WILDERNESS CENTRE FOR ADDICTED YOUTH LAUNCHED

In her darkest hour, drug-addicted Lauren Gill contemplated an end to
her miserable life, unable to see a future without her chemical crutch
and the petty crimes she committed to survive.

"I was like a bird with no wings," she told a packed press conference
in a youth drop-in centre on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside yesterday.

"My life was a mess. I had absolutely no direction whatsoever. I was
worn out and I was ready to give up," she recalled. She was 16 years
old at the time.

The fresh-faced teen detailed her escape from addiction, minutes after
Health Minister George Abbott announced that B.C.'s first long-term
residential treatment centre for drug-addicted youth is expected to
open its doors next summer.

"I'd been through 10 different drug-and-alcohol facilities," said
Gill. "It wasn't a pretty sight."

She finally attended a drug program in Montreal called Portage and
kicked her habit.

The key to getting off drugs for good, she says now, is to spend six
months to a year in rehab.

Abbott announced the provincial government is contributing $2.4
million annually to cover the operating costs of a 42-bed facility in
the wilderness near Keremeos called The Crossing.

Addicts aged 14 to 24 must make a commitment to kick their habits,
after withdrawing from drugs and alcohol, to qualify for the program.
They must dedicate six months to a year of their lives.

Gill, now 18, works with young drug addicts and jail inmates. "I don't
ever want to go back to drug rehab again," she said.

B.C. spends $1 billion per year on mental health and addiction
services, said Abbott.

Of the 1,038 treatment beds for all B.C. addicts, 158 are detox and
short-stay placements exclusively for young people.