WE NEED PROGRAMS THAT GET JUNKIES OFF DRUGS, NOT KEEP THEM
ADDICTED

Vancouver residents Susie and Robert Ruttan have been wrestling with
the issues of addictions for a decade now.

They had to. In a few short years, their teenage son went from pot to
heroin to speedballs. At his lowest, he cried out in despair: "Give up
on me, Dad!"

Giving up, though, isn't in the Ruttan dictionary. After discovering
that there was nowhere for teen addicts to go for help in B.C., they
flew their son to the Portage residential drug-treatment centre in
Quebec.

Portage works on the therapeutic community model -- like Daytop,
Phoenix, and Italy's San Patrignano, the largest drug rehab community
in the world. These are places that work, places with proven track
records of recovery.

When, back in 2000, The Province did a story about the Ruttans' new
group, From Grief to Action, Susie fielded over 100 phone calls, many
of them long and tearful. Their next meeting drew over 200 people at
St. Mary's Church in Kerrisdale.

Suddenly, it was clear that addictions were not strictly a Downtown
Eastside problem. Every postal code was at risk.

"We realized that the voices of From Grief to Action could have an
impact. We could put the human face on the story," she said.

The Central City Foundation, which has been helping disadvantaged
people in Vancouver for years, heard Susie Ruttan on the radio. It
knew it had to get involved.

It bought a 58-acre Outward Bound site near Keremeos, and chose the
Portage program to be the service provider.

From Grief to Action joined forces with Central City and continued to
lobby for help.

Premier Gordon Campbell appeared supportive. But in 2005, his
government had virtually written off residential drug treatment.

Feeling all was lost, Ruttan made the speech of her life. She spoke of
the prohibitive costs to families, friends and neighbourhoods of not
providing treatment for addicted young people.

On Sept. 6, Health Minister George Abbott announced that the province
would contribute $2.4 million annually to operate the new Portage
program at Keremeos.

Forty-two young people, aged 14 to 24, would stay in the program from
six months to a year. At less than $60,000 per child, this was cheap.

Ruttan's son, meanwhile, is now clean and sober.

"When we come together at Christmas this year, it will be a happy
reunion," she said.

"We've worked together as a team, and the effect on all of us has been
profound."

Most of B.C.'s drug "experts" advocate handing out free methadone,
heroin, replacement pharmaceuticals, crack pipes and needles -- and
finding comfortable places for addicts to get their morning fix.

But amid all the bad ideas about how to deal with drug addiction, the
Keremeos program offers one of the few glimmers of hope.

It actually gets addicts off the drugs that enslave them and torment
their families -- and returns them to dignity.

Broadcaster/actor David Berner