UNM students will be able to receive substance-abuse treatment this semester.
The City of Albuquerque and the UNM Institute for Social Research are offering the service.
The new service will be available through the Albuquerque Metropolitan Central Intake.
The center surveys its patients to determine whether they have a substance-abuse problem, said Mary Steil, manager of the city's Division of Behavioral Health.
If patients aren't covered for substance-abuse, the center will refer them to a treatment facility, Steil said. Patients get a $3,000 medical voucher if they qualify, she said.
Dr. Carlotta Garcia, director of the AMCI, said the organization won't provide its services at UNM, but students can visit the center at 1258 Ortiz Drive S.E.
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"Students are eligible because, obviously, students don't make a lot of money," Garcia said. "And they are going to qualify for the vouchers, so they are not excluded from our services,"
Marcia Pacheco, quality assurance manager at the center, said AMCI is one of a kind.
"In most places where you go, if you cannot pay for treatment, you're out of luck," Pacheco said. "And (AMCI) really catches a group of people that would normally fall between the cracks. Low-income folks can get an assessment just like anybody else and can be referred to really competent, well-managed agencies."
The center's services are free for patients that qualify for them, she said.
"Everyone comes at a different place," she said. "Some are absolutely forced to come here. They have no desire to be here, and yet we give them an assessment and get them into treatment. Other people have great insight - no one is forcing them to come. They know they need to be here."
Garcia said students shouldn't be afraid of seeking help.
"In terms of us being a place to enforce a penalty or a place that would judge, we're really not in that frame of mind - we're trying to act as preventative measure," Garcia said. "We don't want to stop anybody from getting help."
