Pubdate: Thu, 21 Apr 2005
Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
Copyright: 2005 The Leader-Post Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/regina/leaderpost/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361
Author: James Wood, Saskatchewan News Network; CanWest News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

MLA DESCRIBES DAUGHTER'S ADDICTION

Being a politician can be a demanding job but Saskatchewan Party MLA Ted 
Merriman says there are much bigger burdens to carry.

The stress from trying to help people dealing with drug addiction in their 
families has led him to seek professional help and kept him away from the 
legislature for most of its spring sitting, Merriman said in an interview 
this week.

Since December, when he and his family came forward to talk about the 
crystal meth addiction of his daughter Kelly, Merriman has become the 
public face for a problem facing many families.

That, combined with his efforts to boost education and treatment for 
crystal meth addiction and his unhappiness with how the NDP government has 
handled the issue, had become too much for the Saskatoon Northwest MLA in 
recent months.

"When you are an MLA and people call you and expect that you can do 
something for their drug-addicted kid. It compounds the frustration when 
you can't," he said.

"The frustration level just builds and builds and the anxieties get more 
and you need to go speak to somebody and get it under control. That's 
really in essence what I'm doing."

Merriman, who filed the necessary medical documentation with the Speaker's 
office to allow his absence, was at the legislature for the first two days 
of this week after attending only one day since the session began on March 14.

Back in Saskatoon Wednesday, he said he plans to return to the legislature 
on a full-time basis at the beginning of May.

The depression he felt at times has lifted and he's feeling better day by 
day, he said. There are now two other people helping him work with the 
families of crystal meth users.

Saskatchewan Party leader Brad Wall said Merriman had the full support of 
himself and the Opposition caucus.

Merriman has continued to do constituency work and has been developing a 
policy paper for the Opposition in his position as critic for Community 
Resources and Employment.

He has been coordinating a parent education program that will be run in 
Saskatoon next month. It will be presented to the province's mayors in the 
hopes it will be taken out across Saskatchewan. Merriman said his daughter 
Kelly is "doing wonderful" and has been clean for nearly 14 months.

She speaks at schools across the province about her experiences, sometimes 
with her father.
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