Pubdate: Mon, 31 Dec 2001 Source: London Free Press (CN ON) Copyright: 2001 The London Free Press a division of Sun Media Corporation. Contact: http://www.fyilondon.com/londonfreepress/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/243 Author: Jeff Wilbee ADDICTION TREATMENT MUST BE AVAILABLE Regarding the story, Teen's family awarded $150,000 (Dec. 21). It's a sad state of affairs that a family has to bring legal action against its provincial government to gain compensation for treatment that should have been readily available. One could understand if this were a complex medical procedure not yet available in Canada, but we are talking about addiction services, of which there is a great deal of expertise in our province. The public and the government have not paid enough attention to this very vital sector of our health-care system. It is not getting better. A recently released major research report warned drug use among students is on the rise. Without improvements, particularly for youth, more incidents such as the one report in this article will occur. On the positive side, this case and recent stories about the drinking problem of Alberta Premier Ralph Klein are reported to be raising awareness of addiction problems in our society. Jeff Wilbee Executive Director, Alcohol and Drug Recovery Association of Ontario - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart