SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY, Calif. — San Joaquin County announced a new proposal this week to help combat the opioid crisis. The plan calls for the development of an addiction and mental health treatment facility in French Camp that would be called the San Joaquin Be Well Campus.
The Health Care Services Agency presented the proposal to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday. They are proposing the facility be built on 23 acres of county land in French Camp located off of I-5 and San Joaquin General Hospital.
The proposal calls for the development of the campus that will include a sobering center, psychiatric health facility and crisis stabilization unit as part of Phase 1. Phase 2 would include transitional housing and youth substance use treatment facility.
Under the current plan, the project would use funding from the county's portion of the National Opioid Settlement, in which major drug makers and pharmacies reached an agreement to resolve opioid litigation brought by states. San Joaquin County said they are estimated to receive around $53 million over the next 8-15 years.
"This funding that we received will be used for treatment, recovery and prevention. And it will help save lives here in the county," said San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors Chair Robert Rickman.
The Health Plan of San Joaquin has committed $20 million to the plan as well.
One mother expressed her support for the project during public comment Tuesday, saying "as a parent of a child that has had to use Narcan twice, opiates are not nice. A lot of people have lost kids, parents due to this drug."
The proposal is still in the initial stages and has a long way to go. The county said the goal is to complete Phase 1 of the project by 2025-2026.
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