Explosive growth of drug addiction recovery houses across Ohio created a "wild west" where people are living in exploitative and unsafe conditions, state officials said.
Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order Aug. 10 granting oversight of more than 1,700 recovery houses
to the Ohio Department of Behavioral Health. Recovery houses provide sober living conditions and support for people recovering from addiction.DeWine's executive order allows the department to create a statewide certification program, establish standards, investigate potential issues and enforce compliance.
State Rep. Justin Pizzulli, R-Franklin Furnace, said without strong enough standards and oversight "parts of this system have become the Wild West." He told a story of a man
living in a Portsmouth recovery house infested with roaches and dog feces and a housemate who captured and kept a rodent as his pet.
During theopioid addiction crisis, Ohio closed "pill mills" and expanded drug treatment capacity, including establishing recovery houses. The number of houses ballooned from 356 houses in 2022 to more than 1,700 now.
It is unclear how many Ohioans are living in these places, which are typically built for four to five people. Pizzulli said he's seen houses with 10 occupants "crammed in like sardines."
Pizzulli and state Sen. Terry Johnson, R-McDermott, both noted thatScioto County was the epicenterof the opioid crisis in Ohio and now seeing a proliferation of recovery houses. Affordable housing prices allow operators to purchase old houses and convert them into recovery houses, they said.
People addicted to opiates often relapse following treatment. That means they're relapsing in Scioto County, said Johnson. "We feel sort of like we've become the dumping ground for the whole state for this particular problem," he said.
State government reporter Laura Bischoff can be reached at lbischoff@usatodayco.com and @lbischoff on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: DeWine orders oversight of Ohio's addiction recovery houses
