DRUG DETOX PROGRAMS SHUT DOWN

Addiction detox services in the HRM are closed for the month of
July, leaving hundreds of addicts with no place to turn for help.

Local addiction detox programs are closed for the entire month of
July, leaving hundreds of addicts with no immediate place to turn.

"The choice wasn't ours," says Tom Payette, director for district
addiction and treatment services for Capital Health, which operates
the only detox programs in HRM, at Nova Scotia Hospital in
Dartmouth. "Capital Health made the decision that this building
needed decommissioning, so we had to shut down our operations."

Detox programs were conducted in the deteriorating Simpson Hall
building on the hospital campus. They'll re-open in August in the
nearby Purdy Hall, which likewise is set to be torn down.

"Ideally, we'd have a permanent home built for functional
programming, designed for our needs," says Payette, expressing
frustration for the move to another sub-standard building. "I've
been here 25 years, and we've had six different buildings [housing
detox services] torn down."

About 200 people each month request detox services, says Payette.
"We can only handle 85 to 100 of those."

The now-closed in-patient facility consisted of 15 beds. Clients
were admitted "just long enough to make it medically safe for the
person in the withdrawal process," explains Payette.

Alcohol withdrawal might take five days, cocaine withdrawal seven to
nine days and opiate withdrawal up to 12 days.

Because the in-patient program couldn't meet the demand for
services, addiction and treatment services has been offering a "day
detox," where an addict can come in for about an hour each day, get
medically checked and given whatever detoxification drugs are
necessary. The day program is geared towards those with
long-term withdrawal issues (withdrawal from valium can take up to
six months) and those who have competing time demands---Payette
mentions mothers with child care demands and people holding down jobs
as examples.

Both the overnight in-patient program and the day detox are closed
for the month.

"It means people are in a difficult situation," says Payette.

Addicts can call 424--8866 to arrange treatment at one of the seven
other detox sites in the province---in Lunenburg, Yarmouth,
Middleton, Pictou, Springhill, Sydney and Richmond---but Payette
admits that may not often be practical. Those facing immediate
medical situations should go to the closest emergency room, he says.

Asked why the move from one building to another couldn't be
seamless, made without cutting services, Payette says it was
scheduled for July, the month with the fewest requests for
treatment, and that he'd prefer to have "just one major disruption
instead of a bunch of little ones."

The move will take two weeks, as equipment and supplies are removed
and reinstalled. Payette is using the closure to take an additional
two weeks for staff certification upgrades. Besides the annual
renewals in certifications in life saving, suicide prevention and
the like, many employees will be trained in auricular
acupuncture---placing five needles in each ear.

"We already do over 1,000 treatments a month," Payette says of
auricular acupuncture. "[The addicts] go through relaxation
exercises while receiving it, and it helps with withdrawal." By
making the procedure more readily available, more addicts will be
encouraged to come to the clinic, he says.

At the same time, addiction services are moving to a broader,
community-wide model of addiction treatment imported from Britain
that hopes to head off addiction before people need detox services.

The new system will have both a Dartmouth and a Halifax "community
team" that works with people as they're developing addictions.

"I can tell you that all the money we've been given, we're still
only dealing with 10 percent of the people out there that have a
problem," says Payette.

"Therefore, it's not having an impact on the prevalence of substance
abuse harms done in the community. We're just Band-Aiding things. We
need to rethink the way we're delivering services, so that we have
an impact on people who are starting to show signs, so they don't
progress to a point where they need medical services."