My daughter died because of heroin. Alaska can do better in treating addiction.

I'd like to tell you about my beautiful daughter, Chloe. She grew up in Girdwood. She graduated from South High School and went on to study at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Chloe was studying psychology. She wanted to help troubled youth, and she worked at AK Child and Family. Chloe was always kind to all animals and was a nurturing person to anyone she met.

Chloe wasn't as kind to herself as she was to others. She struggled with mental illness as an adolescent and young adult. About three years ago she started experimenting with drugs, slowly at first and then quickly escalating.

I didn't want to believe what was happening. It soon became apparent my daughter was falling deeply into a severe drug addiction. Chloe lost her job and then her apartment. She became homeless. Addiction took over our lives. The last two years were very difficult for our entire family. I would get a desperate phone call from Chloe asking me to let her come home. I knew by then what to expect if Chloe came home. I would still go pick her up, at random places around Anchorage. Most times Chloe would be sick, and we would go to a clinic to try to get her medications for respiratory infections, or ear infections, or whatever it was that was ailing her at the time. The clinics we went to refused to help her when she was detoxing. They would say to take Benadryl, "because we can't help with detox."

We need safe and supervised detox centers in Alaska for our loved ones. If you have not been around someone detoxing, it is overwhelming to try and help. When detoxing from methamphetamines, people are often violent and agitated. My daughter would become extremely abusive for a week to 10 days. I would fear her because it wasn't my sweet girl anymore — a monster would take over.

When she became addicted to heroin, the detox was different. She was so sick she couldn't get off the couch; it was like suffering from the worst flu. We tried checking into the Ernie Turner detox center. We were told they were full and to call every morning to see if they had a open bed. We did this routine more than once, but there was never a bed for her.

We went to Kenai to the Serenity House, which had recently opened a detox center. She stayed there for six days, but she checked out and went back to the drugs. We went to Providence Hospital another time and decided we would tell them she was suicidal. We did this because they won't help you if you're detoxing, but if you say you're suicidal, they take you immediately. They didn't have a bed in the behavioral unit, so they sent her all the way to Juneau for an overnight stay and then back to Anchorage, where they released her. None of this helped my daughter.

We tried the Drug Treatment Center in Anchorage. That is where they started her on a methadone treatment. The problem with that was that she had to come in every day (from Girdwood) to get dosed. They also offered no counseling, just methadone. They referred her to Ideal Options (a for-profit Washington state owned and operated program), which had just opened in Anchorage. She was prescribed suboxone, again with no counseling.

With medication alone, she was going to fail. We filled out the paperwork for Nugen's Ranch, a treatment center in Wasilla, but then found they had a six-month waiting list.

What I am trying to stress here is there is not enough help in Alaska. When loved ones with addictions want to detox and get help, we need a safe, supervised place to take them. We need drug treatment centers to immediately transfer them to where they will receive medication and counseling. We need more resources in Alaska.

In January, my daughter died at Providence Hospital from a blood infection caused by heroin abuse. She was 26 years old.

Chloe tried over and over to get off drugs but could not. I believe there were not enough treatment options to help save my daughter.

It is too late for my sweet daughter, but maybe we can save others if we can get the resources they need. Chloe was a funny, sweet, caring person who would have contributed greatly to our society. This did not have to happen to her. She needed help that we as a family could not provide to her. I appeal to the leaders of our city and our state — to Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, to Gov. Bill Walker, to Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, to Rep. Don Young — please try and bring more help to Alaska. If nothing changes, more of our kids and their families will suffer.

Rebecca L. Rogers lives in Girdwood.

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