Pubdate: Wed, 23 Mar 2005
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright: 2005 The Edmonton Journal
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134
Author: Tom Barrett
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

TEEN TALKS ABOUT HER DESPERATE STRUGGLE WITH DRUGS

Mandatory Drug Treatment Could Help Those Who Don't Realize They Need It

EDMONTON - The 16-year-old girl sprawled on the steps outside the house 
where she had partied and taken drugs for three days, and made the phone 
call that saved her life.

Inside, a friend was overdosing. Outside, the youth shivered in the biting 
April breeze with no jacket, no shoes and no clue except that this must be 
the bottom she was hitting.

"I realized I was ruining my life, I was killing my body and I was losing 
my family," says the girl, who asked that her name not be used.

On the other end of the line her father told her he was on the way, except 
she didn't even know what Edmonton neighbourhood the house was in.

She passed the phone to another girl but that person had no idea what the 
address was either.

"Finally she went next door and handed the phone to someone there and they 
gave me directions to the house," says her dad.

He arrived, brought her home and he and his wife were finally able to 
convince her to get the treatment she needed to turn her life around, 
although it was still a fight for months and may never be over.

Father, mother and child all passionately support Red Deer Tory MLA Mary 
Anne Jablonski's private member's bill, which would let parents and 
guardians seek mandatory drug-treatment orders for addicted children.

"Some people hit bottom and finally reach out for help," says her dad, who 
had a hellish time fighting to save his daughter from ecstasy and other 
rave drugs. "For some of them the bottom is death or permanent damage, 
however. Some never reach out."

His daughter, who is now 17, says the government would do drug-addicted 
teens a huge favour by passing Jablonski's bill.

"People do need it," she says. "A kid is not going to realize help is 
needed until it's too late.

"When they're using drugs they only see what they want to see, which is 
that they want the drugs. They have to get clean to see the whole picture."

During the months she was on the street doing drugs, her mother and father 
relentlessly went from agency to agency searching for a solution and 
finding nothing but other desperate and frustrated parents.

"There's nothing you can do to help her and she wasn't in a position to 
help herself," her father says. "I couldn't get her to go into treatment 
voluntarily.

"I went to Children's Services and begged and pleaded with them for three 
weeks, but they couldn't help."

Marilyn Benay, a family support worker with McMan Youth Family and 
Community Services Centre says there must be major changes.

"I was so excited to see this bill come forward," Benay says. "It is really 
needed."

There are many young kids out on the street, strung out on drugs and at the 
mercy of older people who prey on them, she says.

A long-term program that will move those vulnerable children to a safe 
place where they get the expert treatment should be a huge priority.

Things are so bad that some parents celebrate when their drug-addicted 
children are charged with a crime. So far that's the only way the kids can 
be forced into treatment.

There are some programs at the Edmonton Young Offenders Centre and a pilot 
project called Bridges, run at Howard House for eight to 10 convicted boys 
only.

A few children can occasionally be placed at Alberta Hospital.

Everything else is voluntary.

The Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission, or AADAC, has 18 spots in 
Edmonton for northern Alberta and another 18 in Calgary for southern 
Alberta in their day drug treatment programs. There are beds at a separate 
location for eight in each city, with the rest living at home.

Critics say those numbers are grossly inadequate, given the rise in youth 
drug abuse. It's not just that some mechanism is needed to force addicted 
youth into treatment, says a mother whose daughter is fighting a 
devastating addiction to crystal methedrine.

The province doesn't have the kind of teen residential rehabilitation 
treatment centre for kids who need extensive help and to be totally 
isolated from troubled peers for up to a year, the mother adds.

The trick is getting the Alberta government to come with the money.

"It doesn't matter whether the bill or the residential centre comes first," 
she says. "If we get the bill that would force the government to come up 
with the centre."

AADAC officials know they can't meet all the needs of addicted teens.

"AADAC has identified the lack of a youth detox and residence as gaps in 
our service delivery, recognizing that youth need more," says Marilyn 
Mitchell, manager of Youth Services in Edmonton.
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