Pubdate: Tue, 21 Mar 2006
Source: Peace Arch News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Peace Arch News
Contact:  http://www.peacearchnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1333
Author: Jeff Nagel
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?241 (Methamphetamine - Canada)

MORE MONEY TO FIGHT METH

Addictions Programs Gets An Extra $8m

An extra $8-million injection of provincial money to combat crystal
meth and other addictions includes nearly $2 million a year more for
Fraser Health Authority.

Three-quarters of the new funding announced last week will go to youth
addictions treatment, while the balance is dedicated to crystal meth
treatment.

"The number of youth addictions treatment beds will increase by
approximately 75 per cent and allows us to build capacity to ensure
youth across the province get the assistance they need," health
minister George Abbott said.

Ten longer-term residential treatment beds for youth addicts with
complex needs, and possibly other mental health disorders, are to be
provided through a partnership between Fraser Health and the Vancouver
Coastal Health Authority.

The site hasn't been determined.

"We are working intensively on this project," FHA addictions leader
Dr. Akbar Bayanzadeh said, adding youths will be able to stay in the
beds up to six months.

FHA will also get nearly $560,000 extra added to its annual budget to
pay for six crystal meth youth outreach workers to provide treatment,
prevention, early diagnosis and harm reduction measures throughout the
region.

Bayanzadeh said the aim is to help not just crystal meth users but
intervene early to reach other young people using "gateway drugs" such
as alcohol or marijuana.

"It is essential for us to reach out to these young people -- as youth
who use crystal meth are far more reluctant than other drug users to
seek out our services," he said.

Harm reduction strategies -- most prominent of which are the Downtown
Eastside's safe injection sites --  are controversial.

Opponents sometimes think abstinence isn't a primary goal, Bayanzadeh
said.

Some youths are multiple drug users, he explained, and harm can be
reduced by persuading them to eliminate one or two of the drugs they
use, or switch from injecting to ingesting drugs.

Needle exchange programs are also another harm reduction strategy,
helping to cut the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.

Other one-time FHA initiatives financed through the announcement
include:

- - Hiring of three concurrent disorders youth therapists.

- - A youth home detox pilot program in Maple Ridge/Pitt
Meadows.

- - A clinician to work with doctors to help diagnose drug and alcohol
abuse problems as a one-year pilot program.

- - An addictions specialist focused on youth with addiction and
behavioural problems.

- - Educational events this spring for FHA addictions
staff.

Vancouver Coastal Health Authority gets the biggest chunk of the new
money, nearly $2.2 million.

The new funding is in addition to $7 million to combat crystal meth
announced last fall -- and criticized as being too little -- and
another $2 million over three years in the 2006 budget for the Crystal
Meth Secretariat to fight meth production and use.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin