Pubdate: Tue, 04 Oct 2005 Source: Richmond News (CN BC) Copyright: 2005, Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc. Contact: http://www.richmond-news.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1244 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) EFFECTIVE TREATMENT FOR ADDICTIONS NEEDED Two announcements came down this week that has tremendous potential to help B.C. tackle two monstrous addiction problems that have tragic consequences for health and safety in our society. One was the Supreme Court ruling that gives the Government of British Columbia the right to go to court to recover health costs from tobacco companies. The other was the B.C. government's announcement of $7 million to tackle the growing crystal meth problem. This all sounds very promising. We just hope the B.C. government does the right thing with the money. And the right thing to do is to fund treatment centres for all forms of addiction. Remarkably, there is no detox or treatment centre for addicts and alcoholics in Richmond. Putting such a facility here would be a good start. And wouldn't it be nice if some of the millions the B.C. government stands to reap from Big tobacco were used to treat cigarette addiction? Ever heard of a treatment centre for smokers? Neither have we - not in B.C., at least - - and yet tobacco is worse than heroin in many ways. There are junkies who have kicked heroin but will never be able to quit smoking, and tobacco kills more people than heroin. More likely, we will probably see a lot of money the B.C. government gets from the tobacco industry spent on advertising that tells us what we already know: smoking stains your teeth and kills you. We fear the ruling on recovering health care costs from Big tobacco will end up being just another tax grab of sorts, with increased cigarette costs simply passed onto hopelessly addicted smokers. What is needed is effective treatment for all addicts - including smokers. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom