Pubdate: Thu, 27 Apr 2006
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2006 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact:  http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Author: Jen Skerritt
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

TREATING ADDICTS COSTS US BILLIONS

Takes Toll On Health Care, Justice Systems

MARC Pelletier carried his black bag out of a local drug rehab 
facility yesterday morning and lit a cigarette to celebrate his 21st, 
and final, day of treatment.

Pelletier has been a relapsing crack addict for 13 years and has been 
clean for 30 days. Although he said he's finally kicked his habit, 
Pelletier already lost everything else to his addiction -- from his 
job of 18 years to his daughter to Child and Family Services.

"It's a terrible world," he said. "It's great to be straight."

But Pelletier isn't the only one paying a high price because of 
substance abuse.

An increase in binge drinking and illegal drug use from the early 
1990s is contributing to the estimated $1.5 billion price tag of 
substance abuse in Manitoba, a new study suggests.

Yesterday, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse released its first 
cost study on alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs in Canada since 
1996. The national cost of substance abuse and its toll on health 
care, the criminal justice system and costs associated with premature 
death and disability jumped from $18.5 billion in 1992 to nearly $40 
billion in 2002. Tobacco and alcohol account for nearly 80 per cent 
of the cost of substance abuse in Canada, despite a drop in 
smoking-related deaths and illness.

Manitoba ranked seventh out of 13 provinces in its spending, behind 
Ontario, which spends more than $14 billion and Quebec, which spends 
more than $8.5 billion annually.

Addictions Foundation of Manitoba CEO John Borody said adults in 
their early and mid-20s are binge drinking, or consuming five or more 
drinks on a single occasion, and the use of street drugs like crystal 
meth is also on the rise.

Two years ago, Borody said, no youths were in AFM treatment programs 
because of crystal meth addictions. Now, 50 per cent of youth in 
rehab are meth addicts.

In a 1994 Canadian Addictions Survey, 5.4 per cent of Canadians 
reported they binge drink at least once a week, compared with seven 
per cent of respondents in 2004. In 1994, 28 per cent of Canadians 
said they used marijuana at least once compared with more than 44 per 
cent in 2004. The use of crack cocaine by Canadians also increased by 
seven per cent from 1994 to 2004.

"The wait lists were always long, but they are longer," Borody said.

AFM is now looking at ways to handle the demand for alcohol and 
narcotic treatment programs. Borody said they are hiring outreach 
workers to help street kids stop using and launched a pilot project 
allowing anyone from the community to attend group meetings at River 
House residential treatment centre.

Although Borody said more people are seeking treatment for addiction 
than ever before, he noted more drug addicts are using a variety of 
substances and more also suffering from a mental illness. "It's 
forced us to look at the way we deliver our programs," he said.

Dave B., a recovering crack cocaine addict, said he was unaware of 
treatment programs until he was sent to prison 10 years ago for 
dealing drugs and selling illegal weapons in Alberta. Dave has been 
addicted to cocaine, crack, intravenous drugs and alcohol, and will 
leave what he says is his last stint in rehab today.

Reaching out to addicts and offering them hope is the best way to 
motivate people to change, Dave said.

"Before I had no desire to get anywhere," he said. "All I wanted to 
do was get high."

Cost Of Treatment

Total cost to Manitoba health care: $1.5 billion

Tobacco cost to Manitoba health care: $175 million

Illegal drug cost to Manitoba health care: $35 million

Illegal drug cost to Manitoba criminal system: $24.5 million

Alcohol cost to Manitoba health care: $114 million

Alcohol cost to Manitoba legal system: $28.5 million

Total cost of substance abuse to each Canadian: $1,267
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman