GOV'T IS 'GIVING PEOPLE THE RIGHT TO GET HIGH'

Don't Make It Easier For Us To Get Wasted, Give Us Treatment Centres

While conference attendees gathered in Vancouver and other North
American cities to find a fix for the global drug mess, addict Renee
Kettleman was combing the Lower Mainland for an available bed in a
treatment centre.

"I've been packed and ready to go for a month and a half now," the
48-year-old confided this week, after knocking on doors at 10
facilities here and on Vancouver Island.

"I'm told the wait times are up to six months. All I get is, 'Don't
call us, we'll call you.' When an addict says they're ready to quit,
they need help instantly. But just trying to find someone who will
listen is tough."

In case you didn't notice, Kettleman is fed up: frustrated with the
politicians and service providers who route resources to the Downtown
Eastside at the expense of the needs of thousands of illicit drug
users elsewhere in B.C.

Struggling with a cocaine and crystal-meth habit for the past 36
years, Kettleman has no time for harm-reduction schemes that help
addicts maintain rather than abstain and that make it cushy for
abusers like herself to stay wasted.

"Why does government want to make it easier for us? They're giving
people the right to get high," she chortles. "And this is coming from
an addict!"

Hash was the startup drug for Kettleman, who grew up in a well-off
west-side family. For her, the draw wasn't so much the drug but the
crowd she got to hang around with.

Within a year she was sniffing coke. Before long, crack.

To wean herself from the costly junk, she turned to snorting crystal
meth, a cheaper but longer high. She's still at it, despite periodic
efforts to kick the habit.

For treatment to work, she says, addicts in detox must head straight
to a stabilization facility and, from there, a treatment centre. The
dearth of adequate resources in Greater Vancouver makes that impossible.

"Most detox places end up having to send them right back to the
streets," she says.

"That's the worst thing that can happen to someone who's thinking of quitting."

But Kettleman's cry for help hasn't stirred B.C.'s Health Ministry.

Officials were contacted recently by Rev. Gloria Kieler, who has
argued for more detox and recovery services, especially for women,
until she's blue in the face.

Everything is just tickety-boo, the health authority's executive
director assured the Downtown Eastside front-line worker.

"Vancouver Coastal Health Authority has improved and expanded the
range of services over the past few years," Rebecca Harvey recently
wrote the 65-year-old, who runs the Living Waters Mission on funds
from her old-age pension.

"It ensures these services are easily accessible, available on demand
and scaled to match the evidence of need in the community."

Harvey went on to list the opening of four facilities in the area
since 2001: the Contact Centre, the LifeSkills Centre and two clinics.

The first delivers basic health care and referrals. LifeSkills
provides some job training, advice and free showers, while the
community clinics provide medical treatment.

Worthwhile services, for sure, but Kettleman and thousands of others
still need help getting clean first.