ADDICTION TREATMENT FACILITY GETS OK

Police Chief Backs Proposal For More Beds

Work can begin on a new 50-bed addiction treatment centre - a move
that addresses a main recommendation of the province's crime reduction
report - after city council on Monday approved its location in an
industrial park.

"These 50 beds are a small step in the right direction," said Stacey
Petersen, executive director of Fresh Start, which hopes to have the
facility open by December 2008.

Fresh Start, which operates a 28-bed facility in Abbeydale, can now
finalize the purchase of a vacant lot in the northeast Greenview
Industrial Park.

On Monday, council approved a land-use redesignation for the site,
which will allow a treatment facility to operate there.

Once the centre opens a year from now, a new group will run the
Abbeydale facility, although Fresh Start will keep a hand in it. It
will also continue to run two five-bed transitional houses in the community.

"We will help with the management (of Abbeydale) to ensure it
continues to be successful," Petersen said.

The province's crime reduction task force, which released its report
last week, identified five priorities - including making treatment of
drug and alcohol addictions a top priority.

Fresh Start typically has 50 to 60 men waiting for a bed at its
facility.

Police Chief Rick Hanson submitted a letter of support for the
additional beds.

"We really need more treatment facilities in Calgary," Hanson said in
an interview last week. "They are, I think, a vital piece of the whole
social plan for the city that addresses the needs of those who are in
need of help."