YOUTH RESIDENTIAL DRUG PROGRAM GETS 'LONG OVERDUE' APPROVAL

Plan Consists Of Two Treatment Centres With 20-Bed Total Capacity

After two decades of lobbying, waiting and frustration, the Ottawa
area will be getting a youth residential drug treatment program --
although one that is less than half the size proposed less than a year ago.

The board of the Champlain Local Health Integration Network has
approved a plan that would see the opening of two treatment centres
for youth between the ages of 13 and 17 -- a 15-bed facility for
anglophones and a separate five-bed facility for francophones.

The network will ask the province for the estimated $2.4 million it
will cost each year to run the centres.

"This is wonderful news. This is long overdue. Mental health and
addictions are the orphans of the health care system," said LHIN
chief executive officer Dr. Robert Cushman.

Talks are underway to acquire Meadow Creek, a Carp Road facility
currently used by the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group, for the
anglophone program.

Dr. Cushman told the board he has been speaking to United Way
officials and Ottawa police Chief Vern White about raising money for
capital expenses.

The treatment centre is to be part of a comprehensive youth strategy
that includes prevention, programs for street youth and transitional housing.

Meanwhile, the Dave Smith Youth Treatment Centre, which currently
runs a day drug treatment program, has agreed to govern and operate
the anglophone program while Maison Fraternite has agreed to do the
same for the francophone program. The youth residential program will
be able to treat about 80 teens a year, each staying about three months.

As it stands, there are no residential treatment programs in the
region for youth under the age of 16 and some teens travel to Thunder
Bay and even farther for treatment.

Dr. Cushman said he has had positive signals from the province about
funding. "They know this is coming. They have expressed an interest in it."

But the proposal approved yesterday is less than half the size of a
48-bed proposal presented last June. That was whittled down to 36
beds by December, and scaled down even more in April to 28 beds with
annual operating costs of $3.9 million.

Glenn Barnes, the chairman of the Champlain addiction co-ordinating
body and author of the report, which detailed costs and anticipated
demand, estimates that about 400 youths in the region need
residential treatment for addictions. He's not complaining about the
20-bed program, but says it's a "baby step forward."

Youth addictions are a problem of "epidemic proportions," Mr. Barnes
said. A study on drug use among Ontario students released last year
by the Centre for Addiction reported 26 per cent of students said
they had been on a drinking binge at least once in the previous
month. About a quarter reported using marijuana at least once in the
previous year, and 21 per cent said they had used an opioid pain
reliever for non-medical purposes.

"You'll have a waiting list from Day One," Mr. Barnes predicted. "As
soon as the money comes down for the 15 plus five beds, we'll start
leaning on the LHIN to make this bigger."

Dr. Cushman said the fiscal restraints on the size will not limit its
success as long as the program is run carefully and effectively. "If
you do the math, a 75-per-cent success rate with 20 beds is the same
as a 50 per cent success rate with 30 beds."

In the past, teens have been sent to treatment programs in the U.S.
only to return to their old haunts and habits, Dr. Cushman said.

"In the '90s, we would send a lot of kids south of the border to
palatial centres. Then they would come home to all of the problems in
their communities. And that's why they didn't do so well," he said.

Making sure the new centre has the right staff and uses the best
interventions is key, Dr. Cushman said.

"Everyone thinks, 'Just give us the money and it's a slam dunk,' " he
said. "This is a new business. There is a lot of snake oil in this
business. There is a right way to do this."