14 September 2005

Funding For Treatment Centre Good News

The allocation of funding for the Springhill Addiction Treatment Centre is good news for the campaign to reduce the harm being caused by the misuse of alcohol and other drugs in Hawke's Bay, says Progressive Party leader and Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton.

"I am very pleased to announce today that some of the funding that the Progressive Party secured in the Coalition Government's Budget 2004 for addiction treatment in the central North Island region, has now been allocated to the Springhill Addiction Treatment Centre in Napier," Jim Anderton said.

"I am very happy that some of the funds secured in 2004 are going to be used to ensure that this leading provider of residential addictions treatment can both continue and expand its services," he said.

"The $480,000 of funding will go toward the centre's facilities re-development project. This project has been many years in the planning and will make a positive difference to the treatment of addictions in this region of New Zealand," the Progressive leader said.

"In the public forums that I have chaired around the country over the past 18 months or so on P, alcohol and other drugs, community support for investing more in treatment beds is often expressed.

"Securing this residential centre's development is a valuable step. I am proud to have been a part of it, but I am also acutely aware that New Zealand needs to make further investments in the campaign to reduce the harm caused by alcohol and other drugs," Jim Anderton said.

ENDS

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