POLICE CHIEF GETS CREDIT FOR TREATMENT CENTRE

White 'Repackaged' Drug Facility Idea As Crime Prevention Tool

The newcomer to Ottawa credited with being the catalyst for a new
residential drug-treatment centre for youth managed the feat by
"repackaging" the proposal from a health issue into a crime prevention issue.

Yesterday, as a who's who of politicians and community leaders
gathered for a multi-million-dollar funding announcement by Premier
Dalton McGuinty, police Chief Vern White was praised for being
instrumental in putting together the deal that has eluded Ottawa for
two decades.

Chief White has been in Ottawa only 15 months, but has done what no
one else had managed to do in 20 years -- build the necessary
consensus to get the treatment centre funded.

"Everyone complains about lack of health care. So I called it a
'crime prevention tool'," said Chief White after the press conference
yestserday. "The old packaging wasn't working, so I repackaged it."

According to Chief White's calculations, taking 20 youths with drug
addictions off the street would result in 80 to 160 fewer minor
crimes each day. Each addicted youth commits four to eight crimes a
day, ranging from prostitution to vehicle smash-and-grabs to support
a drug habit, he estimates.

Chief White took his repackaged argument on the road in the Ottawa
area, speaking to more than 50 community groups and service clubs. He
didn't talk about youth, he talked about parents.

"They're our kids," he said.

As it stands, drug-addicted youths must go to Thunder Bay and even
farther for residential drug-treatment programs. According to figures
from the United Way of Ottawa, one in six Ontario high school
students reports symptoms of drug use, which translates into 9,000
Ottawa high school students. Young people typically begin to
experiment with alcohol at age 12 and with illicit drugs at 14.

Long-term residential treatment for addicts results in a 71-per-cent
decrease in substance use and a 61-per-cent decrease in criminal
behaviour, according to the United Way.

A campaign to get a residential treatment centre had been on the
agenda for years, but plan after plan fell apart.

In June 2006, a proposal to buy the former Rideau Correctional Centre
near Burritts Rapids and convert it into a treatment centre was
shelved amid concerns about a native land claim encompassing the property.

A likely location for a new anglophone residential centre is the
Meadow Creek treatment facility on Carp Road, currently used for
programs helping adult addicts. The program is scheduled to be moved
into Ottawa in about a month. East-end locations are still being
scouted for a francophone program.

Chief White credited restaurateur and fundraiser Dave Smith with
being the "DNA" behind the project.

"I have been hollering and screaming for 20 years," said Mr. Smith
yesterday. "Sending kids to the American side wasn't the answer."

Mr. Smith's campaign to get a residential centre for youth resulted
in the creation of an outpatient drug treatment program.

It wasn't what he wanted, but it was "better than nothing at all," he said.

Mr. Smith said he's just glad Ottawa will finally be getting a
residential centre.

"We're going to accept it and be glad we got it," he said.

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THE DETAILS

Provincial funding adding up to $3.7 million a year and a major
fundraising initiative with a goal of $6 million were announced
yesterday to help Ottawa-area people with addictions. That includes
creating and operating a residential drug treatment centre for youths.

The provincial funding includes $2.4 million in annual operating
costs for 20 residential beds in two residential centres, one for 15
anglophone youth in the west and another five beds for francophone
youth in the east.

$800,000 in annual provincial funding will be spent on 48
transitional housing units to help people with addictions live on
their own or in group homes.

$250,000 in annual provincial funding will go to agencies that
provide outreach in shelters, drop-in centres and other locations to
help those who are having difficulty accessing addiction services.

$1.8 million in capital funding from the province will help move the
Ottawa Withdrawal Management Centre. The money will allow the centre,
currently in the ByWard Market, to purchase and renovate a house to
be used as a detoxification centre.

There will be a $1-million annual infusion for addictions outreach
and counselling in schools. Funding will come from the province, the
City of Ottawa, school boards and the community through an endowment
fund to be set up through the capital fundraising campaign.

The capital campaign aims to raise $6 million. About $3 million will
go to pay for the acquisition and renovation of the youth residential
facilities and another $3 million is to be spent on substance-abuse
prevention and education programs, said Len Potechin, co-chairman of
the capital campaign. The Ottawa Senators Foundation is to make a
"substantial donation" to the capital funding campaign, but an amount
has not been specified.