Editorial: Ignoring problem ill-advised

Tuesday, April 11, 2000 | 9:24 a.m.

Public drunkenness is taking its toll on local hospitals. In 1999 the nine hospitals in the area treated 4,119 drunks. Not only do they take up needed bed space and divert medical attention away from other patients, the hospitals aren't equipped to treat chronic drunkenness in the same way that substance abuse clinics are. In addition, this care can be costly for the hospitals.

Westcare Foundation does treat inebriates -- about 4,000 a year -- but when the substance abuse clinic is full, ambulance crews and police instead must take the drunks who are picked up to area hospitals. From a financial standpoint, it would appear that transferring this responsibility to Westcare or another type of facility would be less expensive. After all, while the hospitals and Westcare separately treat about 4,000 drunks a year, the cost for the hospitals is $3 million, while that for Westcare is just $1 million. The reason for the disparity is the high costs associated with hospital care: It's not uncommon for emergency room stays to cost $600, which is much more than what a drug treatment clinic would charge.

And as the Sun's Erin Neff reported Monday, Las Vegas City Councilman Larry Brown believes that more awareness needs to be generated about this issue. One place that has adopted a successful program to treat those who are inebriated is the King County government in Washington state. Chronic drunks there are picked up in vans by social workers, who then drive them to a so-called "sobering shelter," which is where they are put in touch with housing, employment and social service workers. The program in King County is paid for by sales taxes on alcohol. While some Clark County liquor sales taxes do find their way to Westcare, taxes aren't placed on wine and beer. Adding taxes to pay for more inebriation treatment likely would encounter opposition, however.

It is clear that the current situation, where hospitals are forced to take care of inebriated people, needs to be reassessed. Local governments should aggressively explore how other local places are addressing this issue, including King County. Hospital emergency rooms should be reserved for what they're equipped to do -- treat people who are experiencing serious or life-threatening conditions, not giving people who are drunk a place to sober up.