Pubdate: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 Source: Southwest Booster, The (CN SN) Copyright: Southwest Booster 2005 Contact: http://www.swbooster.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3624 Author: Scott Anderson Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?241 (Methamphetamine - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) PROVINCE UNVEILS NEW SUBSTANCE ABUSE STRATEGY Saskatchewan has new hope in fighting the battle against substance abuse. Last Thursday the provincial government unveiled Project Hope, a focused effort to battle substance abuse through improved treatment, prevention, education, and law enforcement. Project Hope, which will be implemented at a cost of $10 million per year for the next three years, represents a 60 per cent increase for addiction prevention and treatment. "Our goal, simply put, is to create in Saskatchewan that place where a child may grow up, free from addiction. And where any individual who is trapped by substance abuse or addiction can find the treatment that's effective and early," Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert said during a phone conference on Aug. 4. Project Hope is based on the 15 recommendations contained in the report Healthy Choices in a Healthy Community by Legislative Secretary on Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Graham Addley. "We are taking this problem very seriously. Alcohol, substance abuse, drug abuse, and now the new factor of Crystal Meth, these substances are destroying the future of many of our young people. They are still factors in fetal alcohol (syndrome), they are still factors in family break-ups. Way too many of those who are occupying our jail cells today are there because of addiction. We're going to take this problem very seriously," Calvert said. "Project Hope wants to create a better future for the young people of Saskatchewan. I see it as one of the Centennial legacies." The measures in Project Hope fall within four core areas: prevention, treatment, co-ordination and central support, and supply reduction. The program features expanded treatment options for the province, including: - - development of a 12-bed youth stabilization unit in Saskatoon; - - development of a 15-bed inpatient residential youth treatment facility in Prince Albert, plus a review to see if a similar project should be developed in southern Saskatchewan. The program pledges to go after the source of substance abuse through the hiring of two additional officers to enforce The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act along with four additional drug enforcement officers. A portion of the project plans to make it more difficult to manufacture and distribute drugs by promoting the province's toll-free hotline for reporting drug houses. The formation of a new Alcohol and Drug Prevention and Education Directorate will coordinate a series of initiatives to fight drug and alcohol abuse. These include: l Prevention and information resources; l Education and prevention staff and resources for both regional health authorities and the province at-large; l Providing schools with resource officers who can directly help young people at risk of involvement with substance abuse. Calvert said Project Hope "will provide for significantly enhanced treatment opportunities, particularly for youth, where gaps existed. Will make access to services like detox much more available for people when they need it. The services go beyond treatment to outreach into community." "We see Project Hope as an open-ended project," Calvert said. "As we move forward, as we work with communities, as we work with people in the field, we are anxious to learn and develop as we go. We think Project Hope represents a very, very strong sense of initiative." Funding for Project Hope comes from general revenues, and Calvert noted this is an ideal way to spend the extra revenue currently being generated in the province. "Without doubt we are enjoying some new revenues from our resource revenues, and we believe that this is one of the places that those kind of new revenues should find a home," he said. "These dollars we count as a real investment in lifestyle and quality healthcare for the future." Calvert also said that government needs to get a better handle on the depth of drug and alcohol problems in the province. "We do know that Saskatchewan people have a higher dependency rate on alcohol than anybody else in Canada. We do know that abuse and dependency of our young people is growing, for a time it was declining. It is growing. We do know, just through law enforcement, that we have the buds of a real problem around crystal meth." Calvert has asked Addley to oversee the implementation of his recommendations through Project Hope. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake