Pubdate: Fri, 20 Dec 2013
Source: Cowichan Valley Citizen (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Cowichan Valley Citizen
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/cowichanvalleycitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4349
Author: Sarah Simpson

FEDS PICK CEDARS FOR $11.5M PLEDGE

Federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose chose the Cedars at Cobble Hill 
to announce an $11.5-million national project aimed at stamping out 
youth substance abuse on Wednesday.

The Cedars at Cobble Hill is an addiction treatment centre and while 
there, Ambrose joined physicians and leading addiction recovery 
specialists at a roundtable to discuss "real, practical solutions to 
support Canadians in prevention and recovery."

"There are millions of Canadians living in short and long-term 
recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs," Ambrose said. 
"Today's roundtable was about listening to experts and community 
members about what we can do better to prevent our children and youth 
from using drugs, and to further support people in recovery from addiction."

Ambrose said part of the reason she picked a facility on Vancouver 
Island, rather than a typical big city location was because of 
Marshall Smith, the Cedars' manager of corporate development and 
community relations, and a recovering addict himself. He noted what 
the recovery system has done for him, and what he hopes this 
investment can help it do for others.

"I lived on Hastings Street for five years," he said. "I ate out of 
garbage cans. If you had seen me there, you would have thought it was 
hopeless, and yet here I am at an announcement with the minister of health.

An estimated 4.6 million Canadians are dealing with short-and 
long-term addictions - about 16 per cent of the population, making 
Wednesday's announced investment extremely valuable, Smith added.

"Money is important," he said. "Money matters when you're talking 
about having to communicate with millions of Canadians about an issue."

The goal of the new five-year program, dubbed A Health Promotion and 
Drug Prevention Strategy for Canada's Youth, which dovetails with 
work already being done through the National Anti-Drug Strategy, is 
to prevent illicit drug use among Canadians aged 10 to 24.

Education, sustainable partnerships and national prevention standards 
will help foster that goal, Ambrose noted.

"Preventing substance abuse among young people is a critical focus of 
the government's National Anti-Drug Strategy," she said. "Through 
this contribution, we are helping to increase awareness among youth 
of the dangers of experimenting with drugs, assisting parents in 
keeping their kids drug-free, and ultimately keeping our communities 
safe and healthy."

Five key priority areas will see the bulk of the $11.5 million 
including a knowledge exchange network "to fill a need for a 
prevention hub that will promote communications and collaboration 
amongst those who work in youth substance abuse prevention, as well 
as access to existing resources, tools and knowledge on prevention 
from a broad range of partners."

Others include tackling marijuana myths, building resilience through 
sport and recreation and developing new strategies for substance 
abuse prevention.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom