THE SOLUTION IS CALLED TURNING POINT

Those who abuse drugs and alcohol have found a new addiction: getting
themselves clean and sober

Turning Point, a group home for male recovering drug addicts and
alcoholics, has been a sore point for Richmond residents.

When the facility opened its doors two years ago in a quiet subdivision,
its occupants could not have predicted the furor that was yet to come. The
controversy that followed created rifts in the community.

Pickets and protests marked the home's debut, as fear and anger swept
through the city. Many of the protesters said the home would lower their
property values and threaten the safety of their children. They demanded
public consultation into how these homes are operated, and where they
should be allowed to set up - preferably out of residential neighbourhoods.

Others voiced a philosophy of tolerance, welcoming these men in need into
their communities.

These same arguments saw renewed strength last week when Richmond city
council again raised the topic of group homes in the form of a bylaw
amendment recommending against public hearings into the issue.

The Richmond News went to the source of the debate to find out what goes on
behind the doors of Turning Point.

This time last year, Randy's life was spiraling out of control.

A life-time alcoholic, the former mortgage broker on fast-paced Howe Street
had given up his job, his home and, ultimately, his marriage for the chance
to get high with junkies on East Hastings Street in Vancouver.

The first time smoking crack cocaine was so good, he remembers, "It was
like 'Move over alcohol, this is the answer.'"

Just a few months later, with his life in ruins, he found it wasn't the
answer he wanted.

"I had fallen in a bottomless pit," he says. "I knew I had to get out of
it, yet I couldn't get out of it."

Last spring, Randy checked himself into a treatment centre in Nanaimo. It
was there he learned about Turning Point, a recovery home in Richmond that
follows a 12-step model and provides a structured environment to stay clean
during those first shaky weeks of sobriety.

When he arrived, there were still protest signs on the neighbours' lawn:
"Turning Point get out."

Just walking through the front doors was one of the hardest steps Randy
ever took.

"The ego said no, but in my heart it was what I needed to do. Emotionally
and spiritually, I was just empty," he says.

For Mike, another Turning Point resident, the path to the recovery home was
more direct.

Addicted to crack and an alcoholic, the clean-cut 29-year-old had two
choices after his family and friends confronted him with his problem: "I
could either go live on the streets or go to Turning Point," he says.

It was scary, he says, of his decision.

"Change has never been a big turn-on for me."

But, he says, the alternative was worse.

"It was really just day-to-day survival," he says of his days as an addict.
"Working, drinking, using drugs. Just depressed and desperate, with no
light at the end of the tunnel."

These days, both men say their lives have changed dramatically - and they
give credit to Turning Point for the success.

For Randy, who traded in his resident status at the home last fall to
become a part-time staff member, it's been 13 months since he's used.

"There are still times when I feel uncomfortable in my own skin," he says,
"but the actual craving for drugs and alcohol has gone away."

In that time, he's gone back to school to study conflict resolution, and he
and his wife are talking again.

"In a lot of ways, I feel like a little kid," he says. "It's exciting. I
realize I have so many choices, so many opportunities are opening up."

Mike, meanwhile, has yet to finish his first six weeks in the home, but -
for the first time in years - he feels hope for the future.

"I'm just going day by day, week by week. It's very safe here and that's a
really positive thing," he says.

"So far, I'm really enjoying waking up and feeling good in the mornings,
eating properly and getting addicted to that."

Both men have the same answer when asked what they would tell addicts
looking for a better life.

"There is a solution," they say.

"If you want to make a change, there's a place it can happen," adds Mike.

"You just have to make the decision, and it is so worth it."