BY ANDY GARDNER
North Country This Week

CANTON -- St. Lawrence County Chemical Dependency Services will add a position to help addicts struggling with their recovery program.

The county legislature on Monday night voted unanimously to create a chemical dependency case aide position who will also be a certified peer recovery advocate.

The position will be fully funded with a $63,206 grant from the non-profit Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene and the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.

The resolution, which the county board unanimously passed, calls for the position to be abolished if the funding goes away.

Legislators prior to passing the resolution thanked the county Public Health Department for taking steps to address the opioid crisis.

"I add my thanks to the CPHD and the OTF and their efforts ... to help us during this difficult time with ways the county can address this problem," said Legislator James Reagan, R-Ogdensburg.

"Thank you to everyone helping with this. Dana put together a program to get local providers wavered to prescribe Suboxone locally, so people won't have to travel as far as they have been," said Legislator Rita Curran, R-Massena.

Siuboxone is a the brand name of a prescription drug to help treat addicts for opioid dependence.

The board also passed a resolution to fill a medical director position for the chemical dependency clinic in Community Services.

The resolution says the person must be a medical doctor. It also says "the needs of the clinic surpass the availability of the current medical director, therefore a replacement is necessary."

The board also voted to abolish a chemical dependency program director position and create and fill a senior chemical dependency counselor position in Community Services.

The program director, who works in Ogdensburg but is not named in the resolution, will resign on May 31, it says. The resolution says the NYSOASAS does not require the program director position, if the responsibilities are "delegated to another qualified staff member."

The abolished program director came with an $80,405 salary. The new senior chemical dependency counselor position has a $52,025 salary.

The board also approved filling a chemical dependency counselor position in Community Services. The position will be vacant on June 28 due to a retirement, the resolution says.