Pubdate: Sat, 08 Dec 2007 Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB) Copyright: 2007 Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.edmontonsun.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135 Author: Andrew Hanon Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) DETOX FOR KIDS WINS RESULTS So forcing drug-addicted kids into lock-up for five days so they can sober up and see the error of their ways works. Who knew? Who could have guessed that making a teenager do Anything they didn't want to do could turn out the way their parents hoped? I have to admit that when the province enacted the Protection of Children Abusing Drugs Act last year, I was right there on the sidelines waiting for the program to fall flat on its face. I dismissed it as another cynical attempt by the government to appear concerned about addiction, all the while reaping billions of dollars in tax revenue from gambling, booze and tobacco. You can't force anyone to sober up, I argued. It's a decision they have to make on their own. Addicts are masters of manipulation. They'll say and do just about anything to get their next fix. They will trample, steal from and betray even their closest loved ones to feed their all-consuming habits. As Johnny Cash put it in his hauntingly straightforward song about his own addiction, Hurt, "And you could have it all/ My empire of dirt/ I will let you down/ I will make you hurt." But as it turns out, commanding some teens to go to their rooms and not come out until they're ready to behave more civilized actually works. Here's how the law, or PChAD as it's known among social workers and addictions councillors, works: Parents of kids with out-of-control drug or alcohol habits can go to court and have a judge order the kids into special, locked-up detox centres for up to five days. Any addictions councillor will tell you that five days is not nearly enough time for people to rehabilitate themselves from drug addiction. But that isn't exactly the goal anyway, AADAC's then-CEO Murray Finnerty told me last year. In essence, he explained, it's a court-ordered "intervention," where loved ones deliver a metaphorical slap in the face to addicts to make them see sense. The hope is that by cutting teens off from their drug of choice and giving their bodies five days to flush out some of the poison, they'll realize that they need help and voluntarily check into a longer rehab program. And according to the statistics compiled by AADAC, it actually works. In the first 13 months of the program from July 2006 to August 2007, 618 Albertan teenagers were ordered into detox. Of those, 49% admitted themselves into a rehab program after their incarceration. That's more than 300 drug-addicted kids who realized their lives were out of control and sought help. How well they managed to stay off drugs is an unanswered question, but there's no doubt that PChAD was a very good first step. Some other stats that came out of AADAC's evaluation of the program: - - Of those teenagers who were ordered into detox, 55% were girls. - - More than half, 56%, were aged 12 to 15. - - And if you're deluded enough to think that only homeless street kids end up with out-of-control drug habits, 58% of those ordered into detox were still in school. - - Nearly all of the kids abused more than one substance. While alcohol (98%) and marijuana (96%) were the drugs of choice, 73% used psychedelics like LSD and ecstasy and more than half (57%) used cocaine. Something else you might want to know if you're ready to give up on your kid: The survey shows that the more actively involved and supportive parents are of their kids' rehab, the greater that kids' chances are that they'll be able to wrestle their lives away from addiction. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin