The state should earmark more money to incentivize the creation of more medication-assisted drug treatment centers in Eastern Oregon.

Now, there is just one — one — center with a full range of medication options to serve Eastern Oregon, located in Pendleton.

Since it opened in 2019, the center has linked medication with counseling to help treat more than 600 patients who battle addiction.

In short, such centers work.

But most of Eastern Oregon can’t rely on such centers because they don’t exist. That scenario is troubling, especially since about 90 Oregonians die every month from drug overdoses.

The culprit, of course, is fentanyl. The illicit drug is all over Oregon, in every community and even in schools. It is highly addictive and often deadly. One piece of the solution — law enforcement — is gearing up all over the state to tackle this problem, but treatment of addiction is the other key piece to finding resolution.

Such places as the Pendleton Treatment Center use medication and therapy to help treat addiction. They provide a solid platform for success for those who are battling addiction, and numerous studies have illustrated that medication-assisted treatment works.

The centers utilize drugs such as methadone, buprenorphine and Suboxone and marry them to a vigorous counseling program that cuts fatal overdoses and hospitalizations.

There are other programs in Eastern Oregon that offer buprenorphine and Suboxone, and that’s a hopeful sign. But the Pendleton Treatment Center is the only one in the eastern part of the state that can provide methadone, the oldest and most thoroughly studied medication for treating opioid use disorder and the one considered most effective by Oregon’s top treatment official.

The third part of this pyramid is the stigma associated with addiction in many rural communities. Often individuals struggling with addiction are labeled “druggies” and dismissed. That is not only inhumane, but it also diminishes the seriousness of the problem. A problem, by the way, that is reaching into your purse or wallet in terms of paying for the destruction that the use of illegal narcotics triggers.

The first step, though, should be a new emphasis on either attracting more medication-assisted treatment centers into Eastern Oregon, or the state creating its own.

Both are going to cost money, money derived from taxpayers. Unfortunately, one reality of the illegal narcotics problem is it is here to stay for the foreseeable future. Mistakes such as the establishment of Measure 110 — which has since been repealed — created a perfect storm for illegal narcotics use and only made a serious problem worse.

Yet the state has a great opportunity to invest in medication-assisted centers in rural areas that can, and will, help solve the problem.

The state has already thrown millions in taxpayer dollars into the drug treatment paradigm, but results are not coming as fast as anticipated. That needs to change — and one way for that to happen is a large infusion of funds to build at least three medication-assisted treatment centers in Eastern Oregon over the next 10 years.

The governor and lawmakers should dedicate their focus to creating such facilities. They are shown to work and, in the long run, to be cost-effective.

It is time to make a real investment in solving the illegal narcotics problem.