Pubdate: Fri, 11 Aug 2000
Source: Irish Times, The (Ireland)
Copyright: 2000 The Irish Times
Contact:  11-15 D'Olier St, Dublin 2, Ireland
Fax: + 353 1 671 9407
Website: http://www.ireland.com/

PARENTS UNITE TO GET HELP FOR ADDICTED CHILDREN

When Patrick - not his real name - appeared in court accused of stealing 
bottles of butane gas, his father told the judge that he had been admitted 
to Sligo general hospital 46 times suffering from gas inhalation. He was 
not yet 18.

His father, John - also not his real name - said that over the seven years 
of his son's addiction his parents had tried to get suitable treatment for 
him, but none was available in the North Western Health Board region. 
Eventually he found the Aisling addiction centre in Kilkenny, and his son 
was admitted there, paid for by the NWHB. "It was great, but he was not in 
long enough," he said.

After a number of lapses, Patrick has now been clean for three months and 
John is optimistic that he has freed himself from substance abuse.

However, his experience led him to help establish a group for parents of 
addicts in the area, and they have been campaigning for treatment 
facilities for their children.

"The only thing we have in common is we have children who are addicted to 
one substance or another. About a year ago a child of 13 died from inhaling 
butane gas in the town.

"There does not seem to be heroin sold on the streets here, but it could be 
just a matter of time.

"I tried to get Patrick admitted to St Columba's [the local psychiatric 
hospital] but they kept letting him out. The people who often ended up 
looking after him were the gardai. They kept him in cells lots of times 
when they shouldn't have. I went to the [Garda] superintendent and he was 
very good. They said in court he was not a criminal, the only thing he ever 
did was steal gas bottles."

Local councillor Declan Bree has been in touch with the health board on 
behalf of the parents, and told it they wanted a detoxification centre in 
Sligo, a treatment centre for adolescents in the region, along with 
residential and day-care facilities, and an aftercare service.

The group also felt there were not enough counsellors, those who were there 
did not have sufficient training and there was little or no counselling for 
other members of the family. They asked the health board to assist with 
education and training on addiction, especially to solvent abuse, for 
gardai, GPs and teachers.

"We know there's nothing in place and we don't expect it overnight," said 
John. "We want to work with the health board and get things in place. 
There's no point in pointing the finger at anyone, we just want to work 
together to gets things set up."

In a statement the North Western Health Board said: "We acknowledge that 
this is an evolving issue and to that end we have employed Drugs Strategies 
Co-ordinators [one in Donegal and one in Sligo/Leitrim] to organise and 
spearhead the board's response. In addition, two drug support workers [with 
a specialist brief for substance misuse] are currently taking up positions 
with the board."

The statement added that the board's addiction counsellors provide helpline 
facilities and liaised with GPs and others. Each case was dealt with on an 
individual basis, it said. It acknowledged that from time to time the board 
used places outside its own board area for residential care.

John is pleased that the board is taking the problem seriously, but 
concerned about the pace. "Patrick first started sniffing when he was 11. 
He had the usual problems of a teenager growing up, but the addiction 
blurred all that and he couldn't work it through. We couldn't get help for him.

"Alcohol abuse is well catered for, but not this addiction. We're angry 
that he suffered so much, that he missed out on his education, that he 
slept out in ditches. We hope he's over it now, but there are other kids 
out there."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens