COUNCIL SUPPORTS LOBBY FOR ADDICTION FACILITY

SUMMERSIDE - If it takes a community to raise a child, it might also
take one to get that child off drugs.

Summerside city council took a step forward on that front Monday
night. Council agreed to endorse the efforts of a parents' support
group, which has been lobbying the Province for a youth addiction
facility. The group also wants legislation allowing parents to force
their children to get help.

Coun. Garth Lyle, who brought the resolution forward, attended one of
the group's meetings. He told council the stories he heard would tear
your heart out.

"I guess that if you don't have it and you don't realize it, or if you
don't have friends that are going through it, it's easy to say 'Oh,
it's not a problem,'" he said after the meeting. "But it is a big
problem in our community."

"It just doesn't affect the parents and the child; it also affects the
whole family - their brothers, their sisters. They know what's going
on; they hear the fighting. It's not a real healthy environment for
anybody to be living in."

The Province has announced plans for a youth treatment facility, but
details haven't been released.

Cathy DesRoches, member of the parents' support group, said it means a
lot to have council come on board.

"We need all the help we can get."