by the Department of Environmental Quality.
Washington Regional’s air quality permit doesn’t include written permission for the burning of drugs seized by police.
Yet, the sheriff’s office burned old drug evidence at the hospital in July 2002, said Mike Mitchell, sheriff’s evidence technician.
Mitchell typically burns old drugs once a year, although he tries to burn marijuana plants soon after they’re ordered destroyed. "They take up too much space, rot and stink," he said.
Fayetteville’s Animal Services has 1997 written authorization to burn drug evidence from Fayetteville, Arkansas police.
Lowell police and the Washington County sheriff’s office also burned drugs at the shelter a few times in recent years, Animal Services records show.
Those drugs may have been in the custody of police officers assigned to the 4 th Judicial District Drug Task Force, of which the Fayetteville, Arkansas Police Department is the lead agency.
Regardless, Fayetteville, Arkansas Animals Services and Washington Regional Medical Center are both in compliance with the Department of Environmental Quality. Neither has been cited for burning police drugs in their incinerators, Environmental Quality field inspection records show.
The Springdale, Arkansas Animal Shelter used to burn drugs for various police agencies until a visit from an environmental inspector, said Jim Clark, animal shelter director. "We were told a special permit would be required," Clark said. "I passed that on to the Police Department, but I don’t think they pursued it." POLICE POLICING THEMSELVES
In Benton County, Arkansas, the sheriff’s office is modeling its new evidence program after the Fayetteville, Arkansas Police Department’s, one of the most highly regarded in the state.
Under the new program, sheriff ’s evidence technician Sheila Davis is taking sole control of all evidence as it’s received at the agency. Davis verifies each item and, once a new computer system is online, will identify items by bar code.
Davis is compiling a comprehensive evidence inventory, a first for the department.
Drug evidence received at the sheriff’s office is shipped to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock, where it’s analyzed and weighed. Once it’s returned, Davis has sole control over the evidence until it’s needed for court and later ordered destroyed by a judge.
Now all drug evidence is kept in a vault, Davis said.
Under the old system, sheriff’s deputies maintained control of their own drug evidence, in their own evidence lockers.
That was a sloppy system, said detective Sydoriak. "If a deputy quit, he was supposed to get a sergeant to inventory his [evidence] locker, but that didn’t always happen," Sydoriak said. "Then a new guy would inherit a locker with evidence that hadn’t been [verified]."
There’s room for disparity in the system in terms of the weight of drug evidence as it’s received.
The sheriff’s office doesn’t actually weigh the drugs; that’s determined at the crime lab. Deputies just seal the evidence and record an approximate description, such as, one bag of white powder.
Sydoriak said sheriff ’s deputies used to weigh drug evidence as they received it. But marijuana tends to decrease in weight as it dries, he said.
In Fayetteville, Arkansas the Police Department holds and destroys drug evidence for several agencies that participate in the 4 th Judicial District Drug Task Force.
It takes two Fayetteville, Arkansas police employees to access the department’s steel and concrete evidence room, said Capt. Greg Tabor.
All entries to the room are monitored by employee identification number. And all evidence handling is under duel witness control.
Eric Lichty, police property and evidence manager, submits to regular drug tests, Tabor said.
Yet with all that security, a small window for dishonesty exists.
After drugs are ordered destroyed, they aren’t weighed upon leaving the Police Department or when they arrive at the animal shelter for destruction. "I suppose you could say that someone could steal a portion between the time [the drugs] leave the department and make it to the shelter," Tabor said. "But we feel secure with our system. We’re accomplishing security through the security of our building, the proven reliability of our employees and through drug testing."
EASING THE BACKLOG With growing caseloads and stepped-up drug fighting efforts, police in Northwest Arkansas can only expect their drug evidence inventories to increase. Blythe Whitehead, Benton County, Arkansas deputy prosecuting attorney, said that in general, police retain drug evidence for several months in cases where defendants plead guilty. Now, new legislation could increase the length of time that police retain drugs in felony cases where defendants are convicted at trial, Whitehead said.
The 2003 change impacts Arkansas Code Annotated 12-12-104, which requires police to retain evidence for seven years in felony cases where defendants are required to submit DNA samples, she said.
Under the change, defendants convicted of all felonies at trial are required to submit a DNA.
Before, only defendants convicted of sex or violent crimes were required to submit DNA, Whitehead said. "This change will include felony drug cases," she said.
A change in another law could reduce the quantity of drug evidence that sheriff’s offices hold for destruction.
Arkansas Code Annotated 5-5-101 had held the "chief law enforcement officer" of each county responsible for auctioning unclaimed seized property.
Unclaimed seized property includes old drug evidence, which is destroyed rather than auctioned, Whitehead said.
Now, a 2003 amendment to the law extends the obligation to the chief law enforcement of the city or town in which the seizure occurred, she said.
The change could be good news for the Benton County, Arkansas sheriff ’s office, where police agencies throughout the county have been transferring their old evidence since about 1998.
In September, for instance, the Rogers Police Department transferred a batch of old drug evidence, some dating back to 1996, to the sheriff’s office.
Davis, the sheriff’s evidence technician, hopes the deluge of drug evidence will ease. "We’re accepting all this drug evidence, but there’s no one to turn it over to," she said. "We have to abide by the environmental laws, but the law has made it impossible to dispose of this stuff."
Drug Rehab by County
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