Newhouse Tours Kennewick Addiction Recovery Center

(Kennewick, WA) -- 4th District Congressman Dan Newhouse has toured a Kennewick Addiction Recovery Center. The Republican visited Ideal Option off Gage Blvd Monday in an effort to see local efforts to combat the opioid epidemic and learn about the treatment options available to those who suffer from the opioid and fentanyl addiction.

The Congressman, who represents the Tri-Cities, toured both outpatient areas and the actual lab where the testing is done. Staff members at the facility told him that the fentanyl issue is particularly acute, since it's now being added to most other recreational drugs, beside marijuana. The Chief Medical officer at the facility confided to both the Congressman and reporters assembled that sometimes patients enter treatment there, without evening knowing the substance they're addicted to.

While there is some drug court intervention patients that are being served, a number of those the facility sees come in on their own seeking help. They offer both counseling and treatment, which staffers at the facility say is effective in treating addiction.

Newhouse said "I think most people are becoming aware of what a problem it is." He added "it affects people in all ages, all walks of life." The Congressman told reporters "People being at parties with bowls of these pills being passed around and you can have so much variation and consistency of the strength of these pills that one pill could have a lethal dose."

The Representative visited Kennewick as part of a swing through the 4th District. He included a stop the day before in Yakima.