South Jersey Residents Voice Concerns About Substance Abuse Recovery Center Proposal
By Kristen Johanson
HADDONFIELD, N.J. (CBS) -- Residents in Haddonfield held a rally Thursday outside the municipal building to express their concerns about the proposed sale of an old school property, to become a drug rehab facility.
RCA, known as Recovery Centers for America has proposed to buy the property across the street from Haddonfield Memorial High School, on Kings Highway and Hopkins Lane.
"We don't believe that drug facilities are bad, and we don't believe that people who need drug facilities are bad."
Lindsay Vest is with the Haddonfield Citizens Group, against the proposal.
"A drug rehab facility doesn't belong next to our high school, and it doesn't belong next to any high school."
The RCA said in a statement:
"This site is zoned for a behavioral health residential treatment facility - exactly what Bancroft school is and exactly what we want to do using the same footprint, the beautiful Bancroft building with less traffic impact than the current use.
Haddonfield and the communities surrounding it are experiencing drug and alcohol problems, specifically in record numbers.
To deny RCA's proposed use for this site is discriminatory to a population protected by the ADA and Fair Housing Act AND it's saying that people with autism or head injuries have a right to get treatment in their community but those with substance use disorders don't have the same right to get help for their disorder. That's discriminatory and shows unfair treatment of individuals in this community based on their disease.
Months ago, RCA proactively held a town meeting in the high school to answer the many questions residents in the community, so hard hit by drug problems, may have. It was the students from the school, including the class president, who stood up and emphasized repeatedly that this was a much needed service and they wholeheartedly supported RCA's efforts to bring treatment to the area. They spoke of the volume of drug use by the students and the need for both education and treatment.
It's time for this community to understand that RCA is not the problem, we're part of the solution to this epidemic that is damaging families and taking young people's lives in record numbers."
