Sobering center a place for addicts to get help

HOUSTON (AP) - The first time Jessica Sharon landed at the Houston Center for Sobriety, she was too drunk and strung out on drugs to remember arriving.

She woke up bleary-eyed and confused, surprised to be resting, unshackled, on a firm cot in a quiet warehouse in the shadow of Minute Maid Park; this was decidedly not jail.

Like many of the roughly 7,000 other admissions at the sobering center since it opened 16 months ago, she left fairly quickly the next morning, grateful to have dodged jail time but not quite ready to accept offers to get her into detox.

When Mayor Annise Parker opened the center at 150 N. Chenevert St. last year, the idea was to cut police costs and reduce recidivism, creating a place other than jail for those whose only crime is public intoxication. Prior to the centers opening, police were making about 17,000 arrests a year in Houston for public intoxication, racking up between $4 million and $6 million in police costs.

The sobering center has reduced that number significantly: From June 2013 to June 2014, Houston police booked just shy of 2,500 people on public intoxication, according to sobering center numbers. The center admitted more than double that number during the same time period.

Sharon is among those who have come back to the center for help, weeks or even months after declining more services.

For more than a decade, she has been battling crystal methamphetamine and alcohol addictions that seemed impossible to beat. Stretches of sobriety were eclipsed by hazy weeks spent high or drunk, often both.

Months after her stay at the sobering center, the 32-year-old hit her grace of God moment. She called her recovery coach at the sobering center and asked for help. Then, she came back.

Im honestly terrified because there have been other times where Ive gotten sober and thought I was done and then I relapsed, Sharon told the Houston Chronicle (http://bit.ly/X0bXZH). But it takes what it takes and eventually, it just clicks. I hope this is when its going to happen. I have all the resources I need.

Officials said the sobering center is still not being used to its full capacity, but the numbers should pick up as more jurisdictions turn to the facility. In April, Metro, Harris County Sheriffs Office, constable precincts and University of Houston police started dropping off intoxicated people at the location.

Original post:
Sobering center a place for addicts to get help