Pubdate: Sat, 16 Aug 2014
Source: Truro Daily News (CN NS)
Copyright: 2014 The Daily News
Contact:  http://www.trurodaily.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1159
Author: Harry Sullivan
Page: 4

TAXPAYER- FUNDED PROGRAM PUTS DRUG ADDICTS AT RISK BY GIVING THEM CASH, 
TRURO GRANDMOTHER SAYS

TRURO - Giving drug addicts cash to participate in an information
study is like letting children play with fire, says a Truro woman,
regarding a situation her grandson was recently involved in.

"My beef is, $200 cash is enough to buy enough oxycontin or cocaine to
OD on," said the woman, who asked that her name not to published to
protect the identity of her grandson.

"I'm outraged. I'm truly outraged. I'm too emotionally attached to
this one, otherwise I'd be firing off letters to my MP saying, 'what
kind of grant program is this that contributes to drug use?'" the woman 
said.

Her outrage centres on a Photovoice program offered through the
Northern Aids Connection Society (NACS) in Truro that provides $200
cash to drug addicts who agree to tell their life story to determine
how they ended up on injection drugs.

The woman's 19-year-old grandson, whom she has cared for since his
mother died when he was two, recently participated in the study. After
receiving the cash, she said, her grandson then took the money to buy
drugs and disappeared for two days.

Her grandson is registered at the local mental health drug addiction
clinic, the woman said, is under the care of both a psychiatrist and a
psychologist and is "considered at risk."

"I think that is real negligence," she said, of the NACS involvement.
"To me, if (he) had OD'ed that night, they are culpable," especially
given her grandson's past.

In the last year and a half, she said, he has been transported by
ambulance to the hospital on three separate occasions after overdosing
on drugs.

The woman said she decided to go public with her story after speaking
with NACS founder/supervisor Al McNutt and failing to receive a
satisfactory response.

"I told him (McNutt) that I was just amazed that he is dealing with
addicts and he's giving them cash. And what kind of a program could
this possibly be... ?

"It's like giving a child matches to play with or Drano to drink. It's
just so very, very wrong. And it's not just my grandson."

NACS also is associated with the Mainline Needle Exchange program,
which provides new needles for drug addicts as way to prevent them
from reusing or sharing needles in an effort to help prevent the
spread of infections and disease.

The woman said she supports that aspect of what NACS is doing and she
would be less critical of the Photovoice initiative (which uses
abstract photos to accompany each individual's story) if the subjects
were rewarded in some way other than with straight up cash.

"I think the majority of what they do is wonderful. It keeps the kids
from infecting themselves," she said. "How do you protect him from a
hand of cash of $200? To me it would make far more sense if it was put
towards rent, to pay a bill, but to give an addict $200 ... what are
they thinking?"

The woman said her grandson has "already sold everything of value that
we have" and she has deadbolts on her closet to keep him out of her
prescription drugs.

McNutt told the Truro Daily News the program is intended to provide
information to be shared with mental health and addictions services
programs to aid in the understanding of the behaviour of drug addicts,
why they are involved in injection drug use to start with as well as
the underlying reasons of why they are doing it.

"I can understand this individual's concern but from my perspective it
is totally taken out of context," he said, of the grandmother.

Funding for the program is provided through mental health and
addictions services although McNutt declined to say how much the
society receives. But he said the intent of NACS various programs is
to try to find ways to help drug addicts through education efforts and
is not intended to promote drug use.

"They had lives and they were children at one time and when you hear
the stories you'd almost think, that 'my God, that went on in Truro?'
Or that particular person was raised in this town? And these things
happened to them at that early age? No darn wonder they're actually
involved in any kind of activity to help them relieve themselves of
some of that anguish they're feeling or the anxiety they're feeling,"
McNutt said.

"I don't support drug use nor have I ever supported drug use. And I
have never ever promoted it, that's for sure. But the whole thing is
we're trying to look at individuals and trying to get as deep into
their minds as possible to find out what is really driving this. Where
is it coming from?"

Injection drug use is a serious issue throughout northern Nova Scotia,
McNutt said, to which enough attention is not being paid. And while he
and his staff will be re-evaluating the program to see if there is a
better way to acquire the information they are seeking, NACS cannot
tell the individuals how to spend the money they receive and providing
gift cards is not the answer because those can also be sold for cash.

"We will review everything. We've already had that discussion here in
the office since the lady came in," he said.

"It's unfortunate it came to this and we certainly did not intend to
cause anyone any harm, that's for sure. But I'm not about to sort of
change what we do other than possibly change the honourarium. But if
we don't offer an honourarium I'm not going to get those stories.
That's for sure."
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MAP posted-by: Matt