Pubdate: Fri, 10 Nov 2006 Source: Chilliwack Progress (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 The Chilliwack Progress Contact: http://www.theprogress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/562 Author: Mary Hartman 'COMMUNITY' OPTION BETTER THAN SAFE-INJECTION SITES Regarding the editorial, "Recovery house resolution will be welcome at UBCM" (The Progress, Oct. 10), it was sad to realize that unregulated recovery houses still exist, which are useless for the recovering drug addict. Few are aware that detoxification and rehabilitation of drug addicts is a slow process and cannot be achieved in a "hit and miss" manner, but should be treated in a controlled residential detox and rehab community with compassion, kindness and understanding by professional nurses, nursing aides, orderlies, a dietitian, a psychologist, a visiting doctor and an experienced farmer. The community championed by MLA Lorne Mayencourt in San Patrignano in Rimini, Italy when he visited in January 2006 is the largest drug addiction therapeutic community in Europe. One university study found it had a 70 per cent success rate. The addicts are put to work when they arrive, while being detoxified, and are then taught trades and crafts until they are able to join the workforce as responsible citizens. The ideal residential treatment centre for detoxification and rehabilitation of drug addicts in B.C. could be somewhere in the Fraser Valley or somewhere else that is suitable and isolated, with around two to five acres of farmland, carrying cats, dogs, poultry, dairy cows, goats, horses and vegetable gardens, which the addicts learn to support on rotation (hence, the need for the experienced farmer). They could also be taught trades and crafts such as computer technology, cooking from a professional chef, butter and cheese processing, and dressmaking. The instruction would not only be therapeutic but provide them with employable skills. These suggestions would seem a much more realistic approach to the treatment of drug addicts than safe-injection sites where addicts are encouraged to take their own drugs - obviously obtained through crime - - and pump them into their systems, not being detoxified properly and ending back on the streets. To really be treated successfully, an addict needs exercise, fresh air, good food, rest, kindness, encouragement, compassion and the correct treatment. The above suggestions would also solve a large problem for Vancouver and Victoria and for other provinces where addicts, most of whom are homeless, are taken off the streets, hopefully never to return. They should not leave the treatment community until fully rehabilitated and until they have been absorbed into suitable positions for which they have been trained. Those unable to enter the workforce after detox should be given a suitable disability pension and subsidized housing, as some addicts can remain in treatment for two to three years. By Mary Hartman - --- MAP posted-by: Elaine