Pubdate: Mon, 06 Oct 2003
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Copyright: 2003 The Gazette, a division of Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274
Author: Peggy Curan

DRUG BATTLE A LONG FIGHT

Former Addicts Celebrate Recovery

Drug-Free For 15 Months, Single Mother Praises Portage Treatment Program

At 14, Louise took drugs for fun. At 17, it was deadly serious."I was 
taking anything and everything. Drugs, alcohol, glue."

Louise, who asked that her last name not be used, then got a job as a 
barmaid, where she fed her habit sniffing cocaine -- "I could go four days 
without sleep" -- until an overdose finally scared her.

But ask how and when and why her addiction began and this 26-year-old 
single mother still has to stop and think. She scrolls into her past, 
recalling how her mother died when she was 5, and she never knew her father 
at all. Put up for adoption, she says she retreated into an emotional shell 
from which she is only now emerging.

"I want my daughter to have a healthy mother, and for her to be proud of 
me," she said yesterday, joining 102 other graduates of the Portage 
addiction treatment program in celebration of their recovery in Place des 
Arts's Theatre Maisonneuve.

In its 30th year, Portage has helped 20,000 substance abusers combat their 
demons and re-integrate into society by emphasizing self-help and viewing 
addiction as an outward symptom of a life in crisis. Treatment centres in 
Quebec, New Brunswick and now Ontario offer programs specifically geared to 
adults, teenagers, mothers with children, and people with mental illness. 
Portage claims 85 per cent of those who complete the residential treatment 
- - usually about six months - remain drug-free.

Zack, 17, has been sober for two and a half years. He's looking ahead to 
finishing high school this year, aiming for a career in radio or business. 
This from a teen who was smoking marijuana at 11, then moved on to PCP. "I 
was very depressed, and the drugs were a way to escape."

A fight with his older brother made him see he was out of control. "I went 
to the bathroom to wash my face and I looked like death warmed over," he 
said. "I had lost everything, my family, my friends. I was turning them 
against me. They were trying to help, and I would just reject them."

Louise said by the time her daughter was born, she had reached rock bottom. 
Her daughter's father was also a drug user, and showed no signs of wanting 
to stop. "I was crying everyday, I was very unhappy...I knew I had to do 
something or I'd kill myself." Desperate, she called Mylene, one of her 
oldest childhood friends, someone who wasn't part of the wild crowd she'd 
been hanging with in recent years. Within 15 minutes, her friend had called 
her back with a referral to Portage's mother-child program.

"It's a miracle what's happened," Mylene said yesterday. "She's gone from 
the absolute depths to an independent, outgoing person with a positive 
outlook and everything to live for."

Louise - drug-free for 15 months - has high praise for the mother-child 
program, which allowed her to keep her daughter while she got off drugs, 
polished her parenting skills and rediscovered her long-lost self-esteem.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens