Pubdate: Sat, 20 May 2006 Source: Guardian, The (CN PI) Copyright: 2006 The Guardian, Charlottetown Guardian Group Incorporated Contact: http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/174 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion) HELPING OUR YOUNG PEOPLE BEAT ADDICTION Adults who want to deal with substance abuse problems have a range of options that should also be available to youth. Fires are easiest to fight when they are small. Similarly, a substance abuse problem is better dealt with at its onset than after it has developed into a life-crippling addiction. If governments are serious about the health and well-being of our young people, about reducing crime and about helping families in crisis, then government must take a more comprehensive approach to helping young people deal with addictions. In the legislature this month, Health Minister Chester Gillan said as much as 10 per cent of P.E.I.'s youth are dealing with a substance abuse problem. That means hundreds, perhaps thousands, of teens and pre-teens are starting to develop drug or alcohol difficulties that could follow them for years. Government hasn't been ignoring the troubling combination of young people and addictions. They have a menu of approaches that range from peer counselling and in-school interventions all the way to the Portage residential treatment program that requires a teen to travel for a stay in New Brunswick. What we don't have -- so far, anyway -- is a way to offer an intensive treatment package to teens who need a local answer. Aside from a couple of emergency beds at the Mount Herbert facility, there's no place in the province where a teen can go to dry out or have someone coach him or her through the sometimes agonizing process of cleaning up. When it comes to treating adults, we have a variety of approaches that range from 12-step programs and support groups all the way up to lengthy in-house stays. For some people, this period of pulling back from the wider world is necessary for their health. There are addicts who cannot manage to separate themselves from drugs and drink when those poisons are still very available. For some, the very act of withdrawing from family, career and social obligations can be a necessary therapeutic step. Why is that range of options not available to our teens? The time has come for the health system to make some space available - -- in a hospital, a youth facility or a sheltered home environment -- for young people to pull back from the world and go through the withdrawal process. We don't have to start by spending a fortune on a new building; we could designate some available space and some dedicated staff to tackling this problem. Teens who fall seriously into an addiction problem can look forward to lives marked by educational failure, poverty, poor health and strained relationships. Teens who can gain some control over their abuse while still young can't expect perfect lives, but they can aspire to things greater and more lasting than the next high. If government can help young people make that difference, it must do so. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin